"Going Hardcore" Core Workouts

HS athletes should not do the same workout as a professional athlete for a large number of reasons...

And there is no such thing as "lower abs"

Hmm...band work for the sake of band work...a crunch...and unfunctional push...and a seated twist...all unperiodized. Ya know when I described the "traditional" program design....this is what I meant!

I don't intend to sound arrogant...I'm just tired of having you guys manipulated and miseducated by money-whor@ trainers/writers/coaches intent on taking as much money from you as they can. Please don't take my comments out of context and think I'm berrating you (rhbaseball)...that is unless you wrote this! lol

I never intended on doing these workouts, I just found them interesting; and wanted to see what other people thought about them.

Jon,

Could you clarify the "no lower abs" comment? Are you referring to the fact that it's just the rectus from an anatomy standpoint? Or are you referring to whether or not your upper and lower abs can work independantly?

Dave,

Whats with the two screen names?

Anatomy standpoint and unless you are EXTREMELY advanced and efficient you can even come close to try and seperate movements. The upper or lower portion cannot completley be isolated and why would you want even if you could?

Jon,

Here's some situations where anatomy can only show us so much about abdominal function:

A)Inflammation of the transverse colon. Because of its anatomical position (illiohypogastric and illioinguinal nerves innervate it as well as the rectus), if the colon is inflammed (which happens ALOT), it will create a level of inhibition in the lower abdominals. This can be observed by looking at the tone of the abdominal wall below the imbilicus. Personally, I deal with this alot in my practice.

B)Scarring in the lower abdominal region. In the case of apendicitis and the subsequent scarring that is involved, the resulting trigger points and nerve damage many times results in single-sided tonus in the lower abs and the other protruding and becoming electrically silent. I've actually had co-workers that have presented with this problem and they tell me that they can perform 100's of crunches and leg raises and yet it never develops an increased tone.

C)Inability to activate the T.V.A. There is a ton of cases that present with this problem! I can't tell you how many times I have a client come to me with well developed upper abs and protruding, distended lower abs. Once their diet is corrected, if this is still present, the T.V.A is re-educated and their lower abs develop tonus for the first time in their lives! Talk about making a client happy...especially guys that think the eight pack is a genetic issue.

D)A facilitated psoas can make the lower abs "lazy." This is seen in trainees that spend a lot of time performing leg raises incorrectly (includes hanging), martial artists that predominantly use one leg more than the other when kicking. Since the psoas becomes facilitated it takes over most of the work for the lower abdominals in pelvic stabilization as well as movments that involve the pelvis. The best place to find the problem is to go to the mall after the local high school gets out and look at the postures of many of the women! Their butts stick straight up in the air and their lower abs protrude out into the "pooch." If you could only see their psoas...it probably look like Ronnie Coleman's Biceps!

In some cases, the lower ab issue is traced to their sendentary lifestyle. Try this test for yourself: sit in a chair the way the average person does (I.e. slouched with their lumbar spine being flat and their butt at the front of the chair). Now place you index and middle fingers on your lower abs and see if there is any activation. Notice that there is no electrical activity at all! Sit in this position long enough and you've developed true abdominal dysfuntion. Since the average high schooler spends as much time watching t.v. commercials as he does sitting at a desk in school, you can well image what the result will be!

A great resource is the collective works of Byron Robinson, especially his book, "The abdominal and pelvic brain."

Good posts nellyboy, you explained well.

Thank you

Sorry if my first few posts were short and criptic, I've just had many problems in the past with forums and spending a considerable amount of time offering advice...only to have someone personally attack me for having a different opinion. As you can imagine, it made me crazy!

Nellyboy,

Certainly follow where you are coming from. But my initial post was in response to the article. How they were speaking about "lower abs" and exercises shown would magically make that area work. In the way they worded it made it shound as if they were claiming this area can be isolated. It can't be isolated. Just like any other muscle. Impossible to do. Even if it could why would anyone want to?

Of course many individuals have imbalances. Obviously I work with this everyday. But this was not the original topic and not exactly sure why you went in that direction.

When you made the original statement "there is no such thing as lower abs" I just wanted to clarify that "neurologically" there is.

Many trainees are taught that crunch-type movements as well as the leg raise-type movments will work their rectus no matter what. What I wanted to do was show some situations where this isn't the case and if someone on this website recognized themselves in one or more of the situations, they would know they need help.

No problem...If you go back and see my posts you will see we are on the same page.

That is why I answered your original question with anatomy standpoint.