An Ab-Fab Idea
[photo credit: Howie Berlin]
What if, rather than (or at the very least in addition to) strengthening our abs through crunching and twisting, we instead attempted to hold our midsections perfectly still, even under the stress and strain of forces working to — quite literally — turn us against ourselves?
The premise behind this school of thought is the rather mind-blowing idea that our abs are meant to be stabilizers, not movers and shakers, so we should train them to be strong and steady if we want to, say, prevent back pain.
How can you work on stabilizing your core? Pallof presses, landmines and BOSU pushups with your feet elevated are good examples. Side planks win big, too.
If you want to see videos of these exercises and others, hit up Michael Boyle’s article “The Real ‘Core’ Exercise” over at T-Nation.
Off to Chi-town this weekend to play a little rugby. What are you up to?
July 18th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Playing rugby on the beach! Corpus Christi’s 7s By The Sea is this weekend, and it’s guaranteed to be a great time.
Good luck in Chicago!
July 18th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I am behind this concept of stabilization vs. movement for abs. In fact, I’ve cut back quite a bit on typical ab work, and replaced it with planks and pushups off a ball. I still think there’s a place for the typical crunches, but more of an emphasis on static holds.
Rugby in Chicago - sounds fun!
We’re off for a 4-day whitewater rafting trip in Idaho, followed by some time in Seattle. Everyone here is excited and ready to go!
July 20th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I love core workouts! I’m doing this one: http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-12415-0,00.html
and I talk about it on my blog several times, starting with here: http://seejessrun.wordpress.com/2008/07/14/day-off/
July 21st, 2008 at 10:02 am
I recently read in a “fitness” magazine that abs were fast twitch only muscles… Suuuuuuuuuuuuure! Since they have nothing to do with postures I am sure they are just fast twitch….
Finally, a little bit of common sense in the ab work out department. Thank you for the post.
July 21st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Hmm will have to give this a shot. Been trying to work on my abs more lately. I spent the weekend lounging in the pool and biking.
July 24th, 2008 at 4:52 am
how was chi-town??