Extremely Weak Abs

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gogetemrogue
gogetemrogue Posts: 80 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello! My abs are extremely, extremely weak, and I would like to be able to change that. They are so weak that I cannot properly follow along to a Fitness Blender workout and the last time I tried to train them (over six months ago), I injured an ab on my left side doing sit ups.

Any advice for safely strengthening severely undeveloped ab muscles? The previous injury had me a little freaked out about hernias and such.

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  • Lean59man
    Lean59man Posts: 714 Member
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    Do planks.
  • giantrobot_powerlifting
    giantrobot_powerlifting Posts: 2,598 Member
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    Curios,’how did you make this accessment? If one can make this type of accessment, one should be able to fix the weaknesses.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I think it pays to listen to your body and not try and do what you SHOULD think you can handle, but what your body is saying is "ENOUGH". It does not matter how weak you start. The goal is gradual progress. If you work your muscles just hard enough to make them tingle, give them a day of rest and try again. You should be able to do better every time.

    I also had a very weak core. Slow yoga poses helped a lot.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,728 Member
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    Lean59man wrote: »
    Do planks.

    This, but skip traditional planks.

    Start with floor planks, then move to high planks and then low planks

    Floor-Start laying flat on your face/belly. Beginning with your toes, tense your body, through your glutes/abs/back and into your shoulders. Hold for 10-30 seconds. Relax in reverse order

    High-Do Floor plank, as you tense your shoulders, bring your hands under your shoulders and starting from your fingertips bring tension into your arms as you straighten them(this will look like the top of a pushup when you finish) Hold for 10-30 seconds... Lower, and relax... don't flop... control is key. When you can hold for 60-120 seconds, progress to low.

    Low-Do High Plank, hold for 5-10 seconds, and lower until your arms are bent approx. 90 degrees or your belly/chest touches down.... Hold for 5-10 seconds, Raise up to high plank and relax out of high plank. When you get to 30 seconds, progress to advanced one arm/one leg variants or crunches/curl ups.

    One arm/one leg variants can include(from high plank) Cross shoulder touching, and knees to elbows. Or even OA/OL pushups.
  • Jonnydebrasco
    Jonnydebrasco Posts: 68 Member
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    Your abs are the only muscle that will not grow like all the others. Yes they will get stronger and with loss of belly fat youll see them more but that is a muscle you use always. Like was said above take it easy no one is after you so do what you can and tomorrow if you can do more or else dont. You have to listen to your own body not what people or shall i say sheople on the internet. Only you know what your limitations are and thats how you will progress even if its one situp a day. Rome was built one brick at a time remember that!!!
  • ritzvin
    ritzvin Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Pretty much any movements where you need to stabilize or balance yourself will work them (and make a significant difference if they are currently weak). Mine went from very weak (as in my back would actually hurt when hiking or cycling up a steep hill) to much stronger from dancing and then more so from lifting (you are using your core a lot when doing things like bent over row, etc).
  • GOT_Obsessed
    GOT_Obsessed Posts: 817 Member
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    I don't know but maybe someone can weigh in on this....

    Those exercised balls - I was told sitting on them is good for getting your abs working. Any truth to that?
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
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    I was told it's a light core workout. I sit on one when resting between sets.

    Overall, my abs appear to be in better shape, but it's likely a combination of things. (Bicycle crunches, bird-dogs, planks, deep abs ball transfers, dead-bugs—not all in the same workout). Plus, when doing exercises like triceps kickbacks, the abs get engaged. I do biceps curls with one foot on a stability ball. Core gets a bit of a workout. It all adds up.
  • eptanubrata
    eptanubrata Posts: 13 Member
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    estherdragonbat wrote: »
    I was told it's a light core workout. I sit on one when resting between sets.

    Overall, my abs appear to be in better shape, but it's likely a combination of things. (Bicycle crunches, bird-dogs, planks, deep abs ball transfers, dead-bugs—not all in the same workout). Plus, when doing exercises like triceps kickbacks, the abs get engaged. I do biceps curls with one foot on a stability ball. Core gets a bit of a workout. It all adds up.

    To add to this, when you're doing other weight training exercises, doing them one side at a time does engage your core muscles to help stabilize you!
    Planks and bird dogs, although both great exercises are not a beginner exercise. It is difficult for people who can't properly engage their core to maintain proper form and they can actually end up hurting themselves. I actually highly recommend consulting with a physical therapist or personal trainer to get you started and ensure proper form so you don't end up hurting yourself.
  • gogetemrogue
    gogetemrogue Posts: 80 Member
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    Thank you for the input, everyone. I will try to talk to a doctor soon, but in the mean time I will take things very slow and carefully, and avoid any exercises I can't do proper form with.
  • Jthanmyfitnesspal
    Jthanmyfitnesspal Posts: 3,521 Member
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    If you have an injury, best is to go to a MD who can refer you to several PT sessions. If you can't swing that, and if you feel you just have routine pulled muscle that gets better on it's own, you could wait a bit and see a trainer, which could be cheaper. Cheaper yet is to look up beginner exercise videos and take things as easy as necessary.
  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    roguepsyche wrote: »
    Thank you for the input, everyone. I will try to talk to a doctor soon, but in the mean time I will take things very slow and carefully, and avoid any exercises I can't do proper form with.

    i was going to suggest deadbugs, then i realised that if your abs are not ready for them your lower back might suffer. which wouldn't be good.

    you could try them by getting into a position where your lower legs are supported initially (my own bed would work great but your legs may be longer/shorter and your bed may be higher/lower than mine. so that's a zero-demand position for your abs, and then you could experiment incrementally with lifting them away from that base of support. it's mostly about playing around until you find your own safe starting point, i think.

    nonetheless, doctor idea is an excellent one. and if you're struggling with the basics, then focusing on the individual parts of the fb workout taht gave you trouble is a good beginning too. no reason to do something that's not right for the place that you're at.

  • canadianlbs
    canadianlbs Posts: 5,199 Member
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    you can also encourage the most-basic-of-all idea of 'activation 'to grow, just by putting your fingers on the target muscle and tensing it isometrically. it might seem like nothing, but it isn't at all - it introduces your brain and that muscle to one another, so you end up with a much better base of ability to take to the next level.

    ten-second tensed holds, in sets of whatever, is what i've done off and on when something was really off my brain's radar. i find that palpable am-i-or-aren't-i feedback (i.e. actually touching the muscle to feel if it's working or not) is very helpful, because i'm a bit body-stupid that way.

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