Ab training

When I was first training sit ups were the best exercise for shredded abs. Now we know this is not the case at all, but still everybody carrying a few pounds wants to know what ab exercise will strip there tires. The only way to get ripped abs is to lose body fat!(I'll address this in another post). There is still a lot of confusion over the function of the abdominal's. Most people still seem to think that sit ups etc... are still the way to go, but the true function of the abs is stability. We want to maintain neutral posture and avoid flexion and extension by bracing. By doing this we can prevent energy leaks from hips and produce more power and reduce excessive stress on the spine. There is also a lot of confusion about the transverse abdominis and it's exclusive recruitment. This also has no merit and does not carry over to true performance. When I was studying a few years back this was all the rage and I used this principle myself and taught it to my clients. Since then I have gone back to my old school methods I was taught when I started training. Some great texts from Stuart McGill has helped broaden my knowledge and stopped me from prescribing detrimental exercises. So the next time you contemplate performing sit ups take a credit card out of your wallet, bend it back and forth like a sit up and see the end result. You will get a lot more recruitment performing any free standing resistance training in a neutral posture.

Eat well and train hard,

Carl