Ab Blast: Why so many of us do our Core a Disservice!

"It's not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential".
-Bruce Lee 

There are so many reasons that people choose to train their core; rehabilitation from back injury, stability, losing body fat, vanity… yet there are so many theories and exercise suggestions on what we do to get there…  yet the common crunch seems to retain a presence no matter where we look!  A trim waistline has been proven to be a popular thing! And lower backs seem to be the most popular injury of all… With so much lack of success when it comes to the trim waist and strong back, why are so many of us so willing to cling to the old ideas about training core and not embrace the new???  Why won’t any of us, despite our education and experience, let go of the crunch???

The core is made up of inner and outer units; the inner units are made up of transverse abdominis, mutlifidus, diaphragm and pelvic floor.  These are low intensity muscles that wrap around the spine to hug and support it.  The inner units are also said to be the anticipatory core; if one moves an arm or a leg, (when functioning well) these muscles anticipate the movement and activate to serve as an anchor for the trunk.

The outer units consist of the Lats, Obliques, Recuts Abdominis, Erector Spinae, Glutes etc. and support the spine when under load and during movement.  When these muscles are balanced and strong, the spine keeps its ideal neutral state that promotes a healthy lower back and it offers a strong postural center and postural control within ongoing movement patterns.  The outer units are said to be part of the ‘reactive core’; when one goes to move arms or legs, these muscles switch on after the inner core and decipher their activation level depending on the direction of the movement (“Core Conversations: The Anticipatory vs. Reactive Core” – Julie Wiebe).

When people think of losing body fat it is often the waistline that becomes the greatest target.  It is no secret; the key to a trim waistline is diet… yet, there haven’t been more contraptions invented by home gym sellers than that which has targeted the abdominals, and classes such as ‘ab blast’ and ‘abs plus’ and ‘toned tummies’ seem to remain on most Group Fitness timetables despite industry trend changes and other programs fading in and out.  Despite all the contrary information out there, so many of us just won’t let go of the idea that 100 crunches a day is the key to the flat, toned, strong stomach!

A recent study lead by Dr Jinger S. Gottschall of Pennsylvania State University influenced the value I have placed on crunches for strengthening and toning the abdominal area.  In this study 20 participants including instructors were wired up to an ENG machine to test the abdominal activation in a Body Combat class.  The muscles wired up were the rectus abdominis and external obliques, which are the surface abdominal muscles, used in crunches.  Subjects performed the moves performed in Body Combat release 51 and then performed crunches to the same speed of the music and time of the moves in that release.  The results showed that certain Body Combat moves such as jabs, front kicks, and high knees recorded a higher level of abdominal activation compared to that of a crunch; a jab showed 1.62x the amount of abdominal activation over 20 seconds compared to crunches performed at the same speed for this duration and double front kicks showed 2.3x the amount of activation compared to that of a crunch!  When the results were compared and calculated, 1 Body Combat class equaled 1700 crunches!!!  According to Bryce Hastings (Technical Consultant for Les Mills International) Body Combat is a form of Reactive Core training; this form of training exploits the body’s natural muscle wiring and natural reflexes through repetitive movements.  The reactive core is also said to be more useful when the body is under load. 

In the late 1990’s when Pilates swept the nation, the inner unit of abdominals became the focus and the answer to all lower back pain.  The solution rested in the idea of ‘hollowing’ (“Applied Core Science” – Bryce Hastings Technical consultant for Les Mills International).  Drawing in the abdomen and flattening the spine could successfully activate the inner unit with the main focus being transverse abdominis and multifidus.  This line of thought successfully healed many lower back issues when it came to day-to-day tasks and inactive lifestyles.  Unfortunately, these muscles only offer support when the spine is in gentle postures.  Transverse abdominis and multifidus are small muscles that operate at a low intensity.

Canadian Bio-Mechanics expert Stuart McGill challenged the idea of hollowing; hollowing changed the length of abdominal muscles such as rectus abdominis and external obliques so they ‘buckled’ when hollowed and could no longer support the spine at full potential.  McGill suggested the idea of ‘bracing the abdominals’ rather than hollowing; that way the spine remained neutral and the muscles could remain at normal length so that they could support the spine from the outer unit.  It was also McGill that recommended hovers and planks as key exercises to strengthening abdominal muscles as they allowed the spine to remain neutral and the external abdominal muscles to support the spine at normal length. Dr. Jinger S. Gottschall of Pennsylvania State University also conducted a study where 10 participants were wired up to an ENG machine and the amount of abdominal activity was compared between integrated exercises such as a hover compared to isolation exercises such as a crunch.  Integrated exercises showed more muscle activity compared to isolation.

There has been so much more research done since the common crunch; yet many of us cling to it as though it is the be all and end all of abdominal exercises.  We crunch in hope of strength, a trimmed waistline, and that stronger back so that pain won’t hinder us! Yet there are so many things that have been proven to work better than the common crunch - to equal the reactive core activation shown in a Body Combat class, you would have to complete 1700 crunches!  Integrated exercises such as a hover have measured more abdominal activity compared to the isolated crunch and have been known to bring the body back to its preferred neutral spine position.  Yet, even considering all these facts the core/stretch training area of any gym the most entertaining of all mainly due to it basically representing  misinformation on display; crunches performed at back breaking speeds, crunches performed with more neck activation than abs, spines being forced into distorted positions and all this shows is ignorance of what the core is and does!  When our core is strong, our whole body is strong... yet so many of us are willing to abuse our bodies by distorting our postures to enhance the burn we feel from particular crunch type exercises that serve no functional purpose.  Why is the ‘burn’ always favoured above research and education???