Oh, My Aching Back

I used to think the only time you sucked in your gut was when you were at the beach. That is until I went to a physical therapist for my back. While going through my physical therapy exercises, my therapist constantly reminded me "engage your core." In other words, suck in your gut.

The thing is, it did make a difference in how well I did the exercises. On the quadriceps stretches, I did feel a better stretch in my thighs. Who would have guessed?

Those visits also changed my perspective towards abs and crunches. In the past, I thought all you had to do to have good abdominal muscles was crunches. And all of the sudden, I began to notice all sorts of articles about abs. I learned two things:

1. You have to continually engage your core

2. Crunches aren’t necessarily the best exercise for strengthening your core and flattening your belly.

Continually engaging your core

While I was in physical therapy, I spotted a callout in the Red Eye, the free Chicago paper covering pop culture, that Mike “the Situation” Sorrentino, famous for his washboard abs, does core isometrics while he's walking, waiting in lines and doing other daily tasks.

I have lumbar arthritis and frequently have lower back pain, especially when I jog. I noticed if I tightened my abs while jogging, it reduced or eliminated the pain.

Now, I consciously try to engage my core frequently during the day. I tighten my abs when I’m exercising, walking, climbing stairs and sometimes while I’m sitting at my desk.

Crunches Aren’t the Best Exercise

The second thing I learned is that crunches aren’t the best exercise for strengthening or flattening your core. Dr. Richard Guyer, president of the Texas Back Institute, “We stopped teaching people to do crunches a long, long time ago. That’s because the “full flex” movement—the actual “crunch” part of crunches – puts an unhealthy strain on your back at its weakest point.”¹

Another article notes “Doing crunches will only increase instability (constant flexing of the spine), increase your likelihood of catastrophic back injury (risk for disc herniation), and make your posture even worse than it already is (pulling you further into kyphosis, or “hunchback syndrome”.²

Because of my arthritis and low bone density, my physical therapist recommended I never do crunches. Since I’ve been doing her recommended core exercises, plank variations³ and the bird dog⁴, my back is better and my belly has flattened a bit. Warning: the plank exercises can be difficult at first, even for someone who used to do Rock Hard Tummies and P90X.

So remember, suck in that gut and stop with those crunches. Your back will feel better and you may flatten your tummy.

References

1. Stop Doing Sit-ups: Why Crunches Don’t Work, Newsweek
2. No More Crunches, SeatleStrengthCoach
3. Plank tuck, Shape.com
4. Bird dog, YouTube.com (from Runner's World)
5. No More Crunches? Abs-olutely!, The Post Game, Yahoo Sports