- Health, Fitness & Weight Loss
- A Personal Trainer Changed my Life!
- Abdominal Exercise Myths
- Basal Metabolic Rate - Burn Fat while you Sleep
- The Benefits of Swiss Ball Training
- Corporate Fitness Boosts your Bottom Line!
- Corporate Health Tips
- Functional Performance Training
- Goal Setting for Fitness Results
- Guidelines for Body Fat Percentages
- How to Choose your Personal Trainer
- Introducing the BOSU Balance Trainer
- Motivated for Success
- Not All Swiss Balls are Created Equal
- Personal Training Studio vs Gym
- Recovery and Regeneration
- Sizing your Swiss Ball
- Training in your Target Heart Rate Zone
- Walk Off your Waistline
- Weight Loss - Why Weights Work
- Why a REPs PT is your Best Bet
- Why I Fell for my Foam Roller
- 5 Hot Tips for Beating your Winter Woes
- Sport Specific Performance
- Nutrition
- Training with Specific Conditions
- References
Abdominal Exercise Myths
Here are Some Abdominal Exercise Myths that Could be Holding you Back
For many of us abdominal exercises are a big focus of our training programme. People can spend hours every week struggling and straining to mould the abs of their dreams. The truth is all this hard work could be fruitless unless you follow some basic guidelines. So let’s dispel some of the abdominal training myths that surround abdominal training and see what we can do about turning that wash tub into a wash board!
Myth #1 - You must do your abdominal exercises daily.
The abdominals react to exercise just like any other muscle you workout, so it is important that you do not over train them. Training the abdominal region daily will most likely lead to strains, poor performance and adaptive muscle shortening which over time can reflect in undesirable compensation in posture and movement patterns. Always give your abs a chance to recover and regenerate by giving them at least one day of rest after a tough session.
Myth #2 - The abdominals need to be trained to failure to get results.
The entire abdominal region should be exercised to fatigue and not failure.
Myth #3 - Train your abdominals first, while you’re fresh.
The abdominals play a critical role in stabilising and mobilising your spine and pelvis (the core), so if you fatigue them before performing more complex exercises then you increase your chances of injury, particularly to your lower back. For optimal results save your abdominal work out for the end of your session.
Myth #4- Your abdominal exercises can be done in any order.
The abdominals are comprised of the Transversus Abdominis (deep abdominal wall), Rectus Abdominis (Lower and Upper) and the Obliques (Internal and External). These muscles perform both isolated and integrated functions and fatigue at different rates. Considering this, the order in which they are trained needs to be taken into account to avoid strains, poor performance and adaptive muscle shortening.
Myth #5 - Abdominal exercises reduce your waistline.
There is no direct connection from the abdominal muscles to the fat cells surrounding them. Therefore, the energy used to fuel the abdominals can come from fat stores anywhere in the body. The body uses it's fat stores so that the last place you added fat will be the first place that you lose it from.
Whether your goal is to build core strength, improve sports performance or reduce back pain, you need to follow a programme tailored to your specific requirements. Generic programmes don’t work for everyone. Contact Pulse Personal Training to find out how you can get maximum results from your abdominal workouts.
By Hamish Abbie BPhEd, BComm, CHEK L1, XLR8 Coach, REPs - 30/11/2006