Working Those Abs.. are you doing it wrong???
Hello folks!! I wanted to talk about a very popular topic this time of year. The Abdominal Muscles!!
My main focus of this article is to dispel a myth involving a very widely used movement for working out those abs. Leg lifts….I cannot count how many commercials I have seen where women and men are doing leg lifts targeting those “lower abs”. Folks doing leg lifts do NOT target your lower abs. Let me explain. The Abdominal Muscles are made up of a few muscle groups; the Rectus Abdominis, Transverse Abdominis, External and Internal Oblique’s. The muscle group that we’re going to talk about is the Rectus Abdominis, “the six pack”. In the below picture you can see that the Rectus Abdominis extends down and attaches to the Pubis Symphysis. (The lower portion of your pelvis.) This is the muscle we target when we do crunches/sit ups. The muscle people think they are working doing leg lifts. As you can see in picture 1, the Rectus Abdominis does NOT cross the hips. They do NOT attach to the Femur; The large bone in the upper leg. So then how can we be working our abs with leg lifts?? Well you can’t my friends… Then why do I “feel it” in my lower abs when I do leg lifts Josh??? The answer…. The Mighty Psoas…. (Picture 2) This muscle is our primary hip flexor. The Psoas is responsible for bringing our legs up towards our body. This muscle lies deep under the abs. When you are doing leg lifts you are actually working the Psoas. (Technically the Iliopsoas.) Because this muscle lies just beneath the lower Rectus Abdominis, it is easy to think you are feeling your lower abs when you complete your sets of legs lifts.
The best way to target your abdominals is with crunches and rotational movements. I hope this helps save you some time spent on leg lifts so you can engage in movements that truly activate your abdominals.
