While exercising is key to the health and fitness of the body, exercisers should have some basic understanding of the muscles and parts they are working out. Abdominal muscles, also referred to as the abs muscles, are integral for the back support. There are six of these muscles in body and each plays a unique role in supporting the spine. With a qualified Port Moody fitnesstrainer, you can learn more about these muscles, and how they affect your back health and body posture.
The abs are grouped in six muscles and they extend from different places on ribs to other places on pelvis. These muscles offer movement and support for your trunk or the core, and assist in breathing. One thing that makes these muscles special is that they provide support for posture. Another important role is that they define the form with your strength exercises.
All of the six muscles affect your body posture. With the deeper muscles located closer to your spine, they give a more powerful effect. So, the deeper the muscles, the greater the capacity for creating and maintaining your spine healthy. The deepest abs muscle is the transverses abdominis. This muscle has greater effect on the body posture.
You are not able to touch the transverses abdominis muscle from outside. The muscle wraps around torso where it create an effect that is similar to support belt for the back. Another group is the internal oblique, which forms a pair of muscles, and each resides on sides of torso. These muscles form the next deepest muscles after the transverses. They also affect your body posture but this time a bit slightly since they have a more superficial location or position.
Other functions of internal oblique muscles are lateral flexion and rotation of spine. The third group is the external obliques, which is also a pair of muscles. These are located on either side of your torso. They are more superficial compared to transverses and internal obliques. Because of their location, they have a less effect on body posture, though they still affect it. They are also involved in other functions such as lateral flexion as well as rotation of spine.
The fourth group is rectus abdominus, which is the most superficial. It also has some role in postural support but at a lesser effect than the others. These are the muscles that define the look of the six pack abs witnessed in very fit people. Collectively, abdominal muscles are referred to as the spinal flexors and they bend your spine forward as they contract co-encentrically.
The back muscles that counterbalance the actions of abdominal muscles or abs are referred to as spinal extensors. When the abs shortens to flex your spine, then the back muscles or spinal extensors are stretched and the same happens in the opposite. In breathing process, abdominals help in exhalation to force air out of lungs, where they depress the thorax.