AB Strength

[Charlie_Francis]

@rj24

Number Two, using one kid as an example doesn’t make much sense. I mean, why do any weights with him if he’s so fast? Just because some athletes don’t need work in a specific area doesn’t mean it’s not beneficial for the majority of other athletes.

And yes, sprinting does play a huge role in developing hip flexor strength, but no more so than it does for the glutes and hamstrings, yet people still suggest weight training for those muscle groups. What I can’t understand is why people weight train every muscle group but somehow treat the abdominals and hip flexors differently.

Finally, those programs that end up causing their athletes lower back pain and ab strains are doing it wrong. You want to know how many people I’ve seen pull hamstrings and suffer from horrible shin splints just from sprinting? Just because some people manage to screw up a training method doesn’t mean it’s bad, just that they’re stupid.

As I tried to point out in the two weights for speed products, you need to sum up what is done in total to get the real picture.
Along those lines as well, the program that gained better results from flexor work than extensor work might well have been explained by the absence of stress on the working area more than the benefits of the area worked in the weight room- see again my comments on the Bench as a general organism stimulus.