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September workout Challenge

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9/5
5 mile run
35 pushups
2-60 sec planks
2-30 sec dead bugs
20 Russian twists

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Are these "ab exercises" damaging your spine?​

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The Russian Twist​

Let’s start with this VERY common one, that also happens to be the worst on the spine too. Seated, with a weight on your chest, hold a partial situp position (around 45deg) and rotate your chest and the weight side to side. Bonus points if your feet are off the ground. Double bonus points if your legs are also extended, making a V shape with your body. The thought is that it trains the obliques very well. I thoroughly disagree. No doubt it is hard, no doubt that it loads the muscles, but at what cost? And to what benefit?

This is a flexed posture, so disc pressure is biassed towards the nerve roots. Professor Stu McGill, world renown spinal biomechanist, measure’s a sit-up (with a 150lb man) as producing 3000N, or about 675lbs, at the L4/L5/S1 segments, the lowest part of your low back. But that number is just the beginning. For one you probably weight north of 150, and adding a weight, at a reasonable distance from the low back, produces a torque on the spine. That 10kg on your chest or in your hand is multiplied by the distance from your spine. It’s reasonable to assume that the force is easily over 1000lbs….and you’re then going to twist.
Maybe you’re durable and you don’t break; but your spine will undoubtedly be more susceptible to injury in the future. Not to mention that this sort of oblique training may be decently good enough at body builder type training, but it is not how your obliques are wired to function. In no sport do your obliques get used to CREATE rotation. See my previous post on DNS where the obliques are used to store energy and resist rotation in a throwing motion.
 
I did em with feet on the ground and no weights. As part of this 4 minute lose your gut routine on youtube. It was pleasant enough, and not too difficult.
... But didn't notice any benefit to gut from exercise. Only from limiting bread :handshake:
 
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