Know Thy Abs

Shawn Perine
Mon, 26 May 2014 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

It seems like abs are having their "moment." Everywhere you look, someone is promoting an abs diet, pushing an abs-exercising device or signing copies of their abs book. Billions of dollars leave consumers' wallets each year in their attempt to define their own. Magazine and newspaper ads abound with "before" and "after" photos of people proudly pulling their old pants waists out from their newly sculpted midsections.

There's nothing wrong with all of this, of course, as a lean midsection is a pretty solid barometer of a person's level of overall fitness. Yet for all of the attention paid to this one section of the body, I find that too many have too little an understanding of the basic anatomy of the abdominal region and even less about how to get it trim and tight.

When we talk about the "abs," we typically are referring to a group of muscles that sits between the pelvis and chest. In reality, that area is a complex network of layers of muscles, each capable of pulling, twisting and stabilizing the body in a variety of ways. Why so complex? Well, it might be easiest to use the analogy of a suspension bridge. Look at the sophisticated system of cables and supports that keeps suspended roadways supporting thousands of tons of vehicles. Now keep in mind that those bridges need only withstand the vertical pull of gravity and the lateral forces of winds. Imagine how they might look if they also had to resist upward pressure, extreme torqueing, twisting and bending. Think of your abdominal muscles as a bridge spanning the upper and lower halves of your body — one that must withstand forces from every conceivable direction while also protecting invaluable organs within their walls.
Updated: Tue May 27, 2014

It seems like abs are having their "moment." Everywhere you look, someone is promoting an abs diet, pushing an abs-exercising device or signing copies of their abs book. Billions of dollars leave consumers' wallets each year in their attempt to define their own. Magazine and newspaper ads abound with "before" and "after" photos of people proudly pulling their old pants waists out from their newly sculpted midsections.

There's nothing wrong with all of this, of course, as a lean midsection is a pretty solid barometer of a person's level of overall fitness. Yet for all of the attention paid to this one section of the body, I find that too many have too little an understanding of the basic anatomy of the abdominal region and even less about how to get it trim and tight.

When we talk about the "abs," we typically are referring to a group of muscles that sits between the pelvis and chest. In reality, that area is a complex network of layers of muscles, each capable of pulling, twisting and stabilizing the body in a variety of ways. Why so complex? Well, it might be easiest to use the analogy of a suspension bridge. Look at the sophisticated system of cables and supports that keeps suspended roadways supporting thousands of tons of vehicles. Now keep in mind that those bridges need only withstand the vertical pull of gravity and the lateral forces of winds. Imagine how they might look if they also had to resist upward pressure, extreme torqueing, twisting and bending. Think of your abdominal muscles as a bridge spanning the upper and lower halves of your body — one that must withstand forces from every conceivable direction while also protecting invaluable organs within their walls.

The main muscles within the abdominal region with which you should be concerned are the rectus abdominis (the "six-pack"), the external obliques (which intersect with the serratus to form what looks like intwined fingers over the sides of the ribcage), and the transverse abdominus (the "love handle" muscles). Generally speaking, the rectus abdominis and obliques can be targeted with any kind of forward-bending movement, including crunches and leg raises. The transverse abdominus is most effectively hit by doing twisting movements, such as broomstick twists.

Of course, the term "core" is very popular these days. The core muscles are the ones that lie below the superficial layer of muscles described above. Core training often involves static holds such as the plank and Pilates. At least that's how conventional wisdom dictates we train the core. However, I'm not convinced that there is a need to train the core by itself, as opposed to simply training the abs. The fallacy here is that the different layers of muscle of the mid-torso are entirely separate in function, despite spanning the same area. The truth is that they are merely separate layers, the better to protect our internal organs. When you train your abs, you are hitting your core, simply because they are all part and parcel of the same muscle group. To wit: I've never focused on core training, but I can hold a plank for pretty much as long as I want, until I get bored of doing a whole lot of nothing.

As far as getting that elusive six-pack, the truth is that most of the battle is in the diet. Everyone has the same muscles — muscles that are readily visible if our body fat percentage is low enough. The problem is that few of us buckle down and adjust our diets to the point where we give our abs a chance to be seen. Certainly training them will help deepen them, making them more impressive-looking, but no amount of training can offset a couple of inches of fat occluding our midsection muscles.

Oh, and on the subject of six-packs ... ever notice how some athletes have perfectly symmetrical abs, while others' are asymmetrical? Or how some people only have a four-pack and some actually display an eight-pack? It's not that some have deformed muscles or fewer or more than others. The appearance of the six-pack is created by rigid bands crossing the rectus abdominis called tendinous inscriptions. Much like fingerprints, no two sets of tendonous inscriptions are alike, and as such, each of us has our own distinct abdominal configuration, which we can proudly show off when we combine regular training with sound nutritional habits.