musclegaintruth.us/articles

An important part of an exercise plan to relieve back pain is strengthening the abdominals. The abs or abdominal muscles, which are sometimes called the core muscles,support the your upper torso and spine.

The 6 abdominals. You have 6 ab muscles: the transversus abdominus that wraps around your torso,the external obliques and internal obliques which run down the side of your waist and most well known of all,the rectus abdominus, the famous six-pack down the middle of your abdomen.

1-the transversus abdominus, which supports your back, wraps around the abdomen. It lies deeper than the rectus abdominus. We cannot see the deeper muscles in the picture,because they are below the superficial muscles.2-3-the external obliques, one on each side of your abdomen,superficial, meaning that they lie close to the skin. These help you to bend to one side (lateral flexion) and rotate the spine 4-5-the internal obliques, one on each side of your abdomen, lying deeper than the external obliques. These help spinal rotation and enable lateral flexion. 6-the rectus abdominus which lies close to the skin (or superficial). This is the six-pack muscle.

The back and front work together. When you bend forward, like in a crunch,the abdominal muscles are engaged-this is called spinal flexion. The rectus abdominus is known as the spinal flexor. At the same time as the abdominal muscles are contracting,the back muscles are stretching. This opposite action of stretching is performed by the erector spinae, which is the muscle running down the middle of your back. This is why you should develop flexibility and strength in the opposite sets of muscles.

Exercising and hurting your back. When people think of exercising the abdominals, the first thing that comes to mind is sit ups. This may not be the best idea, particularly if you suffer from lower back pain. Here are guidelines for reducing the chance of injury to your lower back: 1.Keep your back on the floor An exercise like the crunch is safer than a sit up, because your lower back is supported by the floor. 2.Don’t flex and twist at the same time Choose exercises that involve only one plane of movement, flexing or twisting, not both. For example, crunches flex your body, while broomstick twists involve twisting your body. So they only perform a movement in one plane. Some exercises, like a twisting crunch, make you flex and twist simultaneously. This is also described as compound plane of movement exercise. 3.Use a smaller range of motion This is a fairly important point, especially if you are starting out on an exercise programme. The smaller the range of motion, the less your chance of injury. So rather do a crunch where you only lift your body 25cm/10 inches off the floor than a sit up where you force your body to go through the full range of motion from lying down to sitting up at 90 degrees. 4.Keep your legs bent and closer to your torso Performing leg raises with straight legs puts more stress on your back than bent leg raises. Also, doing crunches with legs bent will put less stress on your back than straight leg sit ups.

Crunches Lie on your back. Bend your knees with your knees pointed to the ceiling. Keep your feet flat on the floor, and bring them close to your hips. You can either place your hands on your chest, as illustrated, or behind your head. Keeping your lower back pressed to the floor, make abdominal muscles tight and raise your shoulder blades off the floor. Hold this position for 3 seconds. Now then lower yourself to the ground. Do five repetitions and rest for a minute. This is one set. Now do another set. Try to increase the number of repetitions each week. Aim for three sets of ten repetitions.