Ab Workouts and When to Avoid Them
Do you like to get out of bed and start your day with a few push ups or sit ups?
Personally, exercise is the last thing on my mind once I've dragged myself out of bed first thing in the morning.
But, some folks seem to like it.
Unfortunately, doing any type of exercise that involves a lot of bending is one of the worst things you can do for your back first thing in the morning.
Here's why...
You're taller when you wake up in the morning than when you
go to bed at night. That's because the discs in your back are hydrophilic. In other words, they suck up water while you
sleep.
First thing in the morning, these discs are like a balloon full
of water.
If you do a lot of bending (like ab workouts that
involve sit-ups or touching your toes), there's a lot of stress
on those discs.
In fact, the stresses associated with early morning bending exercises are roughly three times higher than
when you perform the same exercise two or three hours later.
"Researchers have documented the increased annulus stresses
after a bout of bed rest," says Professor Stuart McGill, an
expert in spine function and injury prevention and rehabilitation
at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
"Yet many athletes and laypeople alike get up in the morning
and perform spine stretches, sit-ups, and so on. This is the most
dangerous time of day to undertake such activities."
In fact, if you're suffering from back pain, one of the best things you can do is to cut back on the amount of bending you do first thing in the morning.
Some evidence for this comes from research published in the journal
Spine [1]. The study shows that controlling lumbar flexion
in the morning is an effective way to reduce back pain.
A group of 85 subjects with persistent or recurring low back pain
was assigned to one of two groups.
One group was told to restrict the amount of bending they did in
the early morning. The control group received a "fake"
treatment consisting of six exercises shown to be ineffective in
reducing low back pain.
After six months, back pain was reduced in the group told to restrict
bending activities in the early morning.
A follow-up study shows that participants who continued to restrict
bending activities in the early morning enjoyed a further reduction
in back pain [2].
The bottom line is that doing your ab workouts — or any type
of exercise that involves a lot of bending — is one of the
worst things you can do for your back first thing in the morning.
After you get up, just walking around helps to "squeeze"
the fluid out and compress your spine. If you want to do your ab
workouts early in the day, wait for an hour or two after getting
out of bed. Your back will thank you for it.
About the Author
 Christian Finn holds a master's degree in exercise science, is a certified personal trainer and has been featured on BBC TV and radio, as well as in Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Muscle & Fitness, Fit Pro, Zest and other popular fitness magazines.
If you want better, faster results from the time you spend in the gym, click here now for instant access to his step-by-step muscle-building and fat-burning workout routines.
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References
1. Snook, S.H., Webster, B.S., McGorry, R.W., Fogleman, M.T.,
& McCann, K.B. (1998). The reduction of chronic nonspecific
low back pain through the control of early morning lumbar flexion.
A randomized controlled trial. Spine,
23, 2601-2607
2. Snook, S.H., Webster, B.S., & McGorry, R.W. (2002). The reduction
of chronic, nonspecific low back pain through the control of early
morning lumbar flexion: 3-year follow-up. Journal
of Occupational Rehabilitation, 12, 13-19
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