I have figured out what my lower abs are for: they are for telling me whether or not I have my shoulders in alignment over my hips! This is a relatively recent revelation for me, but did you know you can feel your abs working in EVERY move in B/R? Until this past week or so, and I've been tapping for over a year, I NEVER felt my abs in balance, TTN, torso twist and a couple of others! Some of you are saying, "How is it possible to do those moves and NOT feel your abs?" All I can say is, it's possible for the positionally challenged!

Anyway, if you're one of those who haven't yet felt EVERY move in your abs, here's some help (hopefully): Assume basic position (KLT, tuck, lats tight) and start doing the move you're working on (say TTN). If you don't feel it in your abs-- meaning, if you don't feel your abs taking part in the exercise, immediately check your form: butt tucked? lats tight? shoulders back? KLT? spine long? butt still tucked? I can tell instantly (from my abs) if I've let slip one of the elements of good form in between one repetition and the next... though sometimes it take a rep or two to figure out what I let slip. Keep trying until you feel your abs working. You'll know it when you get it right-- you'll feel a terrific tension between your lats in back and your abs in front holding your spine perfectly straight up and down.

In case you're curious, I came to this conclusion after 1) having a trainer tell me in a clinic that I lean back on a couple of moves, and 2) reading Lannette's wonderful post about "feeling" your form for each move and 3) hearing Teresa say something about lunges working your abs on the MORE tape (which was baffling at the time) and 4) accidently doing TTN the right way (I say accidently because I didn't realize I was doing it wrong before).

I don't know if this is making any sense or sounding like babbling, but it felt pretty profound to me, so I thought I'd share...

Shannon
"God grant me the serenity to accept that which I cannot change, the courage to change that which I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."