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| Introduction: Situps, anyone? |
People have gotten and continue to get rich off your Abs.
It is a little demoralizing that the whole of America continues to succumb to
the basest level of marketing. Ab "crunching" is the new word for the
old sit up! And, there is not a machine on the market that does any more than a sit up, or hanging leg lifts. The so-called isolation, safety, etc., are essentially hype. |
What to do with your ab equipment: Take your ab whatever that you spent 39.95 or 99.95 on, whack yourself in the head with it, and get rid of it. Or, hang it on a wall, with the sign, Snuckered Again! |
| Abs and Protuding Bellies | You should know that there is a difference between a flat
stomach,
revealing the muscles referred to as your abs, and actually developing
your abs. You can have the most developed abs in the world, and they could be
totally invisible! You have a few factors involved in protruding bellies. One is the stuff inside your stomach cavity, which is basically your stomach pouch and entrails (intestine). The other is the fat between the muscle layer and skin. Another is the muscle condition itself. If you reduced the outermost deposit of fat, you could have a gigantic pot belly (from intraperitoneal pressure), but nice rippled abs, because no fat would be covering them. An unusual combination to be sure, but theoretically possible. |
Nautilus Crunchers: You should realize that most equipment, including the very nice (and expensive) Nautilus Abdominal Cruncher do nothing more, and in fact a lot less, than what has been described. The Nautilus machine can provide a "better" workout for the abdominals by offering a more ergonometric (read: comfortable) position with substantial resistance, and is also good for the back, to the extent that it stretches the spine. But, only specialized athletes need this level of resistance. |
| Working your Abs & Obliques | Abs: Think about how your abs work, and your obliques. Recall that muscles can do one and only one thing: Contract, i.e., get shorter, moving the points they are connected to closer together, usually in a straight line.. a. Situps, knees bent, just until the upper back leaves the floor b. Hanging: Hang by your hands from an overhead bar and do leg lifts (knees as far up the chest as possible--technically, only the first 15 degrees or so of motion are abs (like the sit up above), but there are other benefits, as this is a whole-body exercise with great therapeutic effects for the back. Highly recommended. c. Sit in a highbacked chair, hook your legs underneath, grip the top of the chair over your shoulders and behind your head, and "crunch" down. Crunching the abs brings your chest down to your pelvis. You want to RESIST this motion with your arms and legs grabbing the chair, forcing the abs to overcome a resistance.. Or, in a low backed chair with arms, grab the arms and crunch....use your arms to prevent your chest from moving down. A more acrobatic version is to hang by your feet (requires special boots or other equipment) or your knees (better for younger lightweight people!) and lift your torso upwards, 15 degrees or so. Realize that a full 90 degree sit up is a totally different set of muscles, which when overworked by too many situps, can throw the lower back out of alignment. It is only the first 15 degrees or so that utilizes the abdominii recti. Also realize that not everyone is up to the rigors of heavy exercise. A lot can be accomplished without superhuman effort. |
Obliques: These are the muscles that in principle "hold in" the stomach moreso than the abs, and even then it is impossible to say in a given individual how good a job they will do. Yet they are not easy to address directly. Motions such as swinging a bat in baseball (not that baseball players are great examples of flat stomachs--more evidence for my thesis that all this is silly, anyway!), boxing, swimming, or any activity that involves a lot of rapid upper body position changes. To attack them directly, try this: Put your hands on your waist, and pinch your sides deeply (like what I do to my wife all the time--What's this, honey??) Breathe deep, in and out, and tense, as if you were resisting a punch to the belly. Do you feel something hardening within your grip? Those are the so-called obliques. You can exercise them by tensing fully inhaled, fully exhaled, in a rigid up right position, and in a slumped position (four combinations). Try not to elevate blood pressure, or increase intestinal pressure (rectal), as with any improperly done exertion, hemorrhoids and other pressure-related affects can occur. One of the best upper-body development systems were developed independently by myself and Leonard Schwartz, MD. He wrote the book on it, "Heavy Hands" (Little, Brown) and marketed the hand weight system for this method. I did not have the foresight to do either! But you should read my abreviated version. The extraordinary variety of stresses induced in the torso matches those of any other exercise. In a nutshell, you are boxing with handweights (plus other motions). |
| "Ripped" Abs = Ripped Off?? Excessive definition can be a sign of ill health rather than fitness! |
In principle, as you develop your abs and obliques, your
belly gets slightly bigger: after all, you are in fact making a muscle in that
locale bigger by developing it One is hoping that by making them stronger, they
will also hold more tissue "in." It is generally pointless to try and get rippled abs. This is a product of genes, or of a fanatic lifestyle, and is just not worth the effort. You should also realize that diets designed to do this are often too low in fat and fluids! Deficiency of essential fatty acids (EFA's) is thought by some to be a major cause of sub-clinical illness, poor health, weight fluctuations, and premature aging. |
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| Your Abs, Obliques, and the HoloBarre | The HoloBarre, if I may, accomplishes every technique mentioned here, except of course Nautilus and Heavy Hands. But you can do the exact equivalent of the Nautilus, which is what is done on other home gyms. You are best off looking at the Free Instructional Video. There are literally dozens of exercises that directly and indirectly address the abs and obliques. Paying for dedicated equipment is foolish. | |
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