Abs-solutely Incorrect

Core conditioning is one of the big buzz words and money making racquets in the fitness industry today. Whilst there is a need for a strong core whether you’re an athlete or a desk clerk, a lot of money has been made from a lot of lies regarding the core, especially the abs! There are probably more gadgets, books and DVDs on the abs than any other single body part. One would think that given the wealth of material available everyone who exercises will have the classic six pack abs look. So where are we going wrong?

First of all, the vast majority of people I know with six pack abs have done little or no work to get or maintain them! (How many abs infomercials tell you that?!) Genetics has a huge role. Anyone with naturally low body fat generally has them. It’s quite simple, the less fat around your abs, the easier it is to see the underlying muscle. You can exercise your abs all you like and increase their size but without a low body fat percentage they will not be visible. Of course abs infomercials tell you if you buy their book or their machine you’ll have great abs in no time. Most of these don’t work. Let’s take a look at some of the typical abdominal myths that are floating around.

Spot Reduction

“If you want to get rid of body fat around the abdominal area you got to burn it off by exercising that area.”

Classic mistake, so called spot reduction has no scientific basis. The body gets rid of abdominal fat the same way it gets rid of any other fat, by losing fat mass in general with an appropriate exercise and nutrition program. In general excess calories are stored as fat around the abdominal area in men and on the hips and buttocks in women. Doing lots of exercise for the abs will help build nice looking abs but they won’t be visible until enough fat is out of the way.

Hundreds of Crunches

“You need to do hundreds of sit-ups and crunches to get nice abs”

I’m continuingly amazed at the number of people who do 6 – 12 reps in all exercises to build muscle, then go ahead and perform an insanely huge number of sit-ups usually by the hundred. If you know that 6 – 12 reps are required to build muscle in all other muscle groups why not apply the same logic to your abs? It has the same logic as performing step aerobics to build huge legs! Once the set time goes over 2 minutes the exercise is aerobic. Further more, performing 6 – 12 reps builds strength and size by growing the type 2 muscle fibres, by doing a huge number of sit-ups or crunches you will atrophy the type 2 muscle fibres and grow the type 1 fibres (associated with endurance). Type 1 fibres do not make for a strong or enhanced looking six pack. Finally performing a huge number of exercises on one side of a joint only causes a muscular imbalance. In this case the imbalance lies between the abs and the lower back, thus helping to encourage injuries in the lower back.

Daily Workout

“If you want nice abs you have to work them every day”

This approach generally doesn’t allow your body to recover from the previous workout and will eventually lead to overtraining. The only way it won’t is if the intensity and volume of the exercises are low enough to allow a daily workout without overtraining, if so, they aren’t going to do much to improve your abs.

Upper and Lower Abs

“Exercises for your upper abs, exercises for your lower abs”

Abdominus rectus is one muscle. The so called upper abs and lower abs are different ends of the same muscle. Exercises that are supposed to work the upper abs or the lower abs selectively are actually working the whole of the abs, it’s impossible to contract half a muscle! They differ in how the muscles are recruited neurologically; there could be a difference in some of the muscle fibres that are recruited or they could cause the muscle to exert force from a different angle and for this reason it’s good to use a variety of different exercises rather than sticking with same ones all the time.

It’s worth noting that if you have a healthy body composition, you probably still won’t be able to see your abs. The classic six pack look requires a much lower body fat percentage than what is considered healthy for the average person, they are still attainable with hard work but don’t worry if you don’t have them. Finally don’t get carried away with training the abs and forget the other muscles in the core: the obliques (sides of the waist) and spinal erectors (lower back). For optimal development they all need adequate exercise. For further guidance on this subject and to have it applied to your individual needs in a workout go to www.alternativeconditioning.com, we’ll be glad to help you.

Adrian Birkby CSCS MPT

www.alternativeconditioning.com