A few weeks ago we discussed “the core” and how our performance capabilities increase when we learn to use our muscles and body systems together. Always relying on a particular muscle group or emphasizing an isolated movement does not prepare your body for what is needed when you actually have to squat, run, do stairs, or perform your job. Not only do we have to learn to connect with our different muscles, but also how to integrate the connections and strength toward the daily activities we participate in. Abdominal training is no exception to this philosophy. Learning what the different abdominal muscles do widens our performance potential.
Getting Deep
Meet Transversus Abdominis (TA). This flat, thin sheet of paired muscles (one on the left and one on the right) is our deepest layer of the abdominal muscles and wraps laterally around. These muscles fibers lie in a horizontal/transverse fashion (hence the name transversus), which allow them to:
When contracted on one side:
Rotate the trunk on the side that is contracting
When contracted bilaterally:
Compress or flatten
Creates intra-abdominal pressure that aids in expiration of air, bladder, bowel, end-stage childbirth
Provides preparatory stabilization of the pelvis and trunk for arm/leg movements or accepting a load.
Ultimately, the TA helps to create muscle tension at the abdominal wall, is protective in nature, and helps to increase intra-abdominal pressure, while contributing to stability. All of these things seem like great reasons to pay attention to training the TA, however, the depth, integrated, and preparatory nature of the TA often makes awareness and connection to the muscle group fly under the radar. We may not pay any attention to TA unless someone teaches us about it or we experience pain or difficulty with movement.
Because of the lesser familiarity with this muscle group, let's talk about what it means to connect with this spot. If you have ever had a PT or coach tell you to "lightly draw in your belly button to the floor" or been asked to put your hands to the inside of your hips and flatten or engage the abdominals without the six pack muscles "pooching out," they are likely trying to target your TA. This draw in maneuver can be difficult to learn and certainly takes practice to limit compensations from other abdominals, leg muscles, gripping, or breath holding. Learning this movement is about connecting with the muscle group rather than strengthening it. It is hard to incorporate or strengthen the "core" if you don't know how to connect with the different parts of it. Once you learn how to communicate with the TA, you can start to integrate it into movements and exercises as a proud member of your movement system.
We want to emphasize that the TA "helps" to do all the things mentioned above. It cannot accomplish all these tasks by themselves, total isolation of a muscle in the body is not possible. To create good movement, it is about using all our systems as efficiently as we can, which is why we need our other abdominals in performance. Meet our next set of teammates: the internal and external obliques.
Internal Obliques
The internal obliques are part of our lateral abdominals, lying above the TA, but deep to the external obliques.
When contracted on one side:
Rotate or sidebend (laterally flex) on the side that is contracting
When contracted bilaterally:
Help to flex the trunk
Creates intra-abdominal pressure that aids in expiration of air, bladder, bowel, end-stage childbirth
Can lift the anterior pelvis (when ribs don't move), causing a pelvic tilt
Picture these movements in your head and think of exercises or activities you do in which you bend forward (flex), rotate to a side, or tilt your pelvis. Any activity where these take place, your obliques are working (or underworking).
External Obliques
The external obliques are part of our lateral abdominals, lying on top of the internal obliques.
When contracted on one side:
Sidebend (laterally flex) on the side that is contracting
Rotates to the side opposite what is contracting
When contracted bilaterally:
Help to flex the trunk
Creates intra-abdominal pressure that aids in expiration of air, bladder, bowel, end-stage childbirth
Let's start putting some of these movement pieces together. Knowing the external oblique rotates your trunk to the opposite side and the internal oblique rotates to the same side, these two muscles work together to rotate in a particular direction. To bend to the side, you will use both the internal oblique and external oblique on the same side to help accomplish the task. Again, we are a system, different muscles work together to execute a task, which is why it is beneficial to make sure all are working as well as they can to improve your movement. More muscles doing their job not only creates movement potential, but also helps to keep us balanced.
As we mentioned before, both the internal and external oblique when contracted on both sides helps to flex the trunk. There is another abdominal muscle that aids in this motion, and that is the rectus abdominis - most commonly recognized as the six-pack muscles.
Rectus Abdominis
The rectus abdominis muscles are the outermost and anterior layer of the abdominals. The two sides are connected by a sheath of tissue from our sternum to where our pubic bones meet. This tissue is known as the linea alba. The linea alba is what stretches and separates when someone has a baby or if you have ever been given the diagnosis of a diastasis recti (but more on this another time).
When contracted, the rectus abdominis:
Help to flex the trunk
Creates intra-abdominal pressure that aids in expiration of air, bladder, bowel, end-stage childbirth
Can assist in tilting the pelvis forward (tucking the butt under you).
So what is the best abdominal exercise?
There is none! By now, we hope you can see how movements are never isolated in nature, which is why exercise choice and technique are so important. If we want a strong core, we have to train the whole system - crunches alone won't get you there. Learn the purpose of the exercises you do and how to do them so you get the most out of your plank, carry, chop, leg, and arm exercises. If we only work or use one part of the abdominals, we cheat ourselves out of the opportunity to be as efficient as possible and can risk developing imbalances or overuse. The abs are an amazing group of muscles and have benefits being trained isometrically, concentrically, and eccentrically. Ab exercise choices (and we only named a few here) can be more targeted or can be used as a major component of other exercises like squats, lunges, bench press, and more!
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