Strickland Fitness

The Plank

Do you see people at the gym holding a push-up position or holding that same position on their forearms? Do you ever wonder what they are really doing or what they are working? I have actually asked people what they are working when they are doing a plank and the number one response is, "I saw other people doing it so I decided to do it."

The plank has a very specific function and purpose. The Abdominals job in functional terms is to stop the back from hyper-extending (the lower back bending backwards). To feel what I mean, stand up and extend your arms high above your head. Start to slowly bend backwards at the lower back. You should begin to feel your abdominals tightening up the further back you get. Thats the abs doing their job to protect the lumbar spine (lower back).

Now, when you are holding a plank with your body in a straight line from head to toe allowing your lower back to keep its natural curve, you should feel yours abs tight. They are stopping your hips from sinking beneath the rest of your body, or your lower back from hyper-extending. That's the purpose of the plank. Our abdominals are supposed to stop movement, although they are trained mostly to create a movement (ie. crunches and sit ups). To strengthen your abs, do various versions of the plank for increased intensity. You will have decreased back pain because the muscle that supports it is getting stronger.

Try holding a plank for 3 sets of 15-30 seconds with rest in between. Once that becomes easy, try raising different limbs for higher demand of abdominal strength. Do not let the hips sink or the but raise in the air. Concentrate on keeping a straight line from head to toe.

Back Pain and Tight Muscles

This is definitely not a diagnosis; however, lower back pain can be caused by tight muscle in the legs, hips or abdominals. I have many new clients that come to me with one of their goals being to eliminate lower back pain. If this pain is not caused by soft tissue, nerve or spinal damage (which is out of my range to treat), the first thing I look for is tightness. Many times this is the problem. After a specific and persistent stretching routine, their back pain is slowly eliminated. Besides the upper leg muscles, abdominals, and muscles in the hips attaching to the pelvis, so do all the lower back muscles. If the any of the upper leg, abdominal or hip muscles are tight, that causes constant tugging on the pelvis. If the pelvis is being tugged on, then so are all the lower back muscles which are attached to it. This tugging on the pelvis is called a pelvic tilt. If the pelvis is tilted either way of the neutral position, this can cause extreme stress on your lower back. The purpose of stretching your legs, hips, and abdominals is to release the tight muscles and get your pelvis into a neutral position at all times. What are some things that can cause tight muscles? The first and most common thing is sitting down for long periods of time. Sitting causes the abs and hip flexors to be in a shortened position. The shortening causes an anterior pelvic tilt (the pelvis tilts forward). This puts your lower back muscles into a compressed state when standing. If you have a sit-down job, stretching the hip flexors and working on strengthening the abdominals will help to release your pelvis. Running is also a common reason for back pain. Now, I am not saying you shouldn’t run (it is a great cardio workout and stress reliever), however, what you do before and after your run can help to relieve back pain. Besides impact on the spine, running will cause a lot of your leg and hip muscles to tighten up. If you are a runner, be sure to do a good warm up of active stretching (see warming up post) and an immediate post run stretch and another one before bed. It is a good idea to stretch the morning after a run as well. I will post another article about specific stretches to do to release your pelvis and help eliminate back pain. If you have any specific questions, you can email me.

80% of all people will suffer from lower back pain in their life. A lot of times this pain is not caused from injury, but from overcompensation from weak abdominals. Strong abdominals help to make a strong core which stabilizes the spine. When you are working for that ripped mid-section, you are also working to alleviate lower back pain.

The majority of back pain sufferers are in a career where they are in a seated position for most of the day. Sitting at a computer or desk is basically being in a crunch position the whole time. This isolated crunch position elongates the back muscles which weakens them over time. When Sean Renninger from Integrity Sport and Fitness (www.integritysportandfitness.com) trains his clients with lower back pain, he puts emphasis on lengthening the abdominal muscles besides shortening them. “Doing crunches”, Sean says, “is a fundamental movement that everybody knows, but does not serve the true function of the abs which is to protect and support the spine and lower back.”

If working the abdominals has become a major part of your workout routine, be sure to concentrate on the lengthening of the muscle as much as the shortening or contracting of the muscle. This will help to strengthen your abs, strengthen your back, strengthen your core, and stabilize your spine. A stabilized spine is a great prevention to lower back pain and injury.

The core is not a muscle. That is the major misunderstanding people have. Core is the relationship of a group of muscles and how they function together. The core or Lumbo-Pelvic-Hip-Complex (LPHC) is made up of two categorized muscle groups: Stabilizers and movers. The stabilizing muscles of the core are the transverse abs, internal obliques, lumbar, pelvic muscles, and diaphragm. The movers are the lats, hamstrings, rectus abdominus (abs), hip adductors and abductors, and external obliques. All of these muscles make up the core.

Having a strong core is vital to movement, posture, and prevention of injury. Just like most muscle groups, you have to stabilize the core before you train or move it. Strengthening the muscles as individuals and as a group will help to ensure optimal and efficient movement of the body.

Some basic core stabilizing exercises are bridges and hip abductions. Some basic core strengthening exercises are crunches, back extensions, and twists. Remember, doing a bunch of ab exercises is only part of core work. Just as much time needs to be spent on your back, sides and deeper muscles of each. Safe and efficient movement starts and ends with the core. If you have any questions on how to strengthen your core, feel free to email me.

Believe it or not, you have a 6-pack. You may not see it, but it’s there. When you see someone with ripped abs, you are seeing what fat normally hides. Crunches, sit ups, leg raises, and all the ab machines you see advertised on TV strengthen and shape your abs, but it’s the eating right and fat burning that makes them appear. If you look carefully, anyone with rock hard abs has a low fat body to go with it.

Eating right and doing intense cardio (preferably intervals) are crucial partners to all the exercises you do to get ripped abs. All three help in the fat burning process necessary for your abs to come through. You could do thousands of crunches a day, but without the first two elements, you will have strong ripped abs underneath any fat you have over them.

Now let’s look at our “abs.” This term is short for Rectus Abdominus. This muscle is responsible for flexing the lumbar spine and the muscle you see on fit people. So you shouldn’t only train your abs for looks, but for postural support as well. A common misconception is doing exercises to train your lower and upper abs. The Rectus Abdominus is one muscle with no dividing line between upper and lower. There are other muscles that make up the complete abdominal area. These are the Transverse Abdominals, the Internal Obliques and the External Obliques. Different exercises train these different areas. You should be sure to train these other muscles as much as you train your Rectus Abdominus. This will keep your posture strong and help to give you a slim waist to match your new 10-pack!