Its beach season again! And every year, I observe an increase in the number of people doing a variety of ab exercises at the gym. Why the obsession with abs? Who decided they need to be aesthetically pleasing? Is aesthetics more important that function? There are a ridiculous number of crazy abdominal exercises with an attempt to increase the definition or (dare I say...) "tone" of abdominals. Most of these exercises are done at the expense of "shredding your back/spine" (remember...that thing in your back that many of your core muscles attach to?) through repetitive flexion.
One thing to consider that the abdominal muscles (or core muscles as a group) are composed mostly of slow twitch muscle (as are most postural muscles). This means they are great for endurance, but not great for producing power or speed. So training with repetitive fast movements is more to a detriment than a benefit. Slow twitch muscle does not respond as well to increased loading, so adding weight to abdominal exercises will marginally increase hypertrophy of slow twitch muscle.
So is it possible to train your abdominals without bending your back? You better believe it! There are heaps of great exercises (that you are probably already doing). Everything from push ups, squats, deadlifts, lunges, planks, wood chops, pull ups, boxing/fighting (punching and kicking), and yoga are all great examples of core exercises that can still give you definition without "breaking" your back!
