Thread: ab workouts and back pain

Seeing how this is your first post here, we don't really have any background info on you. Mind posting your routine, what exercises you do each day and what muscles you work throughout the week?

BTW, if you're doing all those ab exercises in one day, that's too much.

i workout Mon, Tue, Thur, Friday

Mon, Thur - Chest and abs -
Bench press, incline bench, decline bench
Dumbell press
Excercise ball crunches, leg raises

Tue - biceps & triceps
hammer curls, concentration curls
tricep extensions, dips

Friday - Deltoids and biceps
front, middle and rear deltoids... sorry i dont remember all the names of the exercises
same bicep excercises as Tue

on all of the above days i do cardio for 20 minutes.

I dont do all those ab workouts in one day. i have been trying out all those over a period of 2 months and i still keep getting the back pains constantly. And then i have to wait for a few days for the back pain to go away to work on my abs again.

Well first of all, work your back and legs. This is paramount in lifting (and really important too ). If you have a weak foundation, the rest will quickly crumble. Another thing, I'd personally do away with the crunches and start with jackknife sit ups and captains' chairs. They're extremely good exercises for the abs, and have a greater ROM and are probably going to be much more effective than crunches.

Give up those decline crunches. If you have a tendency toward any back problems, these will certainly show it up.

sounds good... that jackknife sit ups and captains crunch looks good. anything other pointers?

good point about making the back stronger. the main reason i didnt do back exercises was because over the years i have had a few back injuries from basketball and such. I had to go thru rehab to fix everything.

By doing back exercises i dont want it to start my string of back problems again. but i guess i wont know untill i actually start working them out huh?...

Well if you take it easy and use light weights with perfect form, it should strengthen your back. Once that happens, it'll take more to injure yourself, but just remember to be sensible with weight and form. Form should always come first and weight will eventually follow. You can also try bicycles for the abs as they work the obliques really well too, but I can never get a good tempo going for those and I feel dumb because by the end I've switched which foot goes with which arm, etc.

damn, if you have back probs now already, without even doing Leg & Back workouts.....look out

You lower back is probably just weak because you do virtually nothing to stimulate it. Start doing leg and back work, but start very light. This will whip your core into shape. Some hyperextensions and/or reverse hyperextensions would also be a good idea to help bring your lower back up to par a little quicker.

Originally Posted by Cold Iron

damn, if you have back probs now already, without even doing Leg & Back workouts.....look out

Actually in this case, lower back, leg, and core strengthening might be just the right thing.

Thanks guys... so which days will be best to do my back...

Mon, Thur - Chest and abs
Tue - biceps & triceps
Friday - Deltoids and biceps
on all of the above days i do cardio for 20 minutes

and should i keep working out my abs or should i work on strengthening my back for the next month or two and then start working on my abs.

I have one son that has back problems, probably worse than yours, In fact he has had a surgery to supposedly correct it.

He does no direct lower back work at all. when he does anything like military presses he does them in a sit down mode, even bi-curls. Anything that would put a strain on his lower back he does this way. But he has no problem with crunches, unless he tries reverse crunches, these cause him problems.

To give you an idea of the severity, he can't get even 2/3 of the way down to touch his toes. I can put the flat of my hands on the floor easily, and I am a slight bit older than the Tough Old Man. Maybe I should have called myself the Extra Tough Old Man ?????.