Strengthening abs without injuring back - women 40+
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Anonymous
| Ever since my 40s, every time I try to strengthen my abs, I end up with back pain in the days that follow (not immediately during the workout) that is so severe that I have to stop exercising for weeks. I've moved away from sit-ups and now do light crunches, dead bugs, bird-dogs and other stuff that the PT taught me. But these exercises are not enough to really make a dent. Or maybe I'm not doing them frequently enough? My main complaint is I never come away from abs workouts with any feeling of having exercised, I don't get that post-workout fatigue or muscle soreness. My PTs just keep giving me old-lady ab exercises that seem to be useless. Anyone have advice on this? |
Anonymous
| Does your back hurt from poor form or because you’re working your muscles? I find when I try to put my back flat against the floor, it hurts. I dont put my back flat against the floor. |
Anonymous
| Oh I forgot to mention I also do planks. Few times a week and only 3x 1 minute planks at most. |
Anonymous
I'm not sure I understand the question, but if you're asking whether the pain is a good pain or a bad one, it's definitely a bad pain. Not typical muscle soreness, but a sharp piercing pain that makes it hard to bend over, etc. |
Anonymous
|
My guess is that you should workout your entire core, not just your abs. Also, if you are experiencing lower back pain, then you need to stretch out your hips and hamstrings.
This is my favorite video to help with lower back pain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI |
Anonymous
This is what I was going to say. It sounds like you have a core issue and your back can't support you well. Focus on that and less specifically on abs. |
Anonymous
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Pilates
You want a strong core, not abs. You are probably not engaging your core and you are using your back muscles and even glutes, etc. to compensate. https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/cross-training/g28621394/home-pilates-workout/ |
Anonymous
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Yoga and Pilates
I do ab exercises that I got from my PT for lower back pain. The whole core is related. |
Anonymous
| Pilates and Barre. Planking a few times a week won't do it, you need more than that - higher frequency and more than just planking. |
Anonymous
This is helpful thanks, will take a look. |
Anonymous
I do do other stuff. I do a weights class at the gym once a week, but I have to skip the sit-ups otherwise I end up with pain. I swim and bike several times a week. |
Anonymous
Oh I forgot to say, pilates hurts my back too because of emphasis on sit-up type movements. I don't like barre unfortunately. |
Anonymous
| I would suggest finding a good PT and talking to her about what's going on. I have a very weak lower core (thanks pregnancy) and tend to compensate with my lower back whcih causes severe pain. My PT has a bunch of exercises for me that specifically isolate the abs/core only so (a) I can strengthen it and (b) so I can feel what actually engaging the right muscles feels like and stop doing any "ab" exercises that I realize I'm not engaging the right muscles for. |
Anonymous
| I’ve been doing a core-focused 45 minute exercise class 3-5x a week for 7 months and I’ve definitely improved my strength. The minute my back starts to hurt, I take a break or lay off. I’m just really careful. |
Anonymous
| Kickboxing. |