While doing research to strengthen my position on why most of my clients never do crunches – or any other traditional "ab" exercises, for that matter – yet have the abdominal definition most people would kill or die for, I came across this article by star fitness trainer Jorge Cruise (so what if I'm a little jealous, too?).
Read closely:
Move 2: Seated Crossover
(works the upper rectus abdominis)
A. Remain seated with your feet flat on the floor. Sit tall with a long spine. Bend your arms 90 degrees, bringing your elbows in line with your chest, your forearms perpendicular to the floor, and your fingers toward the ceiling.
B. Exhale as you bring your left elbow and right knee toward one another. Inhale as you bring your elbow and knee back to the starting position. Repeat with your right elbow and left knee, alternating between those positions for 1 minute. After 1 minute, move on to Move 3.
(Don't worry; we'll talk about Move 3 some other time. And Move 1 is the Tummy Vacuum Exercise I wrote about in Woman's Day magazine way back in 2000.)
Ever heard of a thing called gravity? She's bringing her left elbow to her right knee which leads to a crunch like motion in her torso. The problem is that the crunch comes from gravity pulling her trunk downward – not from any action of her "upper rectus abdominis" as stated in the description.
In other words, despite the clear statement, "works the upper rectus abdominis," this move cannot work the upper rectus abdominis. It's gravity that's doing all the work instead.
Oh, yeah – you might convinced yourself that you "feel it," but with enough concentration ( and a little placebo effect) you can convince yourself that you can feel any muscle – even though simple biomechanics will show you that muscle's not working at all.
Plus, the knee-raising motion is technically called "hip flexion." Although most people are convinced this works the so-called lower abs, hip flexion is performed by (duh) your hip flexors, not your lower abs.
Your lower abs aren't connected to your legs and, therefore, cannot move them (at least not directly).
Plus, as "the father of functional training," Gary Gray, PT, points out, your abs control the relationship between your rib cage and your pelvis. So anytime you sit or lie down (at least on a flat surface), you're taking away from the work your abs have to do. The surface is doing some of the work for you.
Can you handle the truth? Check out The Truth About Abs.
Tags: fitness program, exercise program
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