With a wrecked back, abdominal work can be especially difficult. Many traditional ab exercises require you to arch your back and put strain on your lumbar. Even healthy backs can take a beating.

While your back is going through its own issues, you’ll still want to strengthen your abs, since a strong core can help protect an injured back. But you’ll want to steer clear of traditional ab movements, such as floor crunches, lying leg raises, and sit ups. You’ll need an alternative approach to stimulating your ab wall that is both effective and safe, and activates all of the important areas of the midsection, including the rectus abdominis, serratus, and oblique muscles.

Stronger Abs for a Safer Back

Abdominal muscle plays a role in nearly every lift you perform, from squats to curls, bench presses to deadlifts, and overhead presses to dips. Without proper strength and development, a weak core will directly translate to a lack of overall strength. Additionally, your abs provide the body’s natural weightlifting belt. By learning to effectively control your core, you will more efficiently transfer power and strength to your limbs to provide more stability to your back, so you can lift more and lift it safely. Think of a strong core as an insurance policy for your back.

One little-known trick is to incorporate ab work into everything you do. On any lift, be conscious of tightening your abs. On standing presses, bench presses, squats, deadlifts, and even curls, contract your abs slightly to stabilize your spine. You’ll not only help protect your lumbar, but will also generate a stable base of power, so those respective areas can be trained more optimally.

Below is a short list of exercises that help develop your core without the strain and pain of too much lumbar flexion. They will challenge and improve your stability, balance, and strength. You’ll also find a few pointers to remember when performing these unique ab moves. Your back will thank you.

7 Movements for Back-Safe Ab Training

Ab Wheel Rollouts

You’ve seen that funny little ab wheel at your gym before, so why not take it for a spin? One requirement is that you have a fairly stable shoulder girdle. Since you’ll need to sustain a strong core and a rather straight upper body posture, the ab wheel rollout looks simple enough, but will test your entire upper body. Oh, and it’ll also kill your abs.

Suspension Trainer Fallouts

Much like the ab wheel rollout, this exercise adds in a unique instability factor. By stabilizing two independent handles suspended from above (as in a TRX trainer) your abs will be doing double duty. Again, the key is to maintain a strong shoulder girdle, along with focusing on targeting your core.

Whole-Body Lifts

As stated above, whole-body lifts (when performed correctly with a tight midsection) will stimulate the abdominal wall through stabilization. When performing squats, standing presses, or deadlifts (among other multi-joint moves), stay conscious of tightening your core as if you were about to be punched. This will not only help your ab development, but also help assist in the actual lift.

Planks

Not just for the trendy people anymore, planks provide that coveted activation of the transverse abdominis. With a similar effect as tightening your core during whole-body lifts, planks have the added benefit of improving stability and balance development with or without a gym. Try timed planks, or have a training partner place a weight plate on your upper back for more of a challenge.

Push Ups

A push up is a plank in motion, and as such is an underrated tool in your ab training arsenal. Many don’t focus enough on body alignment and stability during a set of push ups. They just crank out a set or two at the end of a chest training session without any real thought of whole-body awareness. No matter how tired you may be, make your abs work overtime to keep stability in your spine. Stay straight, avoid sagging, and tighten your core.

Dynamic and Side Planks

As if planks weren’t tough enough, side planks take your no-back-pain ab training to another level. We tend to think of core work only in one plane: the forward flexion of the trunk, whether from the ribcage (as in a crunch), or the pelvis (as in a leg lift). Stability training from all sides of the core is a must for anyone battling back pain. Try transferring from a normal plank position to side planks and continue to alternate for time.

Jackknives and Tucks

Performed with a suspension training device or an exercise ball, jackknives and tucks are killer ab moves without much strain to the lower back. They require serious stability, balance and overall bodyweight strength. Perform jackknives and tucks slowly and with maximum control.

Mix and Match to Blast Your Abs

Of course, you don’t have to perform every single move above. Pick a few of them to add to your daily gym routine, along with relearning how to tighten your core during other lifts. This shift in focus will put you well on your way to a new perspective on ab training, without stressing out your back more than it already is. Don’t let back pain prohibit you from reaping the benefits of ab work. There will always be workarounds—you just have to be a little more attentive, and a whole lot more creative.

Why does ab work bother your lumbar in the first place?

Why Your Back Hurts When You Do Abs

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Combat sports are unlike anything else in the world. When an athlete steps into the ring, they understand that they are about to risk their lives. When the round starts, the other person’s objective is to hurt you as fast as possible. Stand up fighters like kickboxers are considered to be the fittest athletes in the world. They must become so, because their survival in the ring depends on it.

But you don’t have to ever set foot in a ring in order to use the training methods of fighters. Below, I’ll share my favorite ab workout with you. It’s what I use for myself and my fighters to build the core strength that protects us from punches, and allows us to generate punching power.

The Kickboxer Ab Workout

This workout should only take you about 20 minutes, and is a great workout by itself. If you want something a bit more challenging, you can always add it onto the end of your workout as a finisher.

Round 1

This circuit contains three exercises, each performed for a minute. After each circuit (3 minutes), you may take a 30 second rest before starting the next one. Perform three total circuits.

Muay Thai Plank: 1 Minute (15 second active, 5 second break)

The Muay Thai plank is a variation of a normal plank. Get onto your elbows and knees as in a normal plank. Be sure to engage your entire body, including your glutes, back, abs, shoulders, and even hands. When you engage your body, imagine if someone were about to hit you, and you need to stiffen to protect yourself.

High Plank Walk-Outs: 1 Minute AMRAP

Hold a high plank and walk your arms forward as far as possible. When you are walking your hands out, make sure that you keep your back flat and straight, and that your hips do not sway side to side. You should walk out to a distance where you are struggling to stay up, then stop and walk back to your original starting position. Perform as many reps as possible for one minute.

Plank Skip Knee: 1 Minute AMRAP

Start in a high plank position. If you are on hardwood, you can do this in your socks, or place gliders, towels, or a piece of paper towel on your feet. If you are on carpet, you will need gliders or something that can slide smoothly on carpet. Focus on keeping your back and abs engaged as you slide your knees in and out. Try to keep your whole body still by engaging your core.

Round 2

Just as in the first round, you will perform each of the exercises in a circuit. Complete one minute of each exercise to make one circuit, and repeat the whole circuit three times, with a 30 second rest between circuits.

Leg Hold: 1 Minute 

Lay on your back with your feet straight out. Focus on engaging your core, bracing your trunk, and squeezing your shoulder blades back. This puts your spine into a neutral position that will protect it. You will feel a natural curve in your spine, this is okay. You should contact the floor with your upper back and your pelvic bone area. Place your hands to the side of you, activate your core, and raise your leg six inches off the ground. Hold for one minute.

Bicycle: 1 Minute

Lay on your back with your arms up, hands touching your head. Lift your feet up so that your knees are bent at a 90-degree angle. Alternate your legs in and out as you touch your elbows to your opposite knee. Make sure that you are engaging the core for the whole duration, and you are turning using your upper body and not your arms.

In and Out: 1 Minute

Lay on the ground with your legs bent and lifted into the air. You can place your hands behind you, or right behind your glutes to make it harder. Extend your legs all the way and then bring them in.

You don’t always need a gym:

Mastering Bodyweight Exercise: The Triple A Framework

The post Fighter’s Abs: Train Like a Kickboxer appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Do this exercise or series of exercises and “poof” there’s that elusive six-pack. No one wants an un-sexy fat gut so they jump on the latest workout gadget or routine that purportedly offers the desired look. Month after month, abs-slimming advice is put out there. Why, then, don’t we see more ripped specimens traversing the planet?

RELATED: Abdominal Workouts Not Effective For Losing Abdominal Fat

Magical Ab Devices and Programs

Let’s take a look at history. A glut of supposedly magical devices and programs has been touted over the years:

• Ab Toner
• Ab Rocker
• Ab Wheel
• Ab Circle Pro
• Ab Coaster
• Ab Rocket
• Ab Doer
• Ab Lounge
• Ab Twister
• Ab Swing
• Ab Wave
• Ab Storm
• Ab Roller
• Ab Glider
• Kruncher Ab Machine
• Belly Burner
• Flex Pro Abdominal Toner
• Bender Ball
• Sauna Pants
• Perfect Sit Up
• Tummy Tuck Belt
• 8-Minute Abs
• 10-Minute Abs
• 12-Minute Abs
• Ab Ad Nauseam

Okay, admit it. Raise your hand if you ever purchased or used one of the above. Come on – be honest.

I am not suggesting all of these products are worthless and don’t target midsection musculature. They may activate the rectus abdominus, obliques, hip flexors, and more, but do we really need to go into the “fat shredding” aspect?

“[I]f you eat like crap and do powder-puff workouts, good luck achieving those washboard abs.”

These devices and programs typically come with a nutrition disclaimer and recommendations to incorporate high energy-burning workouts. In other words, if you eat like crap and do powder-puff workouts, good luck achieving those washboard abs.

The Facts About Abdominal Training

• There are so many ways to target the abdominals, including the above list. Knock yourself out.
• You can obtain that six-pack, but if it’s covered with a large layer of subcutaneous fat, then you won’t be able to see it.
• We all should know by now it is impossible to spot reduce fat stores.
• 99% of conventional abdominal workouts are poor choices for burning a bunch of calories.
• Spending thirty minutes (or even fifteen for that matter) performing a half-dozen abdominal exercises for dozens of repetitions is unnecessary. Keep it simple.

RELATED: How to Sprint Your Way to a 6-Pack 

How to Train Your Abs

Your abs are no different than your other muscles. Work them hard within reasonable repetition ranges. Use variety, such as repetitions to muscular fatigue at 8-12, 15-20, or 25-40. Mix it up like you’d do with other exercises. Here are my suggestions (click on table to enlarge):

A Rational Abdominal Training Routine

NOTE: All sets performed to volitional muscular fatigue.

Workout 1:

Trunk rotation – 2 x 15-20 reps

Trunk flexion – 1 x 8-12 reps

Workout 2:

Trunk flexion – 2 x 15-20 reps

Trunk lateral flexion – 2 x 8-12 reps

Workout 3:

Trunk rotation – 1 x 25-35 reps

Trunk lateral flexion x 1 x 25 -3 reps

Workout 5:

Trunk rotation – 1 x 25 – 35 reps

Trunk flexion – 2 x 10-15 reps

Workout 6:

Trunk rotation – 2 x 10-15 reps

Trunk flexion – 1 x 25 – 35 reps

RELATED: The Best Abdominal Exercises for the Strength Athlete 

Work your abdominals. They are important muscle groups relative to your health and functional ability. But don’t spend an inordinate amount of time addressing them for the sake of reducing body fat.

Photos courtesy of Shutterstock.

The post The Truth About Abdominal Training and Body Fat appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What follows is a list of hundreds of exercise options delineated into various categories to assist you in designing training programs, such as the examples below.

Click on each category to access a full-color PDF of exercise options

• Circuit and interval – upper body, lower body, and abdominal exercises
• Circuit and interval – total body exercises
• Lower and upper body push-pull combination exercises
• Upper body push exercises
• Upper body pull exercises
• Lower body exercises

The post A Database of 100s of Exercises to Spice Up Your Workouts appeared first on Breaking Muscle.