Abdominal Misconceptions

The abdominals (the rectus abdominus and the obliques) are the muscles that most everyone associates with the core, and the abdominals are the muscles that most inexperienced people at the gym either over-train or don’t train effectively.

Two common misconceptions in ab training are that you can train abs just about everyday, and the crunch is the most effective exercise. There are also other misconceptions associated with ab training, and I’d like to address some of them here.

First of all, the abs are just like any other muscle. They require rest periods to recuperate and grow. You should not train abs everyday.

You also don’t need to get in hundreds and hundreds of reps to train your abs effectively. Again, the rectus abdominis and external obliques are just like any other muscle. Getting them stronger and bigger requires added resistance (i.e. weighted exercises). You should shoot for 8-20 reps per set and gradually increase the resistance.

There is also a common belief that training the abs will inevitably get you a 6-pack. It may, but in order to see that 6-pack, you need to lose the fat around the stomach. Training abs all of the time won’t do this.

The misconceived practice of training a particular area of the body in order to lose fat around that area is called spot reduction, and its practice is rooted in fallacy. Your body won’t lose fat around a particular area just because you devote more time training it. You lose fat where you are genetically predisposed to do so. Some people lose fat around their waist first, some lose it around their thighs first.

You can’t choose where you want to lose fat first, your body does that. So, in order to see results around your mid-section, you must follow a good diet and burn excess calories. And in actuality, the abdominal muscles are such small and minor muscles that training them doesn’t really burn that many calories. Walking burns more calories than ab exercises.

To see more results out of your ab workouts, you need to do exercises that recruit the hip flexors. Muscles function best when working with other muscles, so getting the hip flexors involved in working your abs will stimulate the muscles more. Exercises like the bicycle and hanging leg tucks to this.

Also, you can’t work the full range of your abdominal muscles with the standard crunch. In order to do this, your back has to arc about 30 degrees backward so that your abs are in a stretched position, and you can’t very well bend backward when you’re lying on the floor. This is why you should incorporate either crunches on the decline bench or the Ab Bench. These two pieces of equipment allow for a full range of motion.

Now that I’ve dispelled some common ab myths, let’s review. 1. Abs are just like any other muscle, they need rest. 2. They also need increased resistance to grow. 3. Spot reduction is bull. 4. Caloric defecit is required to shed fat so that you can see the abs. 5. Recruit the hip flexors in your ab routine. 6. Also, do exercises that allow for a full range of motion.

Hopefully you’ve taken something away from this and won’t find yourself working hard on your abs and seeing no results because of ineffective training principles. Train right and train hard and you’ll get that 6-pack. Happy training!

The Core of Injury Prevention

This week's edition of River Weekly profiled the exercise (swiss) ball and its uses in core training. Here's a little more information on the core and its importance in injury prevention.


Injury prevention—this is a term, as athletes, we have probably heard a thousand times, maybe more, maybe enough that we gloss over it in our mind with canned axioms (more stretching, icing, taking care of pain so that it doesn’t develop into injury, etc), maybe enough that we fail to consider it at its core. Injury prevention, at its core, depends on the strength of the athlete’s core.

Athletic injuries are most often a result of overuse, and injuries from overuse are commonly associated with a lack of core strength in an athlete. For example, weak hip muscles causes the hip/trunk position to be askew when the foot strikes the ground while running. This is a frequent cause of knee injury.

In basic terms, core strength is essential in bodily alignment, which minimizes overloads on joints, and it is a foundation for strength in the limbs, which helps bodily movements to be more efficient. To effectively train the core, an athlete needs to concentrate on more than just the abs (rectus abdominis).

The core includes the following muscles: Transverse Abdominis, Rectus Abdominis, Multifidus, External Obliques, Internal Obliques, Quadratus Lumborum and Erector Spinae. In simpler terms, it is the abs, obliques, and muscles of the mid/lower back and hips.

This means that a strong core starts not only with the abs, but with the back and hips as well. So, training these areas, whether it be a concentrated movement designed to target core (like crunches and hip rotations) or a byproduct of another exercise (such as lunges and dead lifts) is essential in optimal athletic performance and injury prevention.

Stay tuned for some sample core exercises/workouts!

Push-up and Calf Raise Variations

Here are some variations of the push-up (one River Weekly's "Exercises of the Week"):


And the calf raise (the other "Exercise of the Week"):


I plan on posting some videos on in-home and quick workouts, so stay tuned.

James River Rugby: Box Jumps

I figured I should post a blog, since google planned on terminating my account due to lack of activity (oops).

I recently revived the James River Rugby newsletter. In it, I wrote an article about getting into "rugby shape," in which I mentioned box jumps. Box jumps were also one of the exercises of the week in the newsletter. I thought, since I have this blog I never use, I could use it as a platform for supplemental information based on information in the newsletter.

So, for starters, here is a video with some box jump variations:


The video shows lateral box jumps, one-leg jumps, and twisting jumps. You can also incorporate weighted jumps, in which you hold a weight, alternating leg jumps, alternating leg lateral jumps, jumping over the box, and many more. You can even make up your own patterns.

Happy training, and stay tuned to more supplemental information.