Ab Exercises That Work

9 Ab Exercises for Lean Tight Abs And To Save Your Back

Today I thought we would take a short break from the series of lean muscle workouts we have been doing lately. I have an article on you guessed it ab exercises. The article comes courtesy of Jason Ferruggia a well known and respected strength and conditioning coach.

We all know (I hope) that for lean tight abs crunches and sit ups are useless. I also hope we all know that without a sound diet plan any excess stomach fat you have will prevent you from having a trim waist.

And did you also know that you may be doing some serious harm to your back if you are still using crunches and sit ups?

Ab Exercises For That Six Pack Abs Look

Although the majority of people continue to rely on exercises like sit ups and crunches when it comes to training thier abs, research has proven that these exercises place excessive loads on the lower back, leading to a lot of pain for a lot of people. Repeated, loaded spinal flexion is one of the leading causes for disc herniation.

In fact, the traditional old school, slow speed sit up has been shown to place 730 pounds of compression on the spine! Other commonly used ab exercises place over 1,000 pounds of compression on the spine!

Boy, do I wish I knew all this in my teens and early 20’s when I did thousands of spinal flexion exercises per week, eventually leading to two herniated discs.

Not only are you risking long term back problems by doing all those sit ups, crunches, and all their useless variations but you are not even providing optimal stimulus to the abdominals.

Research has proven that bracing actually trains the abs much more effectively than spinal flexion. To properly employ this technique you need to brace your abs as hard as you can like you are preparing to take a punch.

You don’t push your abs out and you don’t suck them in. Sucking them in and trying to activate your transverse abdominis is a mistake if you want to lift heavy weights safely...

Please Continue Reading At How To Get That Six Pack Abs Look