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For years now, we’ve been advising you to do fewer situps and crunches, and instead focus your ab training on exercises that require you to keep your spine stiff. Our philosophy is one driven by function, as described in the story, “The Best Abs Workout You’ve Never Done.” A quick excerpt:
Now situps and crunches meet the dynamic criteria, but there are plenty of stability exercises that do as well. They’re called dynamic stabilization exercises, and while you still have to keep your spine stiff, other parts of your body are moving. So they allow you to train your abdominal and lower back muscles to perform their number one job—spinal stabilization—but also introduce the kind of movement that can lead to muscle soreness (which some guys like as confirmation that the exercise is “working”).
One such exercise: The Swiss-ball rollout. When researchers in Australia and New Zealand recently measured muscle activity during several popular ab exercises, they found that the Swiss-ball rollout activated more muscle in the rectus abdominis (the “six-pack muscle”) and obliques than situps and crunches.
Want to add the Swiss-ball rollout to your routine? Check out the instructions below, pulled from The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises, where you can find dozens more dynamic stabilization exercises—along with over 100 core exercises total.
[A]
*Sit on your knees in front of a Swiss ball and place your forearms and fists on the ball
*Your back should be naturally arched.
*Brace your core—imagine that you’re about to be punched in the gut–and squeeze your glutes. Focus on keeping both areas tight for the duration of the exercise.
[B]
*Slowly roll the ball forward, straightening your arms and extending your body as far as you can without allowing your lower back to “collapse.” The natural arch in your lower back shouldn’t decrease or increase at any point during the exercise.
*Use your abdominal muscles to pull the ball back to your knees
—Maria Masters
“If it weren’t for dead guys, we’d probably never have started doing crunches. That’s because for years, much of our knowledge of the way muscles work was based on the study of human cadavers. By looking at the anatomy of corpses, modern scientists figured that the function of our abdominal muscles must be to flex the spine. Which is exactly what you do when you perform a crunch, a situp, or any other move that requires you to round your lower back. As a result, these exercises were popularized as the best way to work your abs.”
But the reality is that your abs have a more critical function than flexing your spine: Their main job is to stabilize it. In fact, your midsection muscles are the reason your torso stays upright instead of falling forward due to gravity. So your abs actually prevent your spine from flexing. The upshot is that if you want better results from your core workout, you need to train your abs for stability.
All of which sounds logical enough. Trouble is, when it comes to actually doing the most popular stability exercises—such as the plank and side plank—some guys don’t feel like they’re getting as good of a workout as when they do a bunch of situps. That’s understandable since planks and side planks are isometric exercises—in other words, you’re simply holding one position for set period of time. The upshot: These exercises don’t create the same type of muscle-soreness as those that require movement—or what’s known as a “dynamic” exercise.But the reality is that your abs have a more critical function than flexing your spine: Their main job is to stabilize it. In fact, your midsection muscles are the reason your torso stays upright instead of falling forward due to gravity. So your abs actually prevent your spine from flexing. The upshot is that if you want better results from your core workout, you need to train your abs for stability.
Now situps and crunches meet the dynamic criteria, but there are plenty of stability exercises that do as well. They’re called dynamic stabilization exercises, and while you still have to keep your spine stiff, other parts of your body are moving. So they allow you to train your abdominal and lower back muscles to perform their number one job—spinal stabilization—but also introduce the kind of movement that can lead to muscle soreness (which some guys like as confirmation that the exercise is “working”).
One such exercise: The Swiss-ball rollout. When researchers in Australia and New Zealand recently measured muscle activity during several popular ab exercises, they found that the Swiss-ball rollout activated more muscle in the rectus abdominis (the “six-pack muscle”) and obliques than situps and crunches.
Want to add the Swiss-ball rollout to your routine? Check out the instructions below, pulled from The Men’s Health Big Book of Exercises, where you can find dozens more dynamic stabilization exercises—along with over 100 core exercises total.
[A]
*Sit on your knees in front of a Swiss ball and place your forearms and fists on the ball
*Your back should be naturally arched.
*Brace your core—imagine that you’re about to be punched in the gut–and squeeze your glutes. Focus on keeping both areas tight for the duration of the exercise.
[B]
*Slowly roll the ball forward, straightening your arms and extending your body as far as you can without allowing your lower back to “collapse.” The natural arch in your lower back shouldn’t decrease or increase at any point during the exercise.
*Use your abdominal muscles to pull the ball back to your knees
—Maria Masters