How to get good Abs –
Core Training at it’s best
By Pia Jmioff, Exercise Physiologist and Owner of Pilates Plus Fitness
A lot of people strive to have “good abs” and will do countless amounts of crunches to get a flat stomach. Traditional fitness programs include crunches and sit-ups as a means to get good abs. Unfortunately many people are not aware that excessive amounts of crunches (especially when done with poor form) can be detrimental to the spine.
Think about it this way, when you are sitting in a slouched position (one of the worst positions for the spine), there is increased compression forces on the vertebrae and increased wear and tear on the spine. When you are doing crunches, you are doing the same thing, compressing the lower vertebrae causing wear and tear. The body does have to be able to bend and stretch but doing excessive bending will take its toll over time. We all get our fair share of bending throughout our lifetime, why add excessive compression to our exercise program. You are better off working your abs in a more functional way, which means challenging the core in a similar way to the way it works in everyday life.
So as mentioned earlier, overemphasis on flexion type exercises such as crunches and sit-up’s can be detrimental to the spine because of the compressive forces during endless amounts of crunches. Crunches and sit-ups (especially when done incorrectly) tend to be very hard on the neck as well. Proper form, including proper neck alignment, during these types of exercises is really important for a healthy spine. It is very possible to work your abdominals without hurting your spine, and the good news is that it feels better too. As research has studied the affects of certain exercises on the spine, the concept of strengthening the stomach muscles in neutral spinal alignment, while maintaining the integrity of the spine, is becoming more and more used.
Another point to mention in regards to crunches is functionality, we do not walk around flexing our core repetitively, yes we need to flex and use our abs to get up from laying down, but we do not do that 50+ times in a row. When we are moving around, our core muscles are supposed to stabilize our trunk against movement from the arms and legs. If we have good function of our inner unit muscles, we are less likely to have excessive wear and tear on our spine, so training the inner core muscles and learning to stabilize the trunk while moving arms and legs makes sense, it’s functional. This type of training relates to movement in everyday life.
Another important point is the fact that our muscles do not work in isolation. In order to make core training more relevant to movement in everyday life, we need to challenge the muscles as they relate to each other. First, you learn to isolate and understand the deep inner core muscles, and how to use them. Then you progress to working your more dominant bigger muscles that move your limbs while maintaining a stable core. Increases in difficulty and load are done once the client has learned proper movement patterns, and how to use the inner unit muscles to help maintain good spinal alignment, and protect the spine against stress during loading. The body awareness and more functional movement patterns will translate into everyday life and activity. The benefits are many; improved muscle function and joint health, decreased pain, less wear and tear, improvements in recreation and sports, increased strength and endurance, to mention a few.
Pilates Plus Fitness offers Therapeutic Pilates Classes, Bone and Joint Health Classes, Circuit Classes, and Spinning.
Our focus is on postural alignment, improved awareness of muscle function, and improved mobility.
New classes begin January 6, 2014, please contact Pia at 250.462.3511 for information on classes or check out our website at: