How to tighten up the abs more?

[trumpet_bob_silver]

My abs feel stretched out. I noticed it while running. Trumpet playing definitely stretches them out.

Previously I've done crunches or sit ups. Maybe I'm not doing as many this time.... There have been times after doing ab and torso/"core" exercises I could really tell there was a tighter, nicer feel to my abs.

Add in that I'm pretty certain I've got diastasis recti going on. (Abs slightly separated, right in the middle, center where I'd push for trumpet.) I was paying very close attention to that while doing crunches, etc. for exercise so that's why I did less. I'm king of wondering what happens if I pushed that too much, ie if something like a hernia would ever happen. I'd rather not find out. It's the uncontrolled puff out that really doesn't seem like a good thing or something to push while exercising.


So... Any good ab or torso exercises? It feels like the lower part of my abs doesn't firm back up with its own tension like it was. It's more like I have to manually control the abs to keep them in their normal place.

[Richard III]

You ask for advice in a funny place for fitness expertise. Why do you think a bunch of people who share an interest in trumpets will give you good advice?
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Richard

Conn 22B Trumpet
York Eminence Model 4028 Cornet
1903 Conn The Wonder Cornet

[zaferis]

wow! my first reaction is that you MUST be pushing way too hard when playing the trumpet. Firm support, not pushing. You're not lifting a car or blowing up a truck tire nor crapping a baseball.. If you're running, even a moderate amount, you have more than enough fitness to play the trumpet.

I'd first suggest some breathing work with someone.. a singing approach - my personal best with a trained opera singer.

Then physically, a wide variety of inclusive exercises.. balanced fitness not body building. Planks!
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[Ed Kennedy]

Hear the words of the master:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQJBgzgn_3o

[MrOlds]

If you blow, you suck! - Pandolfi

[JoseLindE4]

Mr. Jacobs sure loved him some 7th cranial nerve. The dichotomy he discusses at the beginning of the video has always fascinated me. I think he's absolutely correct, but if you think about it too hard, it kind of fizzles away.

I'm not sure if I fully understand what's being described in the OP, but I'm pretty sure a healthy dose of Jacobs will cure it. Wasn't it Jacobs that would jab his hand into his (not so fit) belly and say "weakness is your friend?"

[take2]

[Shaft]

Side deltoid raises. 5 pound weight, 8 pound weight, 10 pound weight and size you want to go in each arm hanging down lower one arm at a time. Eight reps alternate sides.

Sit ups with a 10 or 25 pound weight plate,do it in reps if you want.

Reverse sit up's lifting your legs in the air.

Trunk twists holding a dumbbell vertically with both hands in your midsection and going left eight reps then right eight reps. Repeat as needed.

Some workouts to do three sets of the same weight then increasing then three more reps of a higher weight then three more reps of a higher weight and then be done with that exercise.

There are other ab workouts. I like to do one ab work out a week. They can take a lot of beating so you can do more than one work out for the abs a week though.

As far as using the abs for compression with playing the trumpet. I pulled them inward just like Clint Mclaughlin showed me about 16 years ago. I do this on Notes for G above the staff and higher.

I noticed that when I do not bring in my abs, sometimes a note requires a little more compression from a different source. Lip compression or tongue arc.

Bringing in the abs can also Aid in lip slurs as you ascend to avoid unwanted partials in between which is also something that Clint Mclaughlin advocates.

I have never really felt like my abs stretch since I do not stick my belly out when I play. However if any of that helps, then that's cool.

UPDATE: after reading what you mean below. I agree that there is a slight expansion inside of my abs as the lungs expand. It is very slight and as I am not tender or recovering from any sort of injury {being ins shape in other words} It is almost unnoticeable except when I focused on it just now after reading what you meant and examining it as I breathed for a few breathes.
Happy trumpeting
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[trumpet_bob_silver]

Yeah, the exercises are more what I'm looking for. I'm thinking anything ab-related will probably do it given some time.

When I take a deep breath, the abs move outward. Lead with the abs. I don't see a way around that.

They're all (whole torso, front and back) probably on the tighter side since I haven't been stretching.

It dawned on me today that it's the back too. I eased off that with the 'crick in my back' thing happening.

More of everything probably. It's better today, but it's kind of annoying to have abs that feel stretched out or to have to consciously tighten them. They've definitely felt better before.

[Turkle]

There's no substitute for core strength! It's the foundation of everything else we do.

I do the P90X "Ab Ripper X" workout 2-3 times a week, and let me tell you, if you keep that up you'll have the abs you dreamed of in no time.
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[Bflatman]

The role of the abs is to firm the belly, a sixpack sure looks great doesnt it.

But strong abs make for a firm belly that is less flexible. With strong abs I can withstand a punch to my belly.

Strength in the abs make solidity but singing and trumpet playing depend upon a belly that is not solid. The belly must be free to expand in a relaxed way. Why strengthen something that needs to be relaxed.

You already have observed this when you say that during play the abs feel stretched out. That is because trumpet playing stretches the abs and needs them to expand with the belly, strengthening your abs will stop your natural and correct abs stretching and limit your playing.

Stronger abs stop the movement of the belly which is needed for deep breathing. Deep breathing is a good thing not a bad thing in trumpet playing.

I believe that abs strengthening is the biggest mistake you can make your abs are already strong you dont want them stronger.

Great abs mean poor breathing.

[Don Herman rev2]

Strength and flexibility are not complete opposites.
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"After silence, that which best expresses the inexpressible, is music" - Aldous Huxley

[Bflatman]

Flexibility is describing joints where bones articulate, I see no joints in the belly or six pack.

I would disagree that strength and flexibility can easily sit together. As muscles develop and muscle-mass increases flexibility is not generally affected, however it has been found that excessive muscle development inhibits flexibility.

Look at many body builders who have great muscle development but have difficulty walking. They become strung up and flexibility is lost. In extreme cases the muscles become unable to relax and stay tense this is the classic muscle bound state. Everything is tense. Tension in trumpet playing is in my view counter to what is desired.

In the case of a six pack the muscle bulking that happens when you go from a developed six pack to a very well defined six pack makes it difficult for those muscles to stretch which is exactly the problem that over developed body builders face when they cant walk properly due to over bulky muscles.

Its all about muscle elongation. bulky muscles cannot easily elongate and yet trumpet playing needs the six pack muscles to elongate. Ipso facto over development of the six pack inhibits trumpet playing.

It is not at all about flexibility it is about muscle elongation that reduces with muscle bulking.

If I may offer an example. take several breaths. Now tense those abs so they are rigid. Now holding those abs rigid and tense place your hand on your abs and then breathe in and out several times as fully as possible while keeping the abs tense,

Now relax those abs and breathe in and out deeply. In my case I find that tense abs reduces dramatically my ability to breathe in. I expect you to have the same result.

Question do we need to breathe in fully when trumpet playing.

[Shaft]

Good to know - I am in shape but don't have a six pack, maybe now I don't want one.
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[trumpetteacher1]

[Shaft]

I also thought about the remark about six pack abs limiting breathing.....

Olympians and other athletes don't seem to suffer from their hard abs with deficiencies of the lungs' ability to fuel the body with big breathes or oxygen.

Not sure that I agree with the remark on that earlier.
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[Trumpetingbynurture]

[Bflatman]

I dont understand the confusion that many seem to have about what I have said.

When I say "As muscles develop and muscle-mass increases flexibility is not generally affected, however it has been found that excessive muscle development inhibits flexibility." That means that you can develop muscles and have no issues with flexibility. Thats what "flexibility is not generally affected" means.

So why are some people saying that I am opposed to muscle development are we not speaking the same language.

I said that over development of the abs will limit the ability of them to stretch.

I do not believe that runners and other track athletes build massively huge muscles and those that try to do that will be told by their coaches to stop. Arnold Schwarzenegger would not have made a good track athlete.

It looks to me like the OP is going down the road of body building and the abs are an area he is working on. It seems that well developed abs are not enough for some people but they feel the bigger the abs the better, and I question that belief.

Muscle development is good for health and performance in any activity, but you can go too far. When does it stop.

Personally I choose to wait until orchestras start employing players on the basis of their rippling muscles before I start body building.

[trumpetteacher1]

[JoseLindE4]

1. Six-pack abs are more a function of body fat than muscle.

2. Things that improve your overall health will probably good for your trumpet playing. At the minimum, it lets you play for more years.

3. Anything that encourages a muscular approach to the trumpet, whether with the lips or the blowing muscles, tends to make playing more difficult.

4. Too much conscious manipulation of any muscles involved in blowing tends to be detrimental to trumpet playing, particularly when the muscles are engaging in opposition to the expiration of the air.

5. Great players come in all shapes and sizes - what's between your ears is the most important part.

6. Great athletes aren't always the most fit looking - aesthetics and performance can be in opposition at times.