Role of the transverse abdominus in powerlifting?

[Lean_and_Mean]

Hey I am curious as to how much training you guys do for the transverse abdominus. Is it important in powerlifting, and are stomach vacuums any good for strength? Tell me what exercises you do for your transverse abdominus, and if anyone has any articles on it I would like to see them. Thanks.

[breathingmurder]

Until this point I had been blissfully unaware that I had a transverse abdominus. After a google, this is the muscle that BBers use to do the vacuum pose:
http://www.frankzane.com/images/74vacuum.gif

I did vacuums for a while when I very first started training because I thought the'd make my abs look cooler. This didn't really seem to do much--I'm sure the muscle gets worked in many of the compound core excersises that work the other ab muscles.

For strength, vacuums probably have little value, unless you have a serious weakness in this area.

[Lean_and_Mean]

Yeah I didn't think vacuums were really good for strength either. Thanks for replying!