Core vs. Abs

Recently, I received a newsletter telling the difference between "core work" and "ab work". This coming days on the heels where a client of my was doing a plank exercise and asked "Is this abs or core?"

 

Core vs Abs

"I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you're a musician, a writer, an athlete, or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you'll win-if you don't, you won't."
-Bruce Jenner, Olympic gold medalist

I subscribe to virtually every fitness e-zine and newsletter online today. I'm a freak for this industry and I love it so I want to know everything that is going on in it. Recently, I received a newsletter telling the difference between "core work" and "ab work". This coming days on the heels where a client of my was doing a plank exercise and asked "Is this abs or core?"

Oh brother....This has got to be one of the dumber arguments in the fitness world.

Here's what people say that core training is
-Primary goal is health ,looks, and performance
-Isometric exercises like planks, side planks, cable chops
-Anything that exercises the Rectus Abdominus (6-pac) , Obliques, Erector Spinae and internal stabilizers such as the TVA and Multifidi
-Is generally trained with isometric exercises, bands or unstable surfaces.

On the other side we have ab training
-Primary goal is health, looks and performance
-Movements include crunches chops, reverse crunches, leg raises
-The primarily muscles trained are the Rectus Abdominus and Obliques

Does anyone see that big of a difference? Oh so we don't use our internal stabilizers with a decline crunch but we do with a band chop? You've got to be joking. The only argument you'd get more me is when core/ab training is done for spinal stabilization with a individual with low back pain. At that time, you can't really even say that it is core or ab training.

Back to the point at hand, does a plank only work the "core" and can't give abdominal separation if our body fat levels are low enough?

Does a russian twist not activate the obliques and spinal erectors?

It's foolish to debate this, just train.