Whether you are looking to shrink your gut or develop six-pack abs, with exercise sometimes you may feel some discomfort in the abdomen. The burning feeling in your abdomen can occur when you are fatiguing your muscles with exercise. The stretching feeling can happen during exercises that focus on elongating your spine.
Muscles
Your abdomen is made up of a variety of different muscles including your transverse abdominal, internal obliques, external obliques and the rectus abdominus. These muscles work together to keep your body stable during exercise. The rectus abdominus works to bend the spine forward. The internal obliques are responsible for rotation of your core and are found on the sides of your torso. The external obliques also run along your torso and are used for posture. The transverse abdominals are the deepest muscles of your abs.
Burning
A burning sensation can occur in your abdominal wall when you are exercising. When you target train your abdominals, you focus on training just one muscle group. This places a great demand on your abs because of the muscle contractions. Exercises like crunches, bicycle twists and leg lifts focus on the shortening and lengthening of muscles causing burning as you fatigue the muscles. These movements are called concentric and eccentric movements.
Stretching
Stretching can be experienced in your abdomen when you lengthen your core muscles. A stretching feeling occurs when you lengthen your limbs, allowing your abdomen to stretch. Exercises that place your hands above your head, like an overhead press, elongate your abdomen, creating a stretching sensation. Pilates training stretches the abdomen with exercises like scissor kicks. Yoga poses also stretch your abs when you complete back-bending poses like cobra, camel and cow pose.
Considerations
There is a difference between burning in the abs and pain. If you feel pain in your abdominals consider seeing your doctor. You may be experiencing health problems when you suffer from abdominal pain. You may also experience abdominal pain or cramping if you exercise on a full stomach or drink too much water during activity.
