Stomach Vacuum - Arnold's technique (Inner abs)

[Leandro]

Anyone heard of stomach vacuum??

Here in english:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/ms-fit5.htm

And this shows arnold doing it:

http://www.treinohardcore.com/stomach_vacuum.htm

(It's the same article, in portuguese)

I've been researching a lot on stuff to get cool abs. Today I have 8% BF measured by a nutritionist, and I have decent ab muscles. I can describe my abs just like the first photo in the first link. I'm not that strong, but the abs are very similar. I do a lot of ab exercises, HLL included.

The thing is, I had some years of my life which had been partially sedentary and terrible at nutrition. I got fat and with the stomach inflated, this lasted for some years. But it was a long time ago. In the past years I've been exercising like mad, doing gymnastics, a hell amount of cardio, lifting weights (summing all the years, not everything at the same time).

So I get to the point which I have 8% BF. Indeeed, If I catch the fat around my stomach, it's very thin. But If I relax the abs, while I'm standing, my stomach comes forward, and it's not a little, it's like from 88cm, being contracted, to 95 cm relaxed. I tried everything already. My nitrition is not paleo, but excelent. I do cardio. I do abs exercises. And I don't have a decent cool looking core. And I want it.

Do you think in my case this stomach vacuum will work?

Maybe my inner abs are weak and flacid?

I wonder if all the gymnastic exercises Iv'e been doing do not work these inner abs, and only this technique activates them?

[Philip Chubb]

I am not sure if it is the reason for you, but for some people the stomach inflates like that because of food intolerance. I know if I accidently get glutened or dairyed, my stomach swells up enough to make me look pregnant. After a day or two, it is back to normal.

[Leandro]

I don't know. Probably I don't have any intolerance. I can eat anything, if it's not too much and the digestion is ok. If I stuff myself with some type of food, even healthy things, I can have some problems.

But my stomach is permanently like that. These images can tell what I mean.

Like I said, I have 8% BF, there's not much fat in front of my abs. Thats why I think stomach vacuum can help me

[Cole Dano]

Leandro, you have a perfectly normal stomach!

We aren't meant to go around all the time with our abs sucked in or hard, only when appropriate. Otherwise there will be some relaxation of the upper abs to allow free and natural diaphragmatic breathing.

Don't worry, you should be the eve of the town, when you want to be.

[Leandro]

But you remember that topic you helped me with back pain? When I saw a doctor and the X ray showed osteoarthrosis, he said I had postural problems, hiperlordosis, and this is one of the factors that could be causing my back pains.

I admit I want to correct this to look better, but it also has relation with the health of my lower back. The article about the stomach vacuum I mentioned says this exercise improves posture, can lessen back pains, and lessen your waist, IF you already have a decent BF. In other words, just what I need =D. That's why I thought it could help fixing this thing.

[Uzeeh]

You look nowhere near 8%. A bodyfat percent of 8% would be much thinner. Usually online calculators and such are very inaccurate; keep in mind that bodybuilders have 5-6% fat in their bodies when they compete. 8% is very near that, and you aren't simply looking like a bodybuilder.

I, for one, don't have that problem simply because of good posture. Always walk with chest up, shoulders back and down. You ain't got a flabby stomach no more.

[Cole Dano]

Ok, this is a very tough question. One of the things i've been realizing is posture, and fixing it by tightening this and loosening that isn't the panacea its purported to be.

Particularly if we are dealing with an arthritic spine. We can't just force your body to change overnight.

That said - the stomach exercise has been a part of traditional hatha yoga for ages. Look up Uddiyana Bandha. In a case like yours, it may actually be a good exercise, but not for the reason you think. To properly do it you need to round your back, this will at least temporarily get the lordosis away. It will help you find how to do that, but we don't want to walk around that way, its an exercise.

For regular life, the lower belly is kept medium firm not tense, upper belly free to breathe.

Hollow hold work will also help with this, creating strong functional core stabilization. It also teaches how to use the core to create body line, which the sucking in won't do, it actually weakens the core. It original purpose was to massage the inner organs. Hollow hold engages all the layers of the core, the vacuum only some.

Another important aspect of is learning to roll your tailbone forward from the hips. Hollow hold is one way to do this, but then learn to do it with out the force. One exercise i like is the 'cat' walk. Its a bit hard to explain, as you woke try to land on the balls or your toes and press them in the floor from your tailbone. Its kind of like you were walking on your tip toes with just the front foot.

Finally there is the idea of mobilization, once you are able to stabilize, you want to be able to turn the switch on and off at will, and get the back free to move.

Here is a very interesting video of a remarkable degree of mobility displayed in a truly healthy spine.

http://yoga-horizons.com/?p=167

And here are some very basic but effective spinal mobilization exercises

http://yoga-horizons.com/?p=245

[Tarun Suri]

I had no idea that level of motor control was possible. I failed miserably trying to mimic him.