Which is Powerful- Upper Abdomen Exercises or Lower Abdomen Exercises?

In fitness training, most people are not clear about lower abs exercises and upper abs exercises. So let me clear the misconceptions here. The muscle which is originally to be discussed in such abs exercises is the rectus abdominus. Rectus means straight, and abdominus refers to the abdomen. So simply put, the rectus abdominus runs straight down the abdomen. The rectus abdominus is also the muscle that gives a lean person that six pack look.

The rectus abdominus is 1 muscle, but it has tendinous intersections that separate muscle fibers forming distinct sections. Many argue that rectus abdominus is a single muscle and you can’t isolate certain parts of the muscle. Yes, you can’t isolate only one section but you can emphasize one area over another.So the problem comes with people using the terms isolate and emphasize interchangeably.

Our nervous system is so intricate. Each nerve has thousands of nerve cells and each muscle has thousands of muscle fibers. This allows us to move with accuracy, precision, agility, and grace. The rectus abdominus is supplied by multiple nerves that work in a coordinated fashion to create a variety of movements. The multiple nerve supply helps us move in different ways, and the upper abs and lower abs are emphasized when we do different movement. The upper abs, i.e. the upper part of rectus abdominus is emphasized well when we move the trunk forward as in crunches or sit ups. Ball crunches, crunch machines and ab training machines train our upper abs appreciably.The lower abs in addition to upper abs are trained while you do crunches. The entire rectus abdominus muscles is worked out, every time you bend your trunk or flex it.

The lower part of the rectus abdominus are finely emphasized when you do revrse crunch. In reverse crunch the pelvis moves towards the trunk. Leg raises and flutter kicks also work out the lower abs. It is also to be noted that upper abs are worked out in reverse crunches but more stress is laid upon the lower abs only.

I can pretty boldly tell you these abdominal exercises alone will not melt your fat in a magical way. Just doing the upper abdominal exercises is not enough to melt your fat in upper abdomen area and doing lower abdominal exercises also holds the same. This is known as the spot reduction myth. If you want to lose stomach fat, you should use a comprehensive approach to fitness and healthy eating.

You should do ab workout 2-3 times a week and also include both upper and lower abs exercises. Only when you do both and from a various directions and different abs exercises you will have a balanced body.