🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Dec30.164031.2655@newstand.syr.edu> jkhan@lynx.cat.syr.edu (Jamal Khan) writes:
>I had a query regarding the harm abdominal exercises can do to your lower back.
>I have been working on my stomach muscles for 9 months now and have gotten fairly good defintion. I do about 12 different exercises with 20 reps for each.
>I also maintain a 4 day a week free weight program. For quite some time now my lower back has started hurting especially during lower abs workout.
>I was wondering what abdominal exercise put the most strain on the lower back, so I can ease off them for sometime. 
>And 1 more thing... how strong does one have to be to do one hand pushups?
>I seem do 15 fairly easily but bench only 135-145lbs.  I weigh ~150
>
>Jamal

Hi Jamal!
As for the ab work, though you did not say _which_ exercises you are doing
I am going to make the following suggestions:

	1) do your ab work off of the floor, as in doing knee-ups
		from a chinning bar (doorway chinning bar, or otherwise)

	2) after your back pain subsides, do some exercises to develop
		your low-back region directly, as in arch-ups or 
		hyperextensions.....
		arch-ups are something like toe-touches, except that the
		lower body is held fixed in a slightly-bent-knee,
		slightly-bent-hip, position (gorilla-style).  the action
		is that of relaxing the entire back and going into sort
		of a low slump (your fingertips should be approx 6" off the
		floor at the bottom of the movement), then you arch your
		entire back until your upper torso is vertical and your
		shoulders are back. (this is not as easy as it sounds...
		the first time that I tried it, I had to stop after
		15 reps.  the spinal erectors get _such_ a pump/burn
		from this one.  The upside is that your back will get
		conditioned to this movement very rapidly)

As for the one-arm push-ups vs. bench press.  If you can even _do_
one-handers, that puts you in an elite group.  I would not really
care what the bench-press poundage was.  If anybody thinks that you
are taking it easy or being wimpy, just invite them to duplicate your
feats.  I guarantee that 9/10 will be immediately humbled.

Keith R