The Lower Ab Conundrum!

[phreaknite]

So....today I was discussing some things with a class mate of mine and we were talking about working out the abs. Now for a VERY long time I was, too, under the impression that there was an upper abs and lower abs. It only took a few classes in an anatomy course to get to the topic of the muscular system and that the abdominis rectus is only 1 large muscle, with an insertion at the sternum and an origin at the pubis........but there still remains a question...

I am only 9-10% body fat. My upper abs are pretty prominant, they stick out very much and can ridges between the portions of the muscle can be palpated easily. There is no doubt that my abs are strong and I am low in body fat. However, why do my lower abs still receed into nothingness? I have what appears to be a 4 pack. Here is a link to a picture:
http://www.rit.edu/~cvs5384/pict0020.jpg
It looks like I have 4 prominant muscles in the upper abs, but the lower abs are flat. I do crunches to maintain and build the abs and used to do reverse crunches for "lower abs" (which i now know is BS). My crunches should be enough, but is there any way to make the lower abs show through for the 6/8 pack effect? The Rectus Abdominis is seperated into 2 columns of 4 muscles, so why arent they showing through as an 8 pack or even 6 pack when I have such a low percentage of body fat? Is there any way to change this? You can't spot lose fat and you can't gain muscle in just one part of a muscle.....the whole muscle contracts as a whole...so whats the verdict?

[Eric3237]

I think the quick answer is that's the way your built. Also, low bf or not, that's a place where the body tends to hold onto a little fat (and also water). Which means for some you have to get it down to a very low single digit number (which I think is a waste of time). If you're already 9-10 then I'd say screw it, work on getting as wide and thick as you can and you won't be sweating an 8 pack anymore .

Even then there just may not be as deep a ridge in that region. If you look around at different people who are very ripped you will notice plenty that may have a very cut 4 pack, or 6 pack...but you'll rarely actually see an 8 pack. Even in those cut guys, some of their lower abs just look like one solid plate. It's individual variation and you'll get what you'll get.

Another thing to consider is that sometimes after you consistently train your abs for a while and do heavy weight lifting, depending on the individual, the transverse abdominus can get relatively weak (it's not visible). This is what sort of holds your abs in making them appear flatter and tighter. Remember there is not bone under you lower ab region for the muscle to hug to. The end result is a little more bulge.

Personally I do weighted ab exercises (sort of a standing situp with weight) most of the time. I spice it up with rotational stuff and try to keep my obliques strong. But while I do the excercise I always hold my abs in a vacumn, i.e., suck the lower abs in as if trying to draw them thruough the spine. That'll strengthen the transverse and make your lifting all the more safe. I was getting a bulge but now that has taken care of it and the only bulge I have is the little bit of fat I like to keep on. It's hard at firts but once you get in the habit it's easy to incorporate.

Hope some of that helps.

[phreaknite]

I see. That makes a bunch of sense. First off it is possible I do not have the genetics for it and in addition to that my transverse abdominals must be very underworked and weak since i do not do vaccuums while I do my crunches. Vaccuums during the day overall might be helpful to strengthen up the tranverse....

Good insight eric, thanks a bunch and I will definitely work the transverse workouts into my routine.

[Eric3237]

Oh, yeah, you can do that while you're sitting around or whatever. As far as the routine it is nothing you need to do separately; you just perform a vacumn WHILe you're working you abs. It's tricky to hold at first so you may have to reset before each rep, but after a while it's nothing. Keep in mind that I am NOT talking about doing this while squatting or deadlifting.

You've done a great job and from an outside standpoint I really don't think you have anything to be disatisfied with, btw.

BTW, I got to thinking about how on other (cough) boards people still go on and on about how the different "portions" of the ab muscle is separately innervated so therefore you should be able ot work it separately, so on and so on, vertcally banded, horizontally banded, overanalyse, nitpick, etc. and so on. So I thought I'd throw in this quote from Dr. Mel Siff:

"Some authorities state that, since the different regions of the abdominals are separately innervated, one should certainly be able to activate upper and lower regions of the abs separately.

"However, in saying that the lower abs are separately innervated we have to be cautious in misapplying this information. All of the rectus abdominis and the obliques are innervated by branches of the thoracic nerves T6 or T7 - T12, as is transversus (by the ventral rami and L1). This would tend to imply that the lower abs and lower obliques(?!) should be activated by stimulation of T6/7 - T8/9 and the upper abs and upper obliques (if these exist!) by the remaining thoracic nerves. In addition, an examination of their nervous innervation would also suggest that there should be separate activation of upper and lower transversus.

"This clearly confounds the entire issue of trunk action and situps for the supposedly different parts of the trunk muscles. We can only resolve the issue if we stop talking about upper and lower abs etc and analyze in terms of a graduated activation of all of the trunk muscles progressing from the extreme top to the extreme bottom (as defined by the appropriate nerves) - much in the way that a caterpillar moves.

"This would appear to offer a far more accurate and logical biomechanical approach, since the current view of upper vs lower abs would imply that there should be a somewhat jerky discontinuity somewhere during a full crunch. The entire action of trunk flexion is smooth, well-controlled and continuous, so this observation supports my view that there is a smooth continuum of activation of the entire abdominal (and erector spinae) group.

"If one wishes to simplify, then it would be crudely accurate to talk of upper, mid and lower abs, but this still tends to mask the fact that there is really a continuum of muscle activation involving all of the trunk muscles, each exhibiting a different level of involvement, depending on the type and pattern of movement.

"This means that it is highly unlikely that you will be able to totally isolate the 'lower abs', since there is always accompanying involvement of many other stabilizing and mobilizing muscles."(14)

There is reason to focus on movements that turn the pelvis and spine in different directions, but this is to train movement patterns, not muscles. In other words, certain movements utilize the rectus abdomius differently, but it is still one muscle and, again, doesn’t directly affect the fat surrounding it.