Want to really work your abs? Do THIS!

Bret Contreras is a pretty smart guy. He's one of those strength coaches that practices what he preaches. He's got the real world experience to go along with the Master's degree from Arizona State. 

Although Bret is mostly known for being the go-to guy for women looking to add some size to their glutes, he's done a TON of EMG research. 

A while ago, Bret did some work and found which exercises utilize the lower abs, obliques and lower back to the greatest extent. Here's what he found:

Just another reason to do chin-ups ladies.

For lower abs he found that chin-ups beat out every other exercise in muscle activity! Can you believe that?! But you have to do them with correct technique. Basically keep a straight line from your shoulders to your knees, keeping your lower back from hyper-extending.

He found that Turkish Get-Ups (TGU) also had the overall highest levels of combined activation for lower abs, obliques and low back extensors. 

In summary here is the best Ab-blasting circuit to really give your abs a good workout. You'll see it works other muscle groups as well, showing that isolation may not be the best formula for abs.

1. TGU x 5 each side
2. Chinup x max -2 reps
3. Body saw (think slideboard ab slides, or stability ball roll-out) x 12
4. Kneeling cable lift x 8 each side

In the Hi-5 FitCamp we've done all of these exercises. But we've never done them back to back to back in a circuit. I smell a challenge!

The BEST Ab exercises for you and yours...

The single arm row is a GREAT spine stabilization exercise.

Dr. Stuart McGill is one of the top researchers in the field of spinal health and exercise. He's coauthored hundreds of research studies on how the lower back functions, how it is injured, how it is used during strength training and the effect of poor spinal control.

So along the way you can understand that he has explored what exercises work best for developing a fully functional core. Not surprisingly we do a lot of these exercises in our Hi-5 Fitcamp.

• Plank
• Cable Chops
• Hand Walkouts (aka Inchworms)
• Side planks
• Single Arm Rows

Smooth sailing requires a stable spine.

These exercises force the transverse abdominus, external and internal oblique, quadratus lumborum and psoas major to stabilize the spine while the muscles of the shoulder and hips create movement at their respective joints.

Briefly put, the core is made up of muscles that support the spine like guy wires support the mast of a ship. If any of these wires were to lose tension, the mast would begin to tilt in the opposite direction.

From a rehabilitation/corrective view point, we see this a lot in people with back pain. These are exercises that the average person should be doing to maintain a healthy back. These are not just for athletes or for rehabilitation patients, they are for everybody.

So the next time you think of ab work, remember that the abs are not there to create motion at the spine. They are there to prevent spinal extension and flexion, rotation, and  lateral flexion.