Q: I have noticed that some authors and trainers advise the drinking of from two to four quarts of milk per day. Is this a good idea?
A: Second question, here:
Q: For some time I have read in bodybuilding magazines that the sit-up exercise will cause a lordosis in the lumbar region. I am studying chiropractic and have found some of their literature stating that the sit-up exercise will straighten or normalize a lordosis in the lumbar region. Will you be kind enough to explain what you have found to be true regarding this matter?
A: We hope that you have a copy of Vol. 7 No. 4 Iron Man and will turn to page 17 where we (Peary Rader feature article on the abdominal muscles, I had it but binned it, damnit, unless it's here already and I can't find it), discuss the anatomy of the abdomen. This will give you a full discussion of the abdominal muscles and their actions.
We explain that it is not the Rectus muscles on the front of the abdomen that do most of the work in the jack-knife bend of the sit-up exercise. Their chief action is to keep the trunk from buckling at the waist (see that PDF download).
The actual sit-up or bending of het hips is accomplished mostly by the Psoas muscles which are attached to the lower vertebrae of the spine in the lumbar region and at the other end to the femur or thigh bone. They are aided in this action by the Iliacus muscles attached to the crest of the Ilium, hip bone, and is all attached at its other end to the thigh bone. This is a very simple explanation to these muscles but enough to show you the action they have.
These muscles lay in the back of the abdomen. It is the Psoas muscles in which we are primarily interested at this time.
Supposing you are doing the sit-up on the floor. As you lay there relaxed you will notice there is some arch in the lower back already (it is more in some people than in others). Now, with the feet fastened down you start the sit-up. This causes the Psoas muscles to contract very strongly (they are powerful muscles), which in turn places a terrific pull on the vertebrae of the lumbar area. This pull is such that it tends to make the lordosis (inward arch of the lower back) more pronounced than ever. If the Rectus muscles are allowed to relax and extend themselves you will have a still greater arch.
It is said that continued practice of this exercise and the continual pull of the Psoas muscles on the lumbar vertebrae causes the lumbar arch to become more pronounced. Whether this is true or not it is certain that such an exercise and muscle pull would never effect a correction of such a lordotic condition.
Your editor once studied to be a chiropractor but never encountered the advice for correcting a lordosis in the lumber region with the sit-up. It is amazing what little reasoning ability or analytical thinking some authors and teachers do even tho they are able to write a number of degrees after their names.
I've often been quite disappointed at the limited and faulty knowledge of some men whom I had always felt were tops in their field. How they reach the top, I do not know but it is not on ability. Too many of them write books and literature on subjects of which they have no knowledge and because it appears in print and because they have a convincing presentation many young fellows are misled.
Haven't you ever heard that about about 80% of our present knowledge and so-called proven facts are faulty? Such a statement, we are sure, is not much exaggerated.
Man has progressed so little toward perfection, yet his conceit is colossal.
- GO CHARLES!
Our own field of bodybuilding and weight lifting has had many leaders and teachers who were not fitted for their work and who without doubt, delayed the progress of our game a great deal by their misleading teaching.
We hope that we have in some measure helped you to understand the action of the sit-up and why it is often claimed it is a cause of lordosis. I admit that it could and probably does contribute to a condition when improperly performed and yet unless a man has a bad back I would not ascribe to it the disastrous results that some teachers claim for it.
If, when performing the sit-up you are careful to double up the body as you come erect you can eliminate some of the bad features. Also, the use of heavy weights in this exercise is undoubtedly damaging to most backs. Some teachers advise the use of the leg raise in the belief that they are avoiding this damaging action but they are not. The muscle action is exactly the same, the only difference is that you are anchoring the other end of the body while executing the same movement.
Q: In your recent articles on the Two-Hands Press, you said in one section that the only way to improve the Press was to press. Yet a few paragraphs later, you mention several exercises that will, so you said, also improve the press. How do you reconcile these two statements?
See first question in first link above for the answer.
Enjoy Your Lifting!
Ah-Ha!
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