What should I do?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Simon

I generally recommend doing these static ab exercises on alternate days from the dynamic ones.

If you combine static ab exercises above with other abdominal stuff, do them last in the workout. Always do static/isometric abs as the last workout in the day.

Or is better to train them separately?
e.g.: one exercise for cca. 5 weeks and then switching to another.

I have no problem combining these two exercises though.
Thank you!

It wouldn’t hurt to see a chiro if you’ve got a good one (get recommendations first). But, a chiro will mostly attend to your skeleton. It sounds to me that your problem is muscular – so massage therapy, stretching, and stability training is probably the better treatment.

1] Try doing the Plank exercises regularly — be sure to keep your tail tucked and back from arching during them. As always, the best way to support a “neutral spine” is keeping your abs pulled in (which means breathing will have occur more through your ribs, chest and upper back).

2] Stretch your hips and lower back daily. Holding a deep lunge position with a straight upright spine will stretch your hip flexors – just don’t stretch to the point of any discomfort or they will get tighter. For your lower back, lie on your back and hug your knees to you chest (to round your spine) and hold it for a minute while breathing deeply. Stretch these before and after workouts, as well as in the morning and evening – just 5minutes each time.

Since you and the legendary Anonymous, above, are asking, I’ll also post an article on stretching for Muaythai soon.

*wai*

I’ll stay away from the HLHs (hanging leg holds).

That was interesting about the serratus anterior. I seem to have really flexible shoulder blades (I can lick my elbow) and I’ve always wondered how that might affect punching ability.

I know your not a chiropractor, but based on what you said, there is a good chance that I’ve accumulated minor hyper-lordosis. I don’t think it’s a serious case and I haven’t been feeling the nerve pain that you described, but my lower spine does arch more than it’s supposed to. I can lie flat on the ground, for instance, and nearly slide my forearm under my lower back and stick out the other side.

I eagerly await your post on posture, but would you have any kind of recommended exercise for me to work on that would help re-align my lower spine or improve the posture in that area?

I see – I guess I would have called your static version of the exercise a “hanging leg hold” or something, since “raising” is not the exercise itself. So, I was referring to the version where you hang from a bar and raise your hips and legs upwards, trying to do the whole motion from your core and not your hip-joint. In any case, I can’t recommend doing your version (see below).

The issues you described relate to a common problem. Let me try to explain it by answering your questions:

1) HLR Burnout from Pullups: During pullups, your lats are responsible for pulling your elbows to your hips (thereby lifting you up), and also for stabilizing your shoulder blades along with the Serratus Anterior — a jagged-looking muscle that inserts diagonally into your ribs along the tops of your obliques. Fatigue in the Serratus will definitely challenge your ability to correctly perform the moving HLRs. The first Plank exercise will help strengthen the Serratus – especially if you do the mini-shoulder pushups first. In general, though, I’d say take a break between the Pullups exercises if you’re trying to increase your strength on the moving HLRs. Weakness in the Serratus is a primary underlying cause for the chronic shoulder problems fighters get from punching.

2. While the static Hanging Leg Hold you’re doing will challenge your core stabilizers, it puts a huge amount of stress on your hip flexors – the muscles that bend your hips by raising your knees. In other words, it’s making your hip flexors hold a fully contracted position against resistance (your legs & gravity) for an extended period — something you never do in Muaythai.

When hip flexors are over-worked/held/jerked — and/or kept short for a long time (ie, while sitting in a chair, or doing this exercise) — they adapt by becoming tight and shortened.

When hip flexors get really tight, they pull the front of your hips downwards (and thus your tailbone upwards & back) when you stand up. This causes your lower back to excessively arch (and belly & lower ribs to protrude), to keep your torso and head upright.

The result of chronic hip flexor tightness is a decrease of muscle tone in your abs (particularly the inner transverse abs), leading to “hyper-lordosis” (over-arching) of your lower spine — which can squish the soft discs between your vertebrae and cause lower back and outer thigh nerve pain (“sciatica”).

While strong and explosive hip flexors are important in muaythai, tight/short/held ones are not. In short, I’d stay away from that 90º “hanging leg hold” and use the Plank instead. Otherwise, you should stretch the front of your hips (eg, in a lunge position) for a few minutes after doing them.

The Plank similarly challenges the same core stabilizers, but with your hips in an extended (and not bent) position. This allows your hip flexors to stay long and balanced, and keep your spine aligned.

If you want to make the Plank “heavier”, you can put a weightlifting plate on your back. Start with 5lbs and see if you ca maintain your time. Move up slowly, keeping your back slightly rounded — never arched.

When you can’t stop your back from arching in the Plank, it’s time to call it a day.

Hope all that made sense. I’ll likely write a posting on posture, spine alignment and pain sometime soon.

*wai*

But sometimes I do a moving version; keeping my legs and back straight, I raise my legs up as high as I can, ideally getting my ankles to my shoulders ,and then back down and repeat. Is this the kind of HLRs that you were referring to?

They seem to be much harder for me if I have just burned out on pull-ups. I’m thinking I’m doing something wrong, like maybe using back muscles such as the lats to help stabilize during the movement.

Also, I’m horrible at sit ups, yet I can perform other ab/core exercises with ease. My lower back just always gives out before I feel any sort of work or fatigue on my abs.

I’m curious of your thoughts on this, if you don’t mind me taking advantage of your expertise.

My theory is that it’s because of the over-curvature of my spine in my lower back which I think might be from carrying 35lb backpacks with the straps set real low when I was a kid.