Bad knee and back --- Best Ab workout

hotjacki85

I have a really bad back and had knee surgery on my left knee...... Sit ups kill my back and it is actually painful for me to "crunch" up....i have lost almost all flexibility in my back. Many people have told me other non crunch ab workouts... like planks.... using the machines at the gym (the twisting side muscle one, the one where u hang and bring your knees up) but what is the BEST ab workout that doesnt involve actual crunches? What will give me the most bang for my buck?

maryjay52

try laying on a bench. take a weight and hold it straight up. slowing move the weight back over your head, stretching the abdominal area and slowly move it back till you are holding it straight up. i do three sets of 15 so do what you can for three sets even if you start at 3 sets of 6. you can do it on a exercise ball too but with your situation with y our knee the bench might be better for now . planks are really good . if you can do them i would suggest doing that as well.

BrotherBill913

When my back was bad the best thing I found for me was to lay on the floor. Knees up. Hands under my butt, palms down like your grabbing the floor. And squeeze my abs in while I slowly lifted by butt off the floor. It would help me pop my back sometimes too and that was always a relief.

FitBeto

Squats and dead lifts

Start light and work on form, then move up in weight. My problems with my knee disappeared and back problems diminishing with strength training.

If you want to work abs, so a few leg raises, other then that do compound exercises!

jayche

Probably some kind of stability exercise like planks and its variants. Most exercises (whatever exercises you can do) performed standing would indirectly target your core also as you're stabilizing the weight to not fall over, not much but it all adds up. Just be careful with your knee.
Edit: Personal favorite of mine would be the one-arm dumbbell press on a flat bench with legs up in the air, takes a lot of core to stay on the bench while performing the movement maybe give that a shot.

If flexibility is such an issue that you can't perform a "crunching" movement you'd probably want to work on that more.

Kaathmandu

Aquafitness class!!
Water helps support you and takes the pressure off your joints, but the resistance of the water means whatever movement you are doing, you need to engage your core - even if you are not targeting ab.s

NobodyInParticular

Any type of core exercises. Planks (front and side, lift a leg to make it more challenging) and Super Man's (lay on your stomach with your arms stretched up over your head then lift your arms and legs of free ground, hold, relax, repeat)

TrailRunner61

I have back/knee/tailbone issues also and use a stability ball to do situps. I also do leg lifts in a pool by hanging on the end of the diving board. The water helps support your body but with plenty of reps you can get an awesome ab workout. You can also use it to work your arms.

sijomial

The best ab workout is the one that you can do. Back injuries vary enormously.
Worth trying a few different routines to see which works for you without causing pain.

I use a gym ball ball which I find really good. Pilates, yoga, swimming, planks and core stabilty exercises all work for different people.

hotjacki85

Thank you all for the advice.... wrote them down and will take to the gym with me tonight! Thanks again!

lwagnitz

I don't know what they're called but my soccer team always called them italians. You lay on your back, hold the persons ankles who are standing at your head. Put your legs straight up (body @ 90 degree angle) with krnees together, and they push your legs down, not letting them hit the floor but getting close to it as you can, and bringing them back up. Do straight, left & right. Reverse crunches are killer. Where you lift up your legs instead of your head, and it works that lower "pooch". There are a lot of pilates ab exercises that are awesome.

hotjacki85

Aquafitness class!!
Water helps support you and takes the pressure off your joints, but the resistance of the water means whatever movement you are doing, you need to engage your core - even if you are not targeting ab.s

I always wanted to try one of these.... will need to check my gym class schedule to see if they have one available thanks!

Wol5894

As someone with a chronic bad back following a car accident and osteo-arthritis in both knees and one foot (yes, in my foot!), one of the best bits of advice I can come up with is that to get really good abs, you need to have strong core muscles. I had dreadful trouble with back spasms and all sorts until I discovered Pilates about 15 years ago and had some instruction right from the absolute beginner up to intermediate before stopping going to classes. I now do Pilates on my own at home because I know what I can and can't do and I also know what suits my back and what doesn't.

No I don't have good abs but that is entirely because I am obese and there is too much flab on the abs for anyone to see them! However, I do have a strong back and inner core, which means I can stand straight and tall and move well without hurting my back and also perform various exercises from that position of strength. The weight is now being tackled but I am still doing Pilates to help keep things stable.

Be careful if you are going to get instruction, to go for absolute beginner, so that you understand really properly exactly which muscles you are moving to do what exercise - yes, that sounds boring but Pilates is a long term and maintenance form of exercise, not a quick fix. If it's good enough for top sportsmen and women who took part in the Olympics, then it's good enough for me!

Wol5894

Aquafitness class!!
Water helps support you and takes the pressure off your joints, but the resistance of the water means whatever movement you are doing, you need to engage your core - even if you are not targeting ab.s

I always wanted to try one of these.... will need to check my gym class schedule to see if they have one available thanks!

Oh yes - and this. And don't think Aquafit is easy just because the water supports you - it is also much harder to do exercises in the water because of the resistance of the water against your muscles.

squankmuffin

Try using a gym ball to take some pressure off. And have you tried kinesio tape to support your joints and back? It supports without restricting movement, and I have found it surprisingly helpful.

WendyTerry420

If you have bad knees and a bad back, then do more core exercises. Skip the crunches.

hotjacki85

Thanks again!

jenhenning219

i have a slipped disc in my back, siattica in my hip and a sprained ankle and i found that zumba helped me