Abs

December 13, 2008

For time:
  25 One arm snatch, left
  25 Medball Cleans
  25 Push-ups
  25 Squats
  Run 400m
  25 Squats
  25 Push-ups
  25 Medball Cleans
  25 One arm snatch, right

BURPEE CHALLENGE: Day 81
Burpees to Date: 3,240

All your abs are belong to us!

Violently fire your hip flexors, maintain a rigid spine and create an unbelievable about of force. And absolutely nuke your abs.

Back and Hip Extensions (video). By themselves and in combination, the back extension and hip extension teach you to create enormous force while keeping your spine rigid and upon completion of your effort, returning to your starting posture. Think of the starting position of any movement you do in rapid succession. Returning efficiently and rapidly to your starting position is important not just for putting up a fast time, but more importantly for your safety. Rip off a set of back extensions with bad form and your will know it.

Glute Ham Developing Sit-up (video). This ain’t no crunch. The secret to the GHD sit-up is the lack of “trunk flexion”. The best and most functional use of the of the trunk (aka the core) is in stabilization. The GDH Sit-up uses the abs to stabilize under the incredible force generated by the hip flexors. I know some of you will wonder if you are actually working your abs, but you’ll understand the morning after. You never forget your first time.
ARTICLE: CrossFit Journal #38, The Glute Ham Developer Sit-up

Our experience with athletes and static hip flexion work like the L sit and more dynamic exercises like the GHD sit-up have led us to several conclusions:

     1. The hip flexors’ purchase and strength suggest their importance to functional movement. One expert calculated that they are capable of generating many times the force that the abs can. To think that muscles with that much mechanical advantage should not be used to that advantage is ridiculous.
     2. Most modern athletes are hip flexion weak and it affects most performance.
     3. Weak hip flexors assure weak abs-especially weak lower abs-and no amount of crunches can compensate. (It seems that every gym has an abs class instructor who has a prominent lower abdominal pooch. Ask her to hold one knee up while standing on the other leg and to resist your pushing the knee downward with a couple of fingers. It’s easy to push the knee down, and it shouldn’t be).
     4. Without static contraction/stabilization exercises, the abs never learn to perform their most critical, functional, role-midline stabilization.