By Paul Chek, HHP, NMT
Founder, C.H.E.K. Institute

It would not be an understatement to say there is a worldwide obsession with flattening the abs. Scarce is the bodybuilding, exercise or beauty magazine without an article on how to exercise the abdominals. Women hate that dreaded pooch belly, and love men with washboard abs. Men innately believe the girl with great abs is seldom less that a hot package - thus the obsession.

Figure 5 See All Figures

Unfortunately, the fitness world has beaten the crunch to death. Every variation of crunch torture you could ever imagine has been, and continues to be, published, yet our abs are not getting flatter! Bodybuilders often go to great extremes such as starvation diets, diuretics, laxatives and even enemas to evacuate the organs and bowels for flat abs before going on stage. Even those methods don't always get the job done!

As you can see in Figure 1 (click here to see all figures), the middle bodybuilder's lower abs are just not responding to his attempts to flex like those of the other competitors. In Figure 2, you see two belly dancers whose lower abdominals are distended and lack tone. Clearly these people don't suffer from lack of exercise, so what could it be?

Quite frankly, it could be any number of several challenges that commonly express themselves as dysfunction in the abdominal wall. Because there are so many causes of abdominal dysfunction, I'll give a quick crash course in relevant anatomy and physiology. Then, I can share exercises that will work much better when you've got your insides working correctly.

Abdominal Anatomy 101: Nerve Supply

Most exercise professionals today are taught that there is no such thing as upper and lower abdominals. This is just plain false. As a group, the abdominals run from the bottom of your chest (sternum) all the way to your pelvic bones and pubic bone. Along the way, they pick up a nerve from each section of the spine beginning with the 5th thoracic (middle back) segment and ending with the first lumbar (low back) segment.

At the belly button, there is a change in the way the nerves feed the muscles. Above the belly button, a nerve comes from each segment of the spine from T5 down to T11, yet everything from the belly button down gets its nerve supply from only two segments (T12 and L1) (Figure 3).

This is very important because the change in the way the muscles are supplied by the nervous system indicates a clear neurological/anatomical division between upper abs and lower abs. Since it is the lower abdominals that are the most challenging to flatten, particularly for women, we will focus on them here.

Abdominal Anatomy 101: Functional Considerations

Functionally, the female abdominal wall is placed under greater overall demand than the male abdominal wall for a number of reasons. The female pelvis is wider and shallower to allow for childbirth. The female pelvis is also naturally tipped forward more than a male pelvis to allow easier birthing.

Consequently, the wider, shallower female pelvis places a woman's hips wider than a man's, making the lower spine more susceptible to gravity's tendency to increase spinal curvature. This difference in the pelvis produces what is referred to as a greater Q angle (Figure 4).

The greater Q angle pushes the knees toward each other and encourages flattening of the feet if not effectively controlled by the abdominal muscles and subordinate stabilizers. All of these differences in the female pelvis cause the female reproductive organs and intestinal tract to rely much more heavily on the abdominal wall for support than the male.

Even the act of moving places greater demand on women's lower abs. This explains the higher incidence of lower abdominal protrusion among women than men.

Abdominal Anatomy 101: Organs Talk To Muscles

Each organ in the human body shares an intimate relationship with the bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, muscles, hormonal glands and nerve centers that come from related developmental tissues. The body is neatly packaged so each of the major nerve centers communicates with specific organs.

For example, looking at Figure 5, you can see the small intestine shares sensory experiences with the upper abdominal muscles via the nerves from the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th segments of the thoracic (middle) spine. The colon, on the other hand, gets its sensory nerves from the 9th thoracic segment all the way to the 3rd lumbar (low back) segment and shares pain with the lower abdominal muscles.

Because the brain can not differentiate between pain in the muscle and pain in the organs with which those muscles share sensory nerves, whenever one tissue is in pain, be it muscles, blood vessels, joints or ligaments, all related tissues behave as though they are in pain.

This is critical to understand if you want to flatten your abs forever, because it means what you eat (including drugs) and drink, your bowel habits and the general health of your internal organs has a greater influence over how nice your abdominal wall looks and functions than your exercises do. (Figure 5!)

If you look at the bottom diagram in Figure 6, you'll see, once we remove the little devils in the gut -- be they fungi, parasites, bad bacteria, genetically modified foods, overly processed foods, gut irritants such as food additives, foods to which we are allergic or intolerant and restore optimal bowel habits -- the abdominals no longer act like they are being attacked either. Over and over again, I've seen abdominals flatten and become far more aesthetically pleasing than they ever were through exercise alone.

Now That You Know What You're Looking At ...

Figure 8 See All Figures

In keeping everything I've shared with you to this point, please look at the album cover in Figure 7, and see what you notice about the dancer's lower abdominals. How about Figure 8? Next, look at Figure 9, which shows pictures of the famous belly dancer Neon who follows the principles of healthy living. You can see what her more functional lower abdominal muscles look like. It's safe to say that her organs receive much better support.

And don't think for a moment that abs like Neon's are unobtainable because of your age or having children. Take a look at my friend, C.H.E.K Nutrition and Lifestyle Coach, Sandy Leo (Figure 10). She has beautiful abs at the age of 44 and has three children!

Why does she look so good? Because she knows how to take care of herself and follows the principles in my book, How To Eat Move & Be Healthy! (Those of you living in New Zealand who are looking for a C.H.E.K Practitioner may contact her at sandy.leo@xtra.co.nz.)

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