Combat Abs: The Negative Injunctions, #1 by Mark Hatmaker

 

Six-pack abs, washboard abs, slim and trim waistlines—these colloquialisms reflect the aesthetic side of abdominal training.

Old school thought [and you and me I wager] loves the aesthetic ideal, pursuing the Greek statuary standard but carved by present day living flesh.

New School thought admires this aesthetic just as much—perhaps more [we’ll get to this mistaken disparity.]

Old School thought valued internal function  as highly as the outwardly realized aesthetic presentation. They felt [correctly] that the hidden “guy wires” of unseen muscle, tendon and ligament were the levers and pulleys behind the curtain of flesh that fostered the performance and show that was visible to the naked eye.

Here, New School thought falls down a bit. Here we have our disparity.

New School thought gives primary place to visual presentation, internal stability is an afterthought that moves to the fore once an injury rears its head.

Even then, these “internal stability” exercises are treated as rehab so we can get back to the Instagram-ready show work.

Old School thought saw no division between the external and the internal abdominal musculature—they were both—all—to be brought as close to idealized functional perfection as could be managed.

The aesthetic exercises were also the pre-hab to prevent injury.

The aesthetic exercises were also the re-hab in case of injury.

The exercises were re-hab, pre-hab, internal structural support, and external eye-candy all in one.

What they never were, were repetitive stress movements that actually led to nagging pains and/or functional “rupture” points in the future of the athlete.

Let us look to one key concept by which Old School thought used to winnow abdominal/trunk/spinal support work.

Minusing Out the Psoas

The psoas muscles are twin fusiform muscles that attach to each side of the lumbar spine, twine through the pelvis to terminate at the top of each femur.

The psoas is the only major muscle group that unites the upper body to the lower.

With that said it acts as a great driver of unified upper and lower body movement.

Its attachment points and sinuous path thru the pelvis means that repetitive forces and uneducated use can lead to less-than-ideal pulling on the lumbar spine and turning of the femur head in the acetabulum [hip socket.]

The unusual twining path can also lead to pelvic tilting out of idealized planes if functionally inconsistent pelvis position is the default.

What does all this mean? Do you suffer from…

·        Lower back pain?

·        Anterior pelvic tilt?

·        Inter-disc compression [bulging disc]?

·        Lordosis?

·        Late onset scoliosis?

·        Clicking hips?

·        Hip bursitis?

If so, there is a wee chance that persistent use of the psoas in a non-ideal fashion [repetitive use injury aka exercises that stress the psoas] or “locking” the pelvis/lower back/femur to acetabulum into stressed positions via poor posture can cause the psoas to shorten/lengthen [there’s two of these remember] leading to preserving these disparities in other postures and movement.

Old School thought saw the psoas as the great uniter of the upper and lower body and as the great divider. It can divide by causing so many upstream and downstream problems.

Old School combat ab work sought to reduce the use/load on the psoas and shuffle the work to all the other muscles grouped under the blanket term abdominals.

Any “abdominal/core” exercise that recruited the psoas as a major driver or even equal driver to ancillary musculature was kicked to the curb.

Why? Well, have a look at that diagram. Any repetitive work of these internal stays is pulling and torquing on your spine, pelvis and femur insertion.

Abdominal recruitment is actually meagre.

Poor bang for the idealized aesthetics buck and recipe for injury onset.

For those who ask, “But Mark, the psoas is mighty important, cuz’ you said it’s the only major muscle group that unites the upper and lower body, so how am I gonna work it?”

Great Question.

Answer: It seems the psoas evolved to do one thing, and one thing mighty well—to act as sling-shot in the gliding step this species used to migrate across the earth.

See our material Unleaded: Warrior Walking for detailed consideration of this poorly used and poorly understood muscle. [Well, poorly on both counts today—seems a recent development that we have forgotten how to walk with enduring grace.

So, what abdominal exercises recruit the psoas?

Well, in their current incarnations, most all.

The Old Schoolers had some mighty neat tricks to minus out or “turn off” these troublesome giants.

I won’t spill that here; free milk won’t sell those cows.

But with Old School Wisdom you can do the functional inside-out job in 3-minutes per day.

Details on Unleaded: Warrior Abs

The DVD demonstrates each exercise in detail.

·        There are 3 Programs designed to be performed over 3 Consecutive Training Days

·        Only 1 Program per training session.

·        3-Days on 1-Day Off. Repeat.

·        An estimated 3-minutes of your training day towards deep-spinal stability, pain rehabilitation, pre-hab, and, lastly, but never least—aesthetics.

·        No need to stack the programs—allow your adherence to perfect form, control of cadence and not missing training days to build your deep core strength naturally.

·        Perform No warm-up sets, jump directly to W-O-R-K from Set 1.

·        When combined with other Unleaded Training Options—Warrior Abs are ALWAYS performed first—this acts as both your warm-up and adheres to Old School “trunk to limbs to roots to leaves” sequencing.

·        Do not move to the next level until you have perfection—we are not merely chasing aesthetics [that comes as part of the functional pursuit] but most importantly we want deep-seated spinal integrity contributing to our pain-free state and ability to deliver punishment with power and the ability to move and torque with force and control.

·        I repeat: Hit the exercises in the Rotation Training Order, the design has a self-bolstering intelligence to it. Skipping and shuffling to “What you like” will create holes in the creation of yourself.

·        Rest Between Sets: Use the 5 Breath Protocol.

·        At the top-end there will be no rest as all is performed as one single-continuous set.

·        There will also be a lengthy discussion/demonstration of the myriad abdominal/trunk/ab “exercises” to kick to the curb.

·        It is important to understand the Old School rationale for not merely excluding them but ensuring that you NEVER do them.

·        The explanations range from poor use of time, that is, cost-to-benefit ratio to, and most importantly, those that lead to lingering/nagging injury over extended use.

·        Old School efficiency, effectiveness and results in 3-minutes per day.

·        ‘Nuff said.

 

Available Volumes in The Unleaded Program

·        The Pliant Physique

·        Core Stability

·        Hips Stability

·        GFF: Grip-Fingers-Forearms.

·        The Chest Battery

·        The Back Battery

·        The Shoulder Battery

·        Unleaded: Warrior Walking, the Only Cardio You Need for Combination Fighting, Physical Culture and Attacking the Outdoors

·        Unleaded: The JOLT Battery: Joint, Ligament, & Tendon Training

Upcoming Unleaded Volumes include…

·        The Shotgun Muscle Trifecta: Strengthening the Peripherals

·        The Shock Muscle Trifecta: Ballistic Motion for Combat Athletes

·        The Tarzan Twelve: Feats to Show Off What You’ve Built

·        And complete Batterys for Core: Abdominal Strength and Rotational/Extension Game-Changers, Thigh-Hips-Knees, Shoulders, Biceps, & Triceps.

·        Static & Dynamic Batterys to unite Whole-On Strength.

·        The Unleaded Female Warrior Program

·        [Each Program is a DVD/Booklet package.]

Information on Joining the Old School Rough & Tumble Fighting Unleaded Conditioning Brotherhood.

Or try our podcast, Mark Hatmaker, Rough n Tumble Raconteur.