Your abdominal muscles or abs are located at the front of your torso and run from your pelvis to your lower ribs and sternum. They are responsible for flexing your spine forward and, along with your obliques, bending your spine to the side. A well-conditioned set of abdominal muscles can help reduce your likelihood of developing back pain as they assist other torso muscles in stabilizing your spine. According to Christoper Norris in his book "Abdominal Training, A Progressive Guide to Greater Strength," fit abs can also contribute to sporting performance as they "bridge the gap" between your upper and lower body. Well-developed abdominal muscles, combined with low body fat, can be seen as a six pack.
Perform a Variety of Ab Exercises
The most commonly performed exercise for the abs is the crunch. This is an effective exercise although it only targets one function of your ab muscle. In addition to flexing your spine forward, the abs are also responsible for curling the pelvis under--as in the hanging leg raise--and bending your spine to the side. By performing a variety of exercises you will hit your abs from all angles which will contribute to your overall fitness.
Avoid Excessive Reps
Your abs are very similar in structure to every other muscle in your body and respond best to multiple sets of between 6 to 20 repetitions. The misguided practice of performing high repetitions (above 20) is merely a waste of time. To improve your ab fitness, your abs need to be challenged with a significant overload and taken to the point where you experience fatigue. If you can perform more than 20 repetitions you would be better served choosing a different, more challenging, exercise.
Perform Weighted Ab Work
To increase the strength of your abs, you need to expose them to a significant overload. One way to do this is to use extra weight when performing your ab work. Depending on the exercise you are performing, you can hold a weight plate across your chest, place a medicine ball behind your head or wear a pair of ankle weights to achieve this. Alternatively you can select weighted ab exercises such as cable crunches, cable Russian twists or weighted crunches using a specialized abdominal machine to overload your abs. If you want to develop ab strength, weighted ab work is far more beneficial than performing high reps.
Stretch Your Abs
Exercise causes adaptive shortening. That is to say that your body adapts to the range of movement you use during your exercises. Most ab work uses a restricted range of movement which can leave your abs tight which adversely affect your posture. To avoid a rounded lower back and slouched posture, make sure you stretch your abdominal muscles after you have exercised.
Learn to Brace
Bracing is our bodies way of developing intra-abdominal pressure and is how we stabilize our spines during strenuous movements. To brace your abs, tense your abs as if you were expecting someone to punch you in the stomach and take a half breath in. You should feel your midsection inflate slightly. Intra abdominal pressure-or IAP for short-maintains spinal rigidity from within and is like strapping on a natural weight lifting belt. Practice bracing by performing a variety of plank hold exercises and also concentrating on your midsection whenever you lift any weights. Effective bracing will lower your chances of suffering a lower back injury while lifting.
References
- ExRx: Anatomy of the Abdominals
- "Abdominal Training, Second Edition: A Progressive Guide to Greater Strength"; Christopher M. Norris; 2002
- "Stronger Abs and Back"; Dean and Gregg Brittenham; 1997
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