Myth..you're working lower abs, say WHAT??

chicklidell

There are no upper and lower abs! There aren't! I promise! The trunk section is composed of the Rectus Abdominus, which is responsible for flexion of the trunk (crunches); the Internal and External Obliques, which assist in lateral flexion (side bends); the Transverse Abdominus, which compresses the abdomen; and the erector Spinae which extend the trunk.

Notice that none of the abdominal exercises work to lift the legs. The myth that leg lifts of any sort work the so-called lower abdominal are completely false. What you are actually working are the 3 psoas muscles, which act to flex the hip.

CallMeCupcakeDammit

Say WHAT?? I feel so....lied to. :frown: Thanks for that info! I think on one of my Tae Bo dvd's it said every time you lift your knee you're working your abs. I guess that's only if you're crunching while you're lifting your knee?

MaryDreamer

VERY interesting! Why on earth would so-called fitness professionals include this false info in their workout videos? I'm baffled !

dotmertsky

I totally disagree - we do have upper and lower abs and there are exercises to help and build and strengthen them. I think someone has blown hot air up your skirts

http://www.livestrong.com/article/361046-lower-upper-ab-exercises/

ishallnotwant

I totally disagree - we do have upper and lower abs and there are exercises to help and build and strengthen them. I think someone has blown hot air up your skirts

http://www.livestrong.com/article/361046-lower-upper-ab-exercises/

I think what she may have been referring to is this:

"All of these muscles run the length of your abdomen and so there is no separate lower and upper muscle, but rather an upper and lower portion of long muscles. When you target upper and lower abs, you are actually working different portions of the same muscles."

Taken from the article in your link.

chicklidell

I totally disagree - we do have upper and lower abs and there are exercises to help and build and strengthen them. I think someone has blown hot air up your skirts

http://www.livestrong.com/article/361046-lower-upper-ab-exercises/

I think what she may have been referring to is this:

"All of these muscles run the length of your abdomen and so there is no separate lower and upper muscle, but rather an upper and lower portion of long muscles. When you target upper and lower abs, you are actually working different portions of the same muscles."

Taken from the article in your link.

That's it exactly..it's like saying your working both biceps (..The Biceps Brachii has two muscles. Hence the word BI meaning two.) in fact you're not, you're hitting the bicep from different angles. I don't know why when it comes to the abdominal muscles they are broken into parts, they're not, they work as one unit. No one blew air up my skirt, my degree, and numerous articles on the matter, as well as plain out basic anatomy proves me right.

IronSmasher

I'm doing lower ab exercises to tone my problem area.


Not really, I've seen people's insides

dukes418

I totally disagree - we do have upper and lower abs and there are exercises to help and build and strengthen them. I think someone has blown hot air up your skirts

http://www.livestrong.com/article/361046-lower-upper-ab-exercises/

I think what she may have been referring to is this:

"All of these muscles run the length of your abdomen and so there is no separate lower and upper muscle, but rather an upper and lower portion of long muscles. When you target upper and lower abs, you are actually working different portions of the same muscles."

Taken from the article in your link.

That's it exactly..it's like saying your working both biceps (..The Biceps Brachii has two muscles. Hence the word BI meaning two.) in fact you're not, you're hitting the bicep from different angles. I don't know why when it comes to the abdominal muscles they are broken into parts, they're not, they work as one unit. No one blew air up my skirt, my degree, and numerous articles on the matter, as well as plain out basic anatomy proves me right.

I'm with Chicklidell;-)

duharvalgt

well done done for learning the technical terms instead of general teams

sandislim

So if you are lying flat on the floor with back arch flat to the floor and then you lift your legs - which muscles (specifically) are engaging through the movement - just out of interest as this move is in a lot of exercise DVD's I do.

david_swinstead

Is this anything more than nitpicking on the terminology?

No, there aren't lower and upper abs. It's all one muscle. But there are upper and lower parts of this muscle.

You say potato, I say potato.

CarolynB38

So if you are lying flat on the floor with back arch flat to the floor and then you lift your legs - which muscles (specifically) are engaging through the movement - just out of interest as this move is in a lot of exercise DVD's I do.

If you are doing it properly you will be working your abs to some degree. If you try doing this exercise when your abs are a little sore from a previous work out you will be able to feel them working. Your abs are basically stabilising your core while you are lifting you legs. Although your abs are not lifting your legs for you, they are working while you are raising your legs to stabilise your core otherwise your back would just arch and your legs wouldn't go anywhere. I hope that helps clear it up a little for you :happy:

I don;t know the names of the specific muscles but you will be using leg muscles, hip flexors and core muscles (abs and lower back) to mention some of them. Hopefully someone more expert will be able to elaborate on that for you.

Articeluvsmemphis

as long as the exercise works something, I'm not sure I care if the lower abs exists

and it's always hard for individuals like myself to discredit the advice and knowledge of people such as their personal trainer, and every other popular source, I guess it's true that there is research that can support/deny absolutely anything out there

MaximalLife

There are no upper and lower abs! There aren't! I promise! The trunk section is composed of the Rectus Abdominus, which is responsible for flexion of the trunk (crunches); the Internal and External Obliques, which assist in lateral flexion (side bends); the Transverse Abdominus, which compresses the abdomen; and the erector Spinae which extend the trunk.

Notice that none of the abdominal exercises work to lift the legs. The myth that leg lifts of any sort work the so-called lower abdominal are completely false. What you are actually working are the 3 psoas muscles, which act to flex the hip.

True, and yet I am sore in the lower part of my abs after doing certain ab targeting exercises involving leg raises, and I am sore in the upper part of my abs when doing other types like crunches.

Let's not be so fast to discount the notion that the ab question is settled, and maybe it's still complicated enough to fit in the grey area of "WE DON'T KNOW".

And this is also true of every muscle group in that different isolation exercises cause a slightly different type of soreness.
And that's a good thing.

jayb0ne

Yep. It's all one muscle with different portions. The 6 pack that you see is just the muscle being split by tendons that run across and up the muscle, pulling it in.

But then the deltoid (shoulder muscle) has 3 heads and you have to hit all 3 using different angles to get equal growth, or you can end up with a flat looking part. Same with the triceps, pretty much all tricep movements work the whole muscle group but you can specifically target the 3 different individual muscles with different angles.

So yeah, while it's all one muscle, and leg raises and crunches will both work the whole muscle, each will specifically target a different portion of the muscle more than the other.

Jay

myofibril

So if you are lying flat on the floor with back arch flat to the floor and then you lift your legs - which muscles (specifically) are engaging through the movement - just out of interest as this move is in a lot of exercise DVD's I do.

This one you mean:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWStraightLegRaise.html

The muscle groups engaged are shown on the right hand side of the page. This exercise primarily target the hip flexors with the abs used as stabiliser muscles.

Really any movement which seeks to move the hips towards the rib cage / chest area will engage your abs. This is why many people advise that you don't have to do any direct ab exercises at all but more devote your time and energy on big, compound lifts which will trigger improvements in many big muscle groups AND the abs which is a more efficient use of time.

sandislim

So if you are lying flat on the floor with back arch flat to the floor and then you lift your legs - which muscles (specifically) are engaging through the movement - just out of interest as this move is in a lot of exercise DVD's I do.

This one you mean:

http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/HipFlexors/BWStraightLegRaise.html

The muscle groups engaged are shown on the right hand side of the page. This exercise primarily target the hip flexors with the abs used as stabiliser muscles.

Really any movement which seeks to move the hips towards the rib cage / chest area will engage your abs. This is why many people advise that you don't have to do any direct ab exercises at all but more devote your time and energy on big, compound lifts which will trigger improvements in many big muscle groups AND the abs which is a more efficient use of time.

Thanks, the link was really helpful - diagrams were great and informative.

chicklidell

If you're talking about burning abdominal fat, you need cardio, cardio , cardio and a clean diet. You're working your abdominal muscles walking, weight training, doing yoga, playing tennis, they are constantly being engaged. There's a reason why most programs focus on the abdominals at the end of the program and not the beginning. You are indirectly using them for all the other exercises you do. The abs are important stabilizer muscles that keep your form in check. If you do abs first, you will tire them out, and your whole workout will be less than optimal. Typically a workout will work down from the largest to the smallest muscles.

When it comes to abdominal fat covering the muscle, no amount of crunches are going to make that fat layer disappear, your result we be nice tight muscles covered by fat. You need to clean up the diet, exercise and incorporate some resistance training,