The Real Reason Crunches Aren't Shrinking Your Waist
Core Health Mini Series
Part One: Is it normal for women to have a lower belly pooch?
Part Two: Your Low Belly Pooch Isn't Fat
Part Three: The Real Reason Crunches Aren’t Shrinking Your Waist
Part Four: Why Hypopressive Training is the Best Low Belly Pooch Exercise
Your core feels smushy and weak. The waistband of your jeans digs uncomfortably into your sides. Or maybe you feel like you still look pregnant even though you're months or years postpartum.
You've dedicated yourself to core workouts - endless crunches, sit-ups, leg lifts, and bicycle kicks. You're doing everything the fitness influencers and trainers recommend. Yet instead of seeing ab definition, you’ve got a lower belly pooch that won’t budge.
The frustration is real. You're knowledgeable about health and fitness and have probably tried multiple approaches and programs. Something isn't adding up. Those crunches should be working by now - but they're not.
Many women come to me feeling frustrated and confused. They're doing all the "right" things, but their core never develops the tone, strength, or definition they're working so hard to achieve.
Why Traditional Ab Workouts Aren’t Shrinking Your Waist
Here's something that might surprise you: your core muscles are primarily involuntary. In fact, 80% of your core muscle fibers are involuntary, meaning you have no direct control over them. Traditional ab workouts only target the 20% voluntary muscle fibers, leaving the majority of your core completely untrained. The 80% involuntary muscle fibers of the core can only be activated through a reflex. So in order to train 100% of your core muscle fibers, you must elicit a reflex to trigger the activation of those 80% involuntary muscle fibers as well.
Traditional ab workouts also put unnecessary strain on your abdominal and pelvic fascia, stretching them out. This is caused by the increased pressure created in your abdomen during these exercises. Instead of drawing the abdominal and pelvic fascia IN, traditional ab exercises push the core fascia OUT- leading to increased waist circumference, as well as low and compressed organs.
Of course people who are doing and teaching these kinds of traditional core exercises are well intending! They are doing these "core exercises" with the intention to trim their waist and increase their strength, but in reality doing the opposite!
(Read on to lean how to strengthen your core muscles through reflexive activation, in order to train them to optimally support your organs- leading to a flat low belly.)
Three Ways Crunches Can Actually Harm Your Core
Not only are traditional ab exercises often ineffective - they can actually harm your core, especially if you’re already dealing with symptoms of core dysfunction. Here’s why:
They Create Excessive Pressure - Traditional ab exercises lower your diaphragm and bring your rib cage closer to your pelvis. This increases pressure in your abdomen, placing unnecessary stress on your core's connective tissue and muscles. For women already dealing with a weakened core, this added pressure can delay healing and reduce blood flow to essential organs.
They Lower Your Pelvic Organs - Every time you crunch and bring your rib cage closer to your pelvis, your pelvic organs move downward and forward. Training your core muscles to shorten your waist, instead of lengthen your waist results in decreased organ range of motion, as well as decreased circulation of blood and lymph to the organs of your core. This reduced blood flow and additional strain on your pelvic floor and low belly can lead to symptoms like:
- Persistent bloating
- That stubborn "low belly pooch"
- Bladder issues like incontinence and urgency
- Digestive problems including constipation
- Pelvic pain
- Lower back discomfort
They Inhibit Deep Core Muscles - While most people believe crunches strengthen their deep core, the opposite is true. The excessive abdominal pressure created during these exercises actually prevents proper activation of your deep abdominal and pelvic muscles. Adding repetition to this is quite detrimental to the lower deep core muscles. The deep core muscles turn On and lift the organs when the abdominal pressure is reduced. The deep core muscles turn Off when the pressure in the abdomen is increased. For proper core muscle activation to occur, the exercises needs to reduce the pressure in the abdomen. Crunches and traditional core exercises increase the pressure in the abdomen, inhibiting core muscle activation - leading to further weakness and core dysfunction.
Instead of endless crunches, effective core training involves 7 elements that most traditional workouts miss entirely:
These 7 things are key to safely and effectively building true core strength, while preventing core and pelvic dysfunction. If your core training does not involve these 7 things, it could be causing more harm than good.
- Proper breathing
- Optimal organ position and pelvic health
- Involuntary core muscle activation
- Pressure reduction in the abdomen, pelvis and spine
- Proper posture and spinal alignment
- Improved stress tolerance
- Strengthening of your core fascia
Our intention when "core training" needs to shift from aesthetics to function. The function of the core muscles is so much more than just helping your trunk move around. Your core muscles control your breathing, determine how much blood flow your organs get, how healthy your spine is, and your response to stress. When we train the core muscles it is critical to take these factors into consideration. Pressure reduction, circulation, breathing and spinal position must be a priority when designing a plan for "core strengthening" and/or are choosing "core" exercises.
If crunches aren’t the answer, how can I get rid of my lower belly pooch?
While many women think it’s body fat, that lower belly pooch actually comes from core muscles that are not functioning properly. When the core muscles resume their proper function, the shape of your belly automatically changes, your waist shrinks, and your lower belly pooch disappears.
The Core Recovery Method® is an online program that guides you step by step through my protocol to retrain your core muscles to properly support your organs, leading to flattening of the lower belly, a smaller waist and toning of the abdominal muscles. Through breath work, postural exercises, subconscious nervous system training, self massage, trigger point release and core hygiene practices, you are able to quickly resolve core muscle dysfunction and permanently lift and center your organs so your lower belly pooch can finally be a thing of the past.
My approach focuses on achieving optimal function first, and seeing aesthetic “improvements” as a natural result of properly functioning core muscles. When your core muscles work properly, they support your organs and keep them in their optimal position. This creates both optimal organ function and leads to that flat, toned stomach you're looking for.
Optimal organ function means a bladder that doesn't leak or give your unnecessary urgency, a digestive system that is able to break down food properly and has regular and healthy elimination, a menstrual cycle that is pain-free and regular, and a uterus that is fertile and lifted. When all of this is achieved by optimizing organ position, a nice bonus is a toned, flat belly.
