Abdominal Muscle Exercise - Better, Different, Not What You Think

Many medical fitness programs, health and exercise classes, and kickboxing and martial arts practices have a complicated and ritualized belief structure that the abdominal muscles have some magic or central function. They try to fix back pain or improve posture through abdominal strengthening programs. Usually these strengthening programs use the same unhealthful rounding forward motions that cause high pressure on your lumbar discs, practice unhealthful bent-forward posture, and perpetuate several common pain syndromes.

Here in Thailand, the Muay Thai kick-boxers and training camps do not have any beliefs about the torng, or abdomen. Even so, the Thai boxers are among the world's best-conditioned fighters. You can swing a bat at their abdomen and it would not faze them. In fact, that is part of training in many training camps. Today I have an abdominal muscle training exercise for you that is more fun than that:

The post Change Common Exercises to Get Better Ab Exercise and Stop Back Pain showed how the pushup, or just holding a pushup position, called The Plank is often done allowing the lower back to overly arch and sag under body weight, as in the upper photo at left. This extra arching, called hyper-lordosis, pressures the lower back and means that you are not getting exercise because you are just resting your body weight on the joints of your lower back instead of holding up your body weight in a straighter, healthier position, shown in the lower photo. Try this:

• Hold a plank position and use the pelvic tilt, or hip tuck to straighten your spine as taught in the post Throw a Stronger Punch (or Push a Car or Stroller) Using This Back Pain Reduction Technique. Use the lower photo for lower back position reference.
• As soon as you tuck the hip, you will immediately feel the load shift off your lower back and onto your abdominal muscles.
• Once you can hold a good flat plank position, add lifting one arm as shown in the lower photo. Do not allow your lower back to sag, shown in the upper photo. Do not hunch or round your upper body, also shown in the upper photo. Rounding the upper body will get in the way of your shoulder joint being able to lift your arm.
• "Unround" your upper back and lift your chest to straighten your back. This makes room for your shoulder to allow your arm to straighten in line with your body.
• Once you can lift your arm, also lift your opposite leg (not the leg on the same side but the other one). You will feel your abdominal muscles working strongly.
• Hold as long as you can.
• Keep relaxed but straight, and keep breathing.
• Work up to being able to jump to switch the arm and leg that is lifted.

Crunches are not functional, and train unhealthful, forward-bent posture, which you don't need after a day of sitting at your desk or over the steering wheel.

Instead of crunches, this is one of many fun abdominal-building exercise. You will get better more effective abdominal exercise in the way your body, and abs, work for real.

Books with more:

• Healthy Martial Arts
• The Ab Revolution™ THIRD edition.
  

Photo copyright © Dr. Bookspan from the book Healthy Martial Arts

Labels: abdominal muscles, arm, balance, lordosis, lower back, martial arts, neutral spine, posture, shoulder, strength, upper back, wrist

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