Here a few thoughts on muscle balance in a workout, focusing on abdomen and lower back muscles. Whenever training you must be very careful not to build one muscle much more than the other muscles surrounding or associated with the muscle group that you are training. If you do this, you create a greater risk of injuring the muscle you left weaker by not training it in sync, or equally with the others. A very crucial and pertinent example of counterbalancing when weight training concerns the abdomen and the lower back. A strong stomach equals a strong back.



You need to understand the basic concept that strong abs not only give you better posture, but strengthening the abdomen muscles can definitely prevent the occurrence of lower back injuries. Now, most instruction given for ab workouts start with cardio vascular training. This is because the rational to most abdomen workouts is that you end up with that famous "six pack". If you don't do the proper training to burn the layer of fat covering the abdomen, then the six pack of coarse... doesn't show.

That being said, for the purposes of this intsruction we will not concentrate on showing off the six pack. This is going to concentrate more on strengthening the abdomen which in turn will be causing the back, primarily the lower back, to become much stronger. This ab routine is going to seem different than most training for abs, because with this routine, abs are going to be worked with weight. Normally sit ups, crunches,and leg raises are done in sets of 30, 40, 50 or more. Of coarse this builds stamina in the muscle and causes the muscle to become more defined, or cut. What we are going for with this workout are much less reps -what you can comfortably do as in the typical exercises but only accomplishing ten, to no more than fifteen reps.

Doing a traditional sit up to start with, go for six to eight sets with a weight, say a plate placed on the chest with your arms crossed over it, that allows you to do 10 to 15 reps per set. Rest two to three minutes between sets. Remember, like with the training of any muscle or muscle group, give yourself a day to completely recover before working that muscle group again. To get the lower end of the abdomen muscle, lay flat on your back, and again to achieve strength, balance a plate on the shins as you do 10 to 15 reps of leg raises.

You can place you hands under you butt for balance, although keeping them by your sides will add a level of difficulty to the exercise. To concentrate on the upper abdomens, support your upper body like you would for dips. With a weight at the feet, either ankle weights, or even a triceps extension bar with the feet hooked through, raise the knees as high as possible. Give an extra squeeze at the peak of the contraction, with all three of these exercises.

Before even starting the other exercises associated with power lifting it is recommended that you perform at least 6 or seven workouts of at least 3 to 5 sets each of mid, lower, and upper abdomen exercises with weight. This will assure a very strong abdomen that will help to prevent injury to the back, especially the lower back, when doing the exercises that will strengthen the back, legs and other required muscle groups in order to perform the deadlift and squat. When doing abdomen strength training be sure to do sit ups for the mid abdomen, leg raises for the lower abdomen, and suspended leg raises for the upper abs. Do all the sets with weight, performing only 10 to 15 reps per set to failure. Continue these exercises when training for the power lifting lifts; squat and dead lift.