Three Important Ab Exercises

Summary

The core’s function is to stabalize the spine as your body does work. In CrossFit this dictates what movements are seen as most beneficial for developing the core.

The three exercises that you should be doing are:

1. Glute-ham Developer (GHD) Sit-up
2. Hollow Rock
3. L-Sit

Glute-ham Developer (GHD) Sit-up

The GHD sit up is performed on an elevated surface where you sit with your feet anchored between pads. The range of motion has you go from touching your toes to learning back as far as you can while it is still comfortable.

To initiate the movement you flex your quads and hip flexors which pulls your core up and allows you to touch your toes. This movement is really great for people with back issues because it teaches you how to use your hip flexors which are hard to engage.

The core’s job during this movement is to stabalize the spine and keep you from overextending. This will produce quite a bit of soreness if you are not conditioned for it.

Hollow Rock

The hollow rock is a gymnastics exercise that is performed by laying on your back with your arms raised above your head and feet off the ground with toes pointed.

You then attempt to assume the shape of a rocker on a rocking chair, then gently, slowly, teeter back and forth.

The critical part of this movement is to keep your lower back rounded in line with the rest of your body so you don’t “clunk” on the ground. This is a great test of how well you can engage your lower abs.

L-Sit

The L-sit is an isometric hold typically performed on parallettes or hanging from the rig. Simply raise your legs straight until your body forms an L and hold it for as long as possible.

This will place an enormous pressure on your hip flexors and abs as you fight to maintain the position.

An elite effort in the L sit is 3 minutes and it is said that if you can hold an L-sit for 3 minutes all other ab work will be easy.

Highlights

• [page 1]: Glute-ham Developer Sit-up

• [page 1]: The range of motion is from as far back in hip and back extension as you are comfortable up to where you can touch the pads above the shin and instep.

• [page 1]: spine. (This is, in our opinion, a more functional role for the abs than trunk flexion.)

• [page 1]: We will concede at once that those who are predisposed to lumbar pain may find this sit-up irritating, but carefully introduced and practiced it is a potent tool for reeducating the athlete to use the hip flexors more efficaciously and safely. In fact, the movement can be used to improve functionality of the hip flexors and reduce if not eliminate the low back irritation that may accompany hip flexion.

• [page 1]: Though the hip flexors (iliopsoas and rectus femoris) are the primary movers the abs play a strong role in stabilizing the torso to prevent hyperextension of the

• [page 1]: For people predisposed to low back pain and injury the problem with this sit-up is in large part due to deficiencies in their muscle recruitment for hip flexion.

• [page 2]: We’ve used this sit-up to teach our athletes how to fully engage this muscle to improve the quality of hip flexion, greatly assisting the iliopsoas and consequently reducing the load and sheer forces placed on the spine.

• [page 2]: We teach powerful recruitment of the rectus femoris by cueing the athlete to attempt to extend the leg, though already extended, and to drive the leg into the pad above the shin and instep.

• [page 2]: Typically, the athlete will claim that this is what they are doing already, but when they finally “get it” the epiphany is profound and the motion clearly looks different.

• [page 2]: The coach’s trained eye can readily distinguish between the torso’s rising by being pulled from the spine as opposed to from the pelvis.

• [page 3]: The Hollow Rock

• [page 3]: A seemingly innocuous little exercise, the hollow rock is a staple of gymnastics conditioning and excruciatingly tough when performed correctly.

• [page 3]: To perform the hollow rock lay face up on the ground with your arms stretched overhead and legs out straight. Raise your arms and legs about one foot off of the floor and attempt to assume the shape of a rocker on a rocking chair, then gently, slowly, teeter back and forth.

• [page 3]: The critical part of this movement is to pull the lordotic curve (lumbar arch) from the back so that the entire back is rounded from shoulders to butt.

• [page 3]: For many people the hollow rock is so hard that no matter how hard they try they “clunk” on each rocking as they come to level and the flat spot caused by insufficient lumbar flexion smacks the floor. This “clunking” is a perfect measure of ones lack of lower ab recruitment.

• [page 3]: Activation, full recruitment, and development of the lower abs require enormous concentration and focus over months if not years.

• [page 3]: The hollow rock is a near perfect tool to both test and develop low ab capacity.

• [page 3]: Practice the hollow rock even if it gives you enormous difficulties. Start by trying to rock continuously for two minutes regardless of the quality of the movement. Avoid raising the hands and feet to maintain the rocking motion as best you can. When mastered, the body is dished out flat, the hands and feet are low, and the impetus for the rocking is nearly undetectable. When you can do this smoothly – no flat spot – for two minutes you’ll have the best abs in town.

• [page 4]: The L-Sit

• [page 4]: The L-sit is performed by supporting the body entirely by the arms and holding the legs straight out in front. The body forms an “L” thus the name L-sit.

• [page 4]: The exercise (we can hardly call it a movement) is isometric, i.e., it involves no joint movement. Being isometric, we quantify its performance not in reps but by time.

• [page 4]: We not only contend that the L-sit is functional but that it is the most functional of all abdominal exercises.

• [page 4]: Our justification for this contention lies in our view that the dominant role of the abdominals is midline stabilization not trunk flexion.

• [page 4]: The leg’s posture in the L-sit places an enormous, if not unbearable, moment or torque about the hip that must be counteracted by the abdominals to keep both the legs up and the spine from hyperextending.

• [page 4]: We make this claim not on the basis of our position on abdominal muscle functionality but on the simple observation that athletes who have developed their L-sit to the point where they can hold it for three minutes subsequently find all other ab work easy.

• [page 4]: Two successful approaches for working up to the L-sit include hanging from a pullup bar and raising locked legs as far as possible and

• [page 5]: holding or working the L-sit by holding one leg at a time alternately in the L posture.

• [page 5]: The L-sit is hardest from the floor because the floor comes up quickly as the legs sag even a little bit.

• [page 5]: Measure your progress in the L-sit in 15-second increments. Give your self one point for every fifteen seconds you can hold the “L”. Twelve points is your goal and with regular training and practice you should be able to get to 12 points, or three minutes, within six months.