exercise transversus abdominus

January 18, 2006 9:07 AM

How to exercise the transversus abdominus?

Any practical tips to make it easier to do and remember.

posted by larry_darrell to health & fitness (5 comments total)

Well here's one suggestion.
posted by jamesonandwater at 10:09 AM on January 18, 2006

Well I could find this and this.

This page describes the pelvic tilt and this one describes the Superman.
posted by driveler at 10:12 AM on January 18, 2006

Yoga, specifically anusara style yoga, focuses on this area in almost every pose. I'm guessing pilates, with its emphasis on core strength, would probably also help. Might be worth taking a few classes in either, as they should help you figure out how you should be sitting and standing all the time.
posted by occhiblu at 1:52 PM on January 18, 2006

You can't find much because the more common spelling is "transversus abdominis." Short definition/explanation.

This site says it helps if you do your abdominal exercises (hollowing and bracing helps, it says, while situps don't) slowly, about one per 2 or 3 seconds.

Singers -- and I mean specifically classically trained singers, think choirs and opera -- use it and need it. If you can sing, or want to, this could be very fun. If not, here's breathing exercises with basically the same purpose.

I think this is one of your core muscles, right? I can't tell you how many billion articles I've seen about it in women's magazines (most of the exercises described there involve exercise balls). Here's a non-exercise-ball-involving slide show about exercising this muscle along with the rest of your core -- keep clicking "next" for more exercises.
posted by booksandlibretti at 2:34 PM on January 18, 2006

Pilates works this muscle. Riding horses does too.
posted by fshgrl at 9:53 PM on January 18, 2006