Work Your Abs without Twisting Your Back
Thursday, October 28, 2010 1:19
When I spoke in my last post about improving your workouts
by incorporating some frontal and transverse plane movements into your exercise
routines most people understood the frontal plane moves, but some readers were
confused about the transverse plane.
The transverse plane basically involves all rotational or twisting movements. A lot of people immediately think of chops or oblique twists for your abs as transverse plane movements, but there are hundreds of others (some not so easy to distinguish).
I think you'll be happy to hear that almost all transverse plane exercises work your core to a very high degree. The reason is that your core must tighten and stay tight throughout many of the 1-leg exercises that resist rotation, and thus, work in the transverse plane (in addition to the sagittal plane).
An example of this would be a 1-legged Romanian Deadlift. Another example of a transverse/sagittal plane movement that really works your obliques hard, but technically isn't an abs exercise is a 1-Arm Row. The reason is that your obliques and core must maintain their stability and strength to resist rotation and protect your spine.
So, as you can see whenever you begin to incorporate more
non-traditional 1-arm or 1-leg movements you will more effectively target your
core muscles, which must keep you stable throughout the set. So the next time
your looking to get more out of your workout program and work your abs without
all the twisting try incorporating some exercises where you're resisting rotation!
Stephen Cabral, CSCS, CPT, NS is the owner of Stephen Cabral Studio weight loss & personal training in Boston, MA, and also offers online fitness coaching.