Dale Mabry

As noted in another thread, you will have many trainers/trainees tell you that you can or cannot work upper/lower abs in isolation. So, who is right you may ask, read on and I will shed some light on the subject.

The rectus abdominis is connecected to the skeleton at the ribs and pubis. Since it only attaches at 2 points, MECHANICALLY you cannot isolate it. So that means you cannot isolate upper and lower abs, right? Not quite.

Upon further examination of the rectus abdominis, you can see 3 sets of horizontal tendinous inscriptions that give it that 8-pack appearance. Now, this means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING from a mechanical sense, but fortunately it does mean something. Although mechanically, there is no isolation, the areas of the rectus abdominis are innervated separately. What this means is that NEUROLOGICALLY, there is separation. This is where the mind-muscle link comes into play. Throughout our formative years our neurological pathways develop and, provided that there is no postural distortion or improper learning of movements, we gain coordination. If this "hardwiring" is learned one can differentiate between the two areas. If you watch a bodybuilder with good posing skills, you can see how he or she has differential control over the two areas. What to take from this: A properly developed individual who has good neuromuscular coordination/control and a strong inner unit (Deeper abdominal muscles used primarily for stabilization) can isolate their upper/lower abs, but someone who has never worked out before and who has a weak inner unit will more than likely lack this coordination. It requires concentration on the area being targeted more so than the actual movement being performed.

Having said this, the reverse crunch, in a properly trained individual, seems to be the movement that the brain is hardwired to perform contraction of the lower abdominals.

Some of this info came from "Avoiding the Traditional Pitfalls of Training Part 2: Traditional Trunk Training." By Noah Hittner, BS, PES, RTS, CPT.

cheesegrater

what is a reverse crunch

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Robert D.

using different angles, exercises, etc. can stimulate any muscle in different areas, however if it's a single muscle that is how it will grow, as a whole.

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Dale Mabry

We are talking about working the muscle, not necessarily hypertrophy. But, physiologically speaking, if the impulse only goes to the specific portion of the muscle, like say the bottom you would not expect a training response from the nonworking portion. If the theory that muscles grow from being repaired is true, you would have to assume that nonworking portions would not be repaired and, therefore, not grow. I get what you are saying Prince, but I believe the abs may be an exception since they are separated by a tendinous material. Since the abdominals are primarily slow twitch, it is all irrelevant anyway since they are not going to grow very much in the first place.

If sense were common, everyone would have it.

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