My lower back hurts when I do my abs

A flat stomach without excess fat and with prominent muscles has always adorned a man. The female ideal of beauty has also moved away from curvy figures to a slender body with sculpted abs. However, abdominal muscles play a more important role in the body than just beauty. Developed abdominal muscles are a “framework” that relieves stress from the spine and maintains posture. So, why do we need abs anyway?

Body stabilization. The abdominal muscles support the spine in the correct position and relieve stress from the lower back muscles and intervertebral discs.
Improving sports performance. With poorly developed abdominal muscles, it is impossible to establish the correct technique for running, swimming, and skiing. Proper riding position also requires a strong muscle frame. The role of the abdominal muscles in strength sports has long been known and obvious to everyone.
Improved digestion. A strong abdominal wall contributes to the proper functioning of the intestines and stomach, maintaining them in the correct position.

How to properly pump up your abdominal muscles?

Everyone has abs, absolutely everyone. But in order for the abdominal muscles to appear, you need to reduce the thickness of subcutaneous fat to 1 cm or less. It is important to remember that you won’t be able to burn fat locally on your stomach, and even more so, you won’t burn anything with abdominal exercises. This is a long-standing and very common misconception. Fat is burned throughout the body and exercise is not enough for this; there must be a comprehensive approach to losing weight.

So, to get beautiful abs and beautiful posture, you need to complete 2 points:

get rid of fat
pump up (in this case, abs)

That is, diet combined with training. To all this it is advisable to add proper sports nutrition.

Important! The rectus abdominis muscle (which we call the abs) runs from the pelvic bone and is attached to the sternum, and the abs are the intersection of the muscle with the connecting fibers. It is one and the same, so effective exercises for the lower abs or exercises for the upper abs simply do not exist. Tension runs throughout the muscle; there is a slight difference only in the degree of load.

How long does it take to pump up your abs?

The answer will depend on your body weight and body fat. The process can take from 1 month to 1 year, sometimes longer.

Recommendations for restoring health after training

Sport is the key to health. But only when the loads are carried out gradually. If a person has pain in the lower or side of the abdomen, this is not always a reason to stop exercising. To make the recovery period go faster, you should follow some rules:

You should visit the gym no more than three times a week, and the interval between rests should be the same.
In the first 30 minutes after physical activity, protein-carbohydrate windows are observed in the body. Therefore, at this moment you need to quickly replenish lost energy and restore injured muscle tissue. To prevent the development of the catabolic process, it is necessary to eat a portion of food that contains both carbohydrates and proteins. Fats should be absent, as they lead to inhibition of metabolic processes.
If a person has set a goal to lose weight, then the principle should be different. To burn fat, you need to exercise for at least one hour. In this case, the first meal should take place after two to three hours.
To preserve muscle mass and prevent the onset of pain, experts recommend consuming vitamin complexes that include omega-3, amino acids and glutamine.
Do not forget about maintaining a sleep and rest schedule. To recover faster, you need to sleep at least 8-12 hours a day.

If you adhere to such advice, the person will feel less pain.

Leg raises on the horizontal bar

Abdominal training on the horizontal bar allows you to work all the abdominal muscles without endangering your spine.

Frog on the horizontal bar

While hanging on the bar, bend your knees and lift them to the level of your stomach. In this case, the lifting is carried out only using the abdominal muscles, without swinging or anything else. Hold the position until it burns. In the following sets, raise your knees to chest level and chin level.

Hanging leg raises on the bar

This is a basic exercise for those who want to pump up their abs on the horizontal bar. Slowly raise your legs to a 90-degree angle and lower them just as slowly.

Corner on the crossbar

It is performed as a hanging leg lift on a horizontal bar, but with the extreme position being fixed to failure. To perform this exercise, you first need to master lifting your legs while hanging on the bar.

Side crunches

Engages the oblique abdominal muscles. It is performed as a hanging leg lift on a horizontal bar, but not in front of you, but to the left and right.

Prevention of pain during running and physical activity

If you do not warm up before jogging, a sharp release of blood into the vascular bed will provoke pain.

To reduce the risk of pain during and after exercise, the following requirements must be observed:

eat properly – 2 hours before or after training;
do not work out “to exhaustion”, give yourself rest;
if a person is new to sports, you need to practice gradually, and do not give the maximum load right away;
exercising to the point of exhaustion is also not recommended;
if you cannot breathe correctly, you should consult a sports trainer;
to eliminate painful sensations, you need to exercise regularly, strengthening the body’s resources;
Warm-up cannot be ruled out.

Abdominal pain after running and other physical activities can be quite severe. To avoid it, you must follow the rules of preparing for sports, avoid consuming harmful drinks and food, and generally lead a healthy lifestyle and monitor the condition of your internal organs.

Ab roller exercises

If you want to spend money on an ab trainer, then an ab roller will be the most rational purchase. Low price, simple design, small size, efficiency... in general, we recommend it.

Many fitness websites share ab roller exercises for men and ab roller exercises for women. We hasten to disappoint you - they are the same. Moreover, all abdominal exercises are not divided into male and female.

Basic exercise with an ab roller. You need to kneel down (it is advisable to place a mat under your knees), lean on the roller and slowly roll it away from you. Start with a small amplitude, then increase as you practice.

Good pain? What nonsense

Good pain or soreness indicates possible growth after training. It occurs within 24, lasting about 48 hours. The cause of muscle pain was considered to be the accumulation of lactic acid in the tissues, a product of the breakdown of glucose. But it has already been proven that the reason is different. Therefore, the question “do muscles hurt after training due to increased acidity?” more insolvent.

When you stretch a muscle under load, short and thin fibers tear, which provokes an inflammatory process in the areas of the tears. The body attracts white blood cells that fight inflammation caused by microtears in tissue. Over time, the body adapts to the load, the intensity of pain decreases, they occur less and less until they disappear completely.

After a month of training with the same load, the pain will stop appearing.

The soreness will appear again if you increase the usual load by 10% during training. The fibers will break again and subsequently become stronger and stronger.

Straight crunches

How to do abdominal crunches correctly?

Lie on the floor on your back and bend your legs. Pay attention to your lower back - when performing the exercise, it should always be pressed to the floor.
Keep your hands near your chest or behind your head, but do not use them to lift yourself.
Rise up slowly, feeling the tension in all your abdominal muscles. It is important not just to rise, but to twist without lifting your lower back off the floor.
Smoothly lower yourself to the starting position and repeat the exercise.

Important! Crunches can be dangerous for your back health if done incorrectly. The main rule: do not lift your lower back off the floor!

How long should you do abdominal exercises?

When training your abs, you don’t need to be fancy with the number of repetitions and vary it according to complex schemes. The recipe is simple: work until your muscles fail, but within 15-20 times per approach. Approaches from 3 to 5. This is the average figure recommended by many sources. If necessary, use weights or do the exercises more slowly, “drawn out”. We won’t write a list of references, just take my word for it.

For endurance sports (running, cross-country skiing, swimming, cycling, etc.), it is not so much muscle hypertrophy that is important, but endurance. Therefore, it is important to keep the press under load for as long as possible. To do this, do the repetitions slowly and fix the extreme position under load.

Causes of discomfort after physical activity

If your stomach hurts after training, do not rush to see a doctor. Abdominal injury is not always the cause. Discomfort after an intense workout usually appears after 12-24 hours. This is a sign that the muscle structures are in the recovery phase.

When your stomach hurts a lot after the gym, then perhaps the reason lies elsewhere. This includes the following.

Eating before training. Any exercise leads to an increase in the need of the heart muscle for blood. If all movements were performed intensively, then blood begins to flow from the peritoneum to the heart and meninges. But at this moment the digestive and urinary organs remain deprived. If a person has eaten too much, then enough blood is required to digest the food. During physical activity, there is a lack of it in the peritoneum, which leads to unpleasant sensations in the form of spasms, pain, nausea, and vomiting.
Insufficient warming up of muscles. Your stomach may hurt after working out because your body was not warmed up enough. This is especially noticeable if shock training is carried out. Muscle structures experience extreme stress, which can lead to damage.
Damage to the ligamentous apparatus. Most often, pain of this nature occurs after swimming, running or walking quickly. An uncomfortable feeling appears on the side under the diaphragm.
Spinal canal stretching. Painful sensations from the chest area can be transmitted to the peritoneum. It is observed when stretching or straining the muscle structures in the back area. Discomfort will be felt not only from behind, but also from the front, since pain has the ability to travel along the nerves.
Crick. It is impossible to stretch the muscular and ligamentous apparatus without preparation. The tissues are severely damaged, but after this they rarely return to normal. In such cases, pain will occur constantly. Remember, you cannot do the splits, crunches or bridges the first time.
Presence of an abdominal hernia. This disease occurs if you engage in serious sports such as weightlifting. A hernia is characterized by prolapse of the abdominal organs. The cause is heavy lifting or severe stretching.
Development of internal bleeding. This phenomenon occurs extremely rarely and only if there was a strong fall or injury to the abdomen.
Ulcerative lesions of the stomach or intestines. If after running your stomach hurts on the left side, then the cause may be an ulcerative lesion of the digestive canal. During the training process, increased secretion of gastric juice occurs. If classes were held on an empty stomach, then an excess amount will lead to a burn of the mucous membrane.
If a woman has pain in her lower abdomen when running, then she may have problems with the genitourinary system: andexitis, apoplexy, endometriosis. You should also not exercise when a woman is in the first trimester of pregnancy. After 20 weeks, the expectant mother is allowed to practice yoga or meditation. But if your lower abdomen hurts after yoga, then you should stop training.

To recognize the cause, you need to compare all the symptoms. If you cannot identify the disease yourself, then you should consult a specialist.