Don't Make This Core Stability Mistake

Q. I've always been told that drawing the belly button towards the spine (abdominal hollowing) is the best way to improve core stability. But I just read an article in The Guardian saying that it doesn't work as well as it's supposed to. What do you think?

A. The short answer is that I don't think abdominal hollowing is the best way to enhance stability. Here's what I wrote on the subject a few years back, and my opinion on the subject hasn't changed since:

"Achieving stability is not just a matter of activating a few targeted muscles (such as transverse abdominis). You need all the muscles. A better way to ensure maximum stability and support is the abdominal brace. This involves tightening the abdominal muscles as if you're about to take a punch in the gut. It provides support and strength to your torso by making it stiffer. Abdominal bracing, which activates the three layers of the abdominal wall, is much more effective than abdominal hollowing at enhancing spine stability."

Keep in mind that the fitness industry tends to be influenced very heavily by fads, training techniques are frequently taken out of context and, as the article in The Guardian points out, the benefits are often "wildly overplayed by the fitness industry." It's nice to see one of the mainstream publications actually printing something useful for a change.

Q. A lot of the routines I see in the bodybuilding magazines involve 20-30 sets per muscle group in each workout, and each muscle group gets trained only once per week. But your programs don't have as many sets, and the muscles are trained more frequently. Surely the routines that professional bodybuilders use are the best way to build muscle?

A. Professional bodybuilders will typically use large training volumes (e.g. lots of sets and repetitions) and/or various techniques designed to fatigue the muscle (such as forced repetitions or descending sets).

These kind of high-volume, high-fatigue workouts create a large amount of muscle damage. And as with any injury, the more damage you create the longer it'll take to heal. So if you use a very high volume of exercise for each muscle group, you'll need more recovery time before training that muscle again (that's one reason training each muscle group once per week has become so popular).

The problem is that anything professional bodybuilders do has to be seen in light of the fact that the majority (with the exception of those competing in "natural" contests, and even then I have my doubts about some of them) are using vast amounts of anabolic drugs.

You can't take a program used by a heavily drug-assisted genetically gifted champion bodybuilder and assume that someone who trains without the same level of pharmaceutical assistance will get the same results simply by following the same program. It just doesn't happen.

Going back to your original question, there are a few reasons why such high-volume, high-fatigue workouts are not optimal for the natural trainee who wants to build muscle.

Firstly, while a small amount of damage helps to trigger growth, too much is counterproductive. Damaged tissue won't respond as well to the various anabolic hormones your body produces, such as testosterone, which may limit the potential for growth.

What's more, studies show that the short-term increase in protein synthesis that occurs after a workout returns to normal after 36-48 hours. And simply creating more muscle damage doesn't appear to make this rise in protein synthesis last any longer.

In other words, when you train a muscle group directly only once per week, the muscles might spend a few days in an "anabolic state" after the workout. But for the rest of the week you're missing a second (and maybe even a third) opportunity to stimulate more growth. Blitzing your muscles just once a week with lots of sets, repetitions and high-fatigue methods is going to extend your recovery time. But it's not necessarily going to make you grow any faster.

If you've built a decent "base" of muscle and want to improve certain muscle groups, then some kind of split routine might be the way to go. But it's my view that most people will respond best to either a) a whole-body workout done 2-3 times per week or b) an upper-lower body routine performed four days each week.

I've covered the subject of training frequency in more detail in Do This And Your Muscles Will Get Bigger. And if you're looking for step-by-step training programs that incorporate these principles, take a look at the Maximum Muscle Plan.

Q. I have been following Fight Fat and Win 2.0 and lost a considerable amount of fat during the first 3 weeks. In the last couple of weeks I've really struggled to lose the last little bit to reveal my abs. I feel like I'm doing everything right – I'm training according to the plan, have my diet set at 1800 calories a day, and drinking only water. How do I strip off this last little bit of fat, or is it just a painfully slow process?

A. In general terms, the closer you get to your "ceiling of adaptation" or "upper limit" of what you're capable of in terms of fat loss, the slower your rate of progress becomes.

There does appear to be an upper limit to the rate at which fat is lost, estimated in one study to be about 31 calories per pound of fat per day.

Although this study gives only a theoretical estimate, and is based on dieting and relatively "moderate" activity levels, it does illustrate the important point that fat loss will slow down the less fat you have to lose.

Using these figures (keeping the limitations I just mentioned in mind), if you have 10 pounds of fat to lose, you can sustain a deficit of 310 calories per day without running the risk of losing a substantial amount of muscle. If you have 20 pounds of fat, that's a deficit of 620 calories per day. With 30 pounds of fat, it's 930 calories per day.

In other words, the less fat you have, the longer it'll take to lose it.

Basically, I think you can continue to improve but you'll need to accept a) that your rate of progress is going to slow down over time and b) it's not going to get any easier.

There's some great advice from Tom Venuto on how to break through your plateau in Stubborn Fat and How to Beat 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're stuck in a rut with your current exercise and diet plan... fed up with only losing a pound here and there... or still skinny after months (or even years) of trying to build muscle and gain weight... click here now for instant access to his step-by-step muscle-building and fat-burning workout routines.