Okay, I feel like a real idiot asking this, but how important does everyone on here feel direct ab work is for a short sprinter (60-100M)?
I ask because I’ve always assumed heavy squats would take care of trunk strength, but since I set my sights on sprinting I’ve seen a lot of info that indicates this might not be the case.
Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it.
RJ
I personally look at this from a position of trying to prevent injury.
Some guys swear that the big bar lifts are enough, but if that was the case, check out the top powerlifters who swear their squat numbers went up, when they incorperated direct abdominal work for a good length of time. After that, they wouldn’t turn back to not doing abdomminal work.
D.r Squat - Fred Hatfield is a good example.
All the westside guys actively engage in direct ab work, but at very high intensities that might drain the c.n.s of a sprinter who is allready doing sprint work etc…
So you have to balance ot WHAT you want to be intense, and what work you want to be easier, and most sprinters choose the ab work to be light.(their are exceptions.)
I do abdominal work mainly becuase;
I nearly suffered a hernia a few years back. To make sure my ab wall is strong I do laying leg raises and sit ups with raised arms.
The more consistantly I stick to this, the less often I get a pain in my groin.
If your overall trainining program is correct then I would say you dont need much direct ab work, I also believe you need to do more then low intensity/high volume ab work.
I think you need to work through a range of intensity.
I tend to view ab work as an adjunct to your event.
Throwers tend to use abs as a mover so I prescribed strength work similar to normal weights.
Runners use abs as stabilisers so I tend to do a lot of stability and lower intensity work.
according to Running by klomp and bosch for sprinting you should work the abs reactively, because that is how they work when you are running.