I did it last night 4 sets of 40 with a 10 pound medicine ball. I thought I would feel something today, but no pain at all. I'll give it 6 weeks and see what happens.
swanso5 wrote:you say you hate planks as they don't work through a full range of motion then you like 3/4 crunches?
not all movements are full range of motion, ecspecially in sports and before full range of motion can be acheived you need to stability - enter planks a stability exercise
I don't hate planks; I think that they have limited utility especially in sports. They strengthen the abs through a range of about 15 degrees. They are essentially an isometric exerise, and with the exception of planks, isometrics have largely been eliminated from the training repetoire. They are good for stabilizing the torso and they will yield a flat tummy. But if you do any athletics which require you to twist your torso (baseball, volley ball, tae kwan do, boxing, etc., then these are not well-suited to the cause. And since there are other exercises that will provide stability, flat stomach and full range of motion (hanging leg raises, for instance) I think that there is almost always a better choice than planks.
Lesplease wrote:A standing man is like working your abs inside a hug. You balance on your forearms, back straight, and swing your legs up. You can hold them out in font of you and pivot from the knees, swing them so your knees come to your chest, or just swing them out straight in front of you like a pike, then lower them again.
AKA "Hanging leg raises". I do them on the dipping station. You can also do them hanging from a pull up bar. Don't swing the legs. Let them come to a stop at the bottom between reps.
These are the gold standard of abdominal exercises, and much safer to do (for your back) than supine leg raises.
Not clear. Are you agreeing with me that the supine leg raises can cause lower back pain or are you disagreeing with me?
I've found that supine leg raises (popular in "abs classes" held in gyms) are frequent causes of lower back pain. Stopping the leg raises (and variations on them) will usually resolve the lower back problems in 1 to 3 weeks.
lots of things can cause back pian, anything done correctly won't
in this case any leg raise exercise from any angle can cause back pain if you lack core strength and are stuck in excessive anterior pelvic tilt you'll round your lower back to get the range of motion your pelvis can't...this results in most people not even be able to do leg raises properly and thus why gaining stability of the lumbar spine and core with planks is where it's at for 90% of us
haven't heard the audio here bit it should explain what i'm saying
swanso5 wrote:lots of things can cause back pian, anything done correctly won't
in this case any leg raise exercise from any angle can cause back pain if you lack core strength and are stuck in excessive anterior pelvic tilt you'll round your lower back to get the range of motion your pelvis can't...this results in most people not even be able to do leg raises properly and thus why gaining stability of the lumbar spine and core with planks is where it's at for 90% of us
haven't heard the audio here bit it should explain what i'm saying
I do supine leg raises with no pain or other problems. But doing these in the gym-class with its rushed and helter-skelter pace would lend itself to sloppy execution and is much more likely to cause pain.