First, it is important to know how to train your abs in a safe way so as not to injure your lower back. The positioning of your body is very important to get the most out of your exercise. When you train your abdominals, you should train your hip flexors too.
What are my hip flexors?
The iliopsoas muscle consists of the psoas major and illacus muscle. These two muscles act as the strongest flexor of the hip. They are separate in the abdomen but converge at the groin ligament. The psoas together with the abdominals works together to pull your trunk towards your legs. The psoas works in a much larger range of motion than the abdominals and is activated to the highest degree when your feet are supported, and your legs are straight. The psoas takes on the bulk of the work when the upper body comes off the floor by more or less 30 degrees in sit-ups or crunching exercises.
Can I isolate my abs training with low hip flexor activity for quicker results?
You can do ‘isolated’ abs training, and many trainers will advise you to do it and minimize hip flexor activity. This approach of minimizing hip flexor activity during abs training comes from the thought that excessive psoas activation during abs training creates compressive forces on the discs of the lumbar spine. The psoas attaches to the lower spinal vertebrae and when it is activated to a high degree pulls on the lower spine. If you have very strong abs, they will prevent your back from arching and prevent damage from occurring. The problem comes when you have fatigued your abs muscles and they can not prevent the back from arching anymore. Once this starts to occur during intense psoas activity, the vertebrae around the psoas attachment can grind together and can result in disc damage over time.
Why the balanced approach is better
With that being said, it’s best to build strong hip flexors together with the abdominals. Strong hip flexors will improve movement like sprinting or any other movement involving hip flexion. Strong hip flexors will add stability and mobility to your body and is essential when you do sports or in fact do any day-to-day activity.
Abs training on the floor
Proper body positioning is important to maximize in development of strong abs and at the same time protect your back from injury. Maintain a proper posterior pelvic tilt during abs training for best results. To explain this concept, think of yourself lying on the floor while arching your back. In this position, the top of your pelvis is tilted forward, known as anterior pelvic tilt. Now if you rotate the top of your pelvis down to the floor such that you removed the arch in your back, you are now in a posterior pelvic tilt. This is the optimal position you need to be in when doing floor abs exercises.
Abs training in the hanging position
Consider an abs exercise in a hanging position like hanging leg raise or hanging knee ups. People tend to do these exercises with a slightly arched back position utilizing mostly the hip flexors with minimum abs activation. To do a hanging leg or knee raise in a more effective and safe way to develop both the abdominals and hip flexors, you must have your back in a rounded position as you curl your pelvis up closer to your upper body. Doing these exercises in this position will make it more challenging and puts a much higher demand on your abs. a Proper leg raise is a difficult thing to do and you need to be in good physical shape to do it, but don’t be discouraged. If you struggle doing hanging leg raises properly, start with floor abs exercises until you are ready to up the challenge.
Doing abs training together with other high-intensity training
You can complete an intense abs training in about 5-10 minutes, you can either do it before your workout or after. I recommend doing your abs training at the end of your workout to assure that you don’t pre-exhaust your abs when you might need their stabilization to protect your back during some of the bigger compound exercises that might make out your workout routine.
It is important for the safety of your back not to fatigue your abs before doing heavy spine-loading exercises like squats or deadlifts. The problem with waiting till the end of your workout to do your abs exercise is that you are too fatigued, and you end up neglecting the abs training and doing it half-hearted or leaving it out completely. If your workout for the day mostly comprises upper body exercise, you can probably get away with doing your abs exercise first. You won’t need much stabilization of the core than as when doing a full body or lower body routine.
Or you can always just do it on a separate day or time it with your cardio workout.
How often should I exercise my abs?
Doing intense abs training for just between 5-10 minutes 3 times a week is sufficient to develop strong abs without overtraining them. Your abs muscles are like any other in your body after intense exercise it needs to repair themselves to become stronger. Overtraining your abs muscles will bring your progress to a halt.
Conclusion
Having a strong, balanced and mobile core is important for any activity you do and will prevent injuries, especially in the lower back.
The best exercise for your abs is where you get the most resistance. Hanging leg or knee raises gives more resistance than doing crunches or sit-ups on the floor for the simple reason that your legs are heavier than your torso.
a Few minutes of intense abs training 2-3 times a week should be easy to accomplish and it is essential that you do it correctly and that your body posture is correct to prevent injuries and maximize your workout effort.
