DE Lower – 5.1.10

Hi, Charlie.

With the confusion that seems to surround spinal flexion, it was interesting to see you mention giving the Pavelizer a go. You mentioned giving it a chance………….I’m curious what made you experiment with it, and what you would consider a reason to not be done with it or even consider including it (and who would even be in the mix to have a legitimate reason to consider using it).

I am mostly interested in it because my gym has one sitting in the corner along with an AbMat and some other miscellaneous stuff. I occasionally see a gentleman using the Pavelizer with the AbMat and performing a crunch-style movement, but I’ve never gravitated over there myself. In fact, I have mostly steered clear of flexion for some time now (not sure if I am paranoid or not).

Just curious if you have any additional thoughts to share since the Pavelizer was mentioned by name.

Josef – First off, my good friend and training partner, Thomas Phillips, has a Pavelizer II @ his facility where we train. I don’t know if he paid for it or got it comped as he is a Senior RKC. He will wind up having 2 bodybuilding events this summer, so I do have some respect for ab work that does not meet biomechanical integrity. At least there is an adult and informed decision being made.

I considered putting a more detailed response to this comments on the Front Page, but the bottom line is that if I am performing this technique properly, it’s just a crunch. What is possible yesterday is that because it was a very light load on the counter, the McGill curl-up technique that I was trying to execute was not efficient.

I am very clear that bigger load forces you to use your hamstrings, which “turns off” the hip flexors. I am not clear at all as to why that is valuable. In fact, we have heard from multiple resources that flexion is somewhat attenuated when initiated and and controlled with active hip flexion.

I am hesitant to be on a high horse on this technique as I still think I am missing something, but for now, I will stay away from it and talk to Tom more. Maybe I just needed more weight, which I have done in the past.

The authoritative resource on the Pavelizer II, but still leave me missing something……
http://www.dragondoor.com/p12.html

I am also similarly concerned with the Janda sit-up.