My first reason goes back to the time when a guy named David Marmon hired me to be his graduate assistant. I remember my first day on the job. I wanted to get my workout in. Like a typical meathead, I went out and did some crunches, bench presses, and bicep curls. After my “gettin’ swole” workout, I sat back down in the office expecting some praise and admiration for my superior workout skills. David greeted me with, “Why do you train that way?” I was dumbfounded. I thought I had all the answers when it came to things like getting stronger, fitter, and leaner and all around more awesome. He followed his question with, “We train movements, not muscles.” I guess the idea of training movements, not muscles, kind of stuck with me (even though we still did sit-ups in our programming at the time). Train movements, not muscles.
So taking the train movements, not muscles approach, is bringing your sternum closer to your pelvis a movement you want to get better at? Think about it. When you squat, what are the coaching cues you hear? Chest out. Back flat. Hips back. Right? Same thing with deadlifts and many other exercises. Chest out. Back flat. The spine evolved to handle weight in the “chest out, hips back” position. That’s why we coach it that way. Why would we want to get better in producing force in any other way?
We don’t teach this.
We don’t coach people to get better at being in the rounded back position. So why do they need to get better at it? Your chances for injury are high when you flex the spine. Dr. Stuart McGill has become famous for saying, “Wanna see a disc explode? Keep flexing at the spine.” The torso musculature was meant to transmit force, not produce it.
So we train the limb muscles (ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, and wrists) to produce force. We train the torso musculature to act as a conduit and transmit force, not produce it. Therefore, the stronger and more rigid we can make the conduit, the more force the body as a whole will be able to produce.
My second reason is that the main function of these muscles is to co-contract. Basically, they contract against one another to stiffen and support the lumbar spine. I call this bracing. This is contrary to the popular belief that people must suck in the stomach to better support the spine (not long ago, I believed this as well). Sucking in actually decreases the stability of the lumbar spine (1).
Ok, so if not crunches and sit-ups, then what? The core is composed of the lumbar spine, quadratus lumborum, muscles of the abdominal wall (rectus abdominus and obliques), back extensors, and multijoint muscles like the latissimus dorsi and the psoas. You could also include the glutes in this group as well because they’re the main power producers and a synergist to the core muscles.
Here at Nunn’s Performance Training, we break our core training into three sections: anti-flexion, anti-rotation, and anti-lateral flexion. The progressions look like this:
Easy → Hard
Anti-flexion
Quadruped single arm/single leg raise → quadruped opposite arm/leg raise → prone plank → prone plank + weight → stability ball rollout → abdominal wheel rollout → TRX fallout → barbell rollout
Anti-rotation
Quadruped single arm/single leg raise → quadruped opposite arm/leg raise → Pallof series (half kneeling/high cable, standing/medium cable, standing/low cable)
Anti-lateral flexion*
Quadruped single arm/single leg raise → quadruped opposite arm/leg raise → side plank → side plank + weight → Pallof with overhead press
*We will probably be implementing suitcase deadlifts in the anti-lateral flexion area in the near future.
Here’s a video demonstration:
References
- Potvin JR and Brown SHM (2005) An equation to calculate individual muscle contributions to joint stability. J Biomech 38:973–980.
PDF 
Jason Nunn graduated with his bachelor of science degree from Indiana State University in 2005 with a major in exercise science. In December 2006, he finished his master of science degree from Indiana State University with a major in physical education and an emphasis in coaching and nutrition. During college, Jason became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). In his spare time, Jason is also a top-level, amateur Strongman competitor. For more information, check out 
Great article Jason! Good to see this information becoming more mainstream!
Thanks Fionn. The website is http://www.NunnsPerformanceTraining.com not nunnstronger.com. Thanks for reading!
While I will agree with the author in some regards, especially in the sport of powerlifting, there are plenty of activities in which the spine must be flexible, and a “crunch” is a good thing. For example, in MMA, jiu-jitsu, or judo, such movements are essential for good a good guard. In fact, without it, being able to apply certain submission moves becomes almost impossible.
It’s interesting to see that sit ups are being tossed out with crunches. I don’t like crunches, that’s for sure, since I don’t want to or need to round my back like that under tension.
Sit ups, on the other hand, should involve the closing of the hips while the spine stays rigid. If done properly, it should teach the person how to maintain spinal integrity during movement. Some methods for doing this right is to have a towel or an abmat to allow for better movement, or doing a GHD sit up. If you do them right, the back stays rigid and in good position, while the hips close. It also serves to strengthen the muscles to keep the spine rigid under load or movement, which is what we do want.
Barbell rollouts are killer though, I wasn’t surprised to see them at the hardest end of the list!
would overhead squats belong in the above as well?
Great article Jason…having spent 20 years on active duty in the military I can tell you that the “bent knee” situp and “crunch” can be detrimental to one’s long term health. The “hands behind the neck, knees bent, rounded spine situp” should have been removed from the semi-annual physical fitness test years ago!
How often should the abdominal training, with the series of exercises listed in your article, be performed?
I definetly agree that anti-rotation/flexion exercises are valuable. But in regards to training in balance(agonist/antagonist) wouldn’t you want to do some specific rectus ab work/flexion. some of the more advanced core stuff you have is a bitch, TRX fallouts and all that which is basically a static or isometric ab, and really hard. I guess here is the scenario I have in my mind. an ab bridge is probably most comparable to the wall sit for the legs. which the wall sit is hard and we can externally load it but we don’t throw the most importance of strengthening the legs upon a wall sit. If I am going to take the time to do some RDL’s glute hams and reverse hypers, I am going to take the time to do some weighted ab work in a full ROM unless there is a disc issue. and the anti-rotation is great, But i really like land mine twists and things that involve rotation. Not bashing by any means just posing a question, like I said many of these exercises you showed are hard as hell.
@Adam from Japan – I would say that MMA would be about the only exception to this.
@Hunter – Overhead squats are fine
@RD – Most people spend all day in the seated position with their shoulders rounded forward. If they spend all day in flexion, why do you want to do more flexion in the gym? To me, doing anti flexion does bring balance.
Also, a correctly done landmine is an anti rotation exercise.
I take 3-4 shits a day in a quad parallel position and weigh 265 pounds, so I’m not gonna go to the gym and squat? I totally agree with the spinal positioning problem of many flexion exercises, but just like in the DL, RDL, Squat we can make sure our clients or athletes are keeping the spine in a good position. All I am saying is the old addage don’t mistake activity for achievement comes to mind. The quadruped stuff I think can be great for prep work or whatever, but If I want to make my mid section stronger I think placing some load will be more beneficial. The landmine can be done as anti-rotation or a rotational exercise, squat can be used as a single leg exercise too, right? Like I said I think some of those exercises are great, but i don’t think we can completely discredit doing flexion or extension exercises. The body is made to move, strength training is best when doing things with correct form while increasing the stimulus regularly, Just my opinion. great article.
Jason just playing devils adovocate here,
First off I happen to agree with 90% of what you are saying and I think there is a lot of good information in the article. Nice work!
I do have a few questions.
If repetitive spinal flexion isn’t safe, why would it be okay to train the core this way for MMA fighters?
If spinal flexion does causes “discs to explode” why would we continue to train this pattern when they get to a strength and conditioning processional. Shouldn’t they be training to keep the athlete injury free and get them to perform better?
Also in my opinion MMA/BJJ the flexed spine is more a a static posture as opposed to a series of flexion cycles on the ground. The hold a hunched posture in the standing position, but we don’t advocate doing exercises in that posture for MMA, so why is on the ground any different.
I really don’t think MMA is an exception to the rule.
Again just trying to be devil’s advocate to get more clarification on that one comment.
Thanks for the post!
Don’t you mean anti-hyper-extension rather than anti-flexion? The exercises you mentioned in the anti-flexion group all fail by dropping into hyperextension, not flexion.
Anti-flexion would be a deadlift and it’s variants for example.
Hi Jason,
I agree with everything you wrote except for the “anti flexion” progression. In these exercises, gravity will EXTEND the back, if the muscles don’t neutralize the force. I do love the term anti flexion exercise, but I am of the opinion that anti flexion exercise are exercises like goodmornings, deadlifts, front squats etc where gravity tends to FLEX the spine and the muscles have to counteract that. Best one I have ever tried is Sandbag Zercher Squats. From experience I have found that the further the load is in front of the spine, the greater the tendency to flex the spine.
@RD Good to know you have a healthy digestive system. Yes, it’s not the sitting on the toilet I want them to be good at, it’s the getting up part. So yes, we squat. Sitting on the toilet 3 – 4 times does not compare to sitting in a car and/or behind a desk for 8 – 12 hours. Most of the clients I see are already in varying degrees of kyphosis. Even the high schoolers! So why do we want to reinforce that? Another way of looking at it is if you look at the way the musculature is oriented, you can see that the primary job is stability. Otherwise, the rectus abdominus would look more like a hamstring than a six pack.
@John – Great point. I was thinking about some of the striking postures like the clinch. MMA isn’t my area of expertise, so I’d have to do more research on it.
@Karsten and Andre – It’s really a matter of semantics. I’ve heard it called both. And Andre, I would agree that those are all great exercises. I would also add in yoke and farmers walk for stability, but they are a bit beyond the scope of this article.
Whilst i agree that excessive flexion can create some problems, is not getting up in the morning or off the ground at any time the most basic of human movements, and by its very nature a situp, also watching kids play and run around we see them do this all the time so how is this now becoming such a risky move. The progressions shown are all very static, how will this preare the body for daily demands, does not sport and physical work by its very demands require the exact things you are saying we should not do.
I don’t think sit-ups and crunches should be done in MMA either. These athletes are spending a lot of time in spinal flexion in their sport, so why should we program more spinal flexion in the strength program? One of the major benefits of a good strength & conditioning program is counteracting the repetitive motions we encounter as part of daily life/sport. A basketball player will often go into valgus when jumping, should we program this movement? I know top MMA coaches like Dewey Nielson and Jon Chaimberg don’t program lumber flexion exercises.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGOkDg3Hw7s
Looks like this sea lion hasn’t read your article Jason!
i don’t agree with the spinal flexion thing, lifting with a rounded back is a very healthy athletic movement to do and cats do it all the time, and it is amazing for the abs, look at Konstantinov’s 955 lbs deadlift, he lifts with a rounded back and is no cripple, and very healthy, and most if not all strongmen do atlas stones lifts with a rounded back to get a better grip to pull the stone, and have no back pain or problems, i often find that if i only do back movements with a neutral spine, my chances for injury is higher, because i do nothing to loosen the pockets between the discs of the spine, and for me lifting with a rounded back is also very therapeutic, and i can feel fluid in the regions between my spinal discs.
can’t see the video?
Good write up. I can’t think of a time in any of the athletics I have been involved in, including MMA, where I have actually had to “crunch” with my abs. It is always a hard isometric hold to maintain rigidity, and transfer some force to act upon some load. I peronally now rarely do any direct abdominal work. Heavy barbells get the job done just fine in my case.
I do 1000 sit ups and 1000 crunches a day. This article is utter moronic bull#%$@!!!!!!!!
Be careful not to overreact. Reverse crunches are great for the external oblique, which controls anterior pelvic tilt, which can greatly help lower back pain depending on the situation. There are plenty of ways to train core with performing old school crunches and situps, but all forms of them should not be discarded. “Overreaction in the short term” comes to mind. Good info though
Hey jason love the progressions what is your views on crunches and situps for the boxing and kickboxing world with regards on absorbing blows
Haha, got to love the overreaction by folks. “Dudes deadlift a shitload with a rounded back and they’re fine!” You do realize that there are exceptions to every rule right? Not to mention, absence of injury does not mean that there isn’t an underlying problem that may cause an injury in the future. Also, simply saying “well people get up all the time out of bed, etc. with a rounded back” is missing the point. While it may happen, it doesn’t mean that it’s the best way, nor does it imply that the abdominals are producing the force for the movement to happen. Simply because it looks like someone is crunching up doesn’t mean the abs are providing the driving force for the movement. Our abs are designed for stability. Which is why they should be trained that way, at least the majority of the time. Additionally, the job of the S&C professional is to keep our athletes injury-free, particularly in the weight room. If we know that repeated flexion increases the risk of a spinal injury, why would we train it? In any event, good write-up, don’t let the haters get you down.
@Flash – Wouldn’t absorbing a blow be a “brace” not a “Crunch”?
@Brock – Thanks man, anytime you go a little bit against the grain people respond this way. Change is hard for some.