Abdominal exercise Information & Abdominal exercise Links at HealthHaven.com

Abdominal exercises are those that affect the abdominal muscles (colloquially known as the stomach muscles).

[edit] Usage

Abdominal exercises are useful for building the abdominal muscles. This is useful for improving performance with certain sports, back pain, taking punches, but it has little effect on decreasing fat in that area of the body (belly fat), or on the body's distribution of body fat.^[1]

[edit] Breakdowns

The anterior abdominal wall is made up of 4 muscles—the rectus abdominis muscle, the internal and external obliques, and the transversus abdominis.

[edit] Types of abdominal exercises and effectiveness

The effectiveness of abdominal exercise is measured using electromyography (EMG) relative to the traditional crunch. The following ranks abdominal exercises from best to worst in terms of activity detected by the EMG measures:^[2]

Activity in rectus abdominis
exercise	mean activity¹
Bicycle crunch	248%
Captain's chair	212%
Exercise ball	139%
Vertical leg crunch	129%
Torso track	127%
Long arm crunch	119%
Reverse crunch	109%
Crunch with heel push	107%
Ab roller	105%
Hover	100%
Traditional crunch	100%
Exercise tubing pull	92%
Ab rocker	21%

Activity in obliques
exercise	mean activity¹
Captain's chair	310%
Bicycle crunch	290%
Reverse crunch	240%
Hover	230%
Vertical leg crunch	216%
Exercise ball	147%
Torso track	145%
Crunch with heel push	126%
Long arm crunch	126%
Ab roller	101%
Traditional crunch	100%
Exercise tubing pull	77%
Ab rocker	74%

¹Compared to traditional crunch (100%)

[edit] Safety of abdominal exercises

Abdominal exercises also put some degree of compressive force on the lumbar spine, putting unwanted stress on the lower back. In addition, exaggerated abdominal exercise can cause respiratory problems.^[3] A study of twelve exercises concluded that no single exercise covered all abdominal muscles with high intensity and low compression.^[4]

High challenge-to-compression ratio Crunch with feet anchored Crunch with feet free Bicycle crunch Hanging straight leg raise	Low compression, lower challenge Crunch with feet anchored Crunch with feet free
High challenge, higher compression Straight-leg sit-up Bent-leg sit-up	Low challenge-to-compression ratio (not recommended!) Supine straight-leg raise Supine bent-leg raise Hanging bent-leg raise Static cross-knee crunch

The benefit of focused training on the "deep core" muscles such as the transversus abdominis has been disputed, with some experts advocating a more comprehensive training regimen.^[5]

[edit] Ab toners

The Ab toner is a product frequently seen on TV infomercials that claims to allow users to obtain muscular abs without doing any sit-ups. The Ab tone works by using (low voltage) E.M.S. or Electrical Muscle Stimulation. "EMS is predominantly used by doctors and physical therapists to prevent, or reduce, muscle atrophy." The technology was originally developed to help women recover muscle after childbirth. The machine sends signals to the nerves that cause contractions.^[6]^[7]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Michael Jensen, M.D. (2007-01-19). "Belly fat in men: What you need to know". Mayoclinic.com. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/belly-fat/MC00054. Retrieved 2008-04-07. "Sit-ups will make your abdominal muscles stronger, sure. And, you may look thinner by building your abdominal muscles because you can hold in your belly fat better. But strengthening your stomach muscles alone will not specifically reduce belly fat."
^ Mark Anders; Peter Francis, Ph.D., Jennifer Davis, M.A (2001). "New Study Puts the Crunch on Ineffective Ab Exercises". ACE fitnessmatters. http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/BestWorstAbExercises.pdf.
^ Respiratory problems from abdominal exercise
^ CT Axler; SM McGill (1997). "Low back loads over a variety of abdominal exercises: Searching for the safest abdominal challenge". Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 29: 804–810.
^ Reynolds, Gretchen (2009-06-17). "Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?". New York Times. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/core-myths/. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
^ http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff1997/hm1.html
^ http://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/astronauts/osm_ems.asp

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[0] Michael Jensen, M.D. (2007-01-19). "Belly fat in men: What you need to know". Mayoclinic.com. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/belly-fat/MC00054. Retrieved 2008-04-07. "Sit-ups will make your abdominal muscles stronger, sure. And, you may look thinner by building your abdominal muscles because you can hold in your belly fat better. But strengthening your stomach muscles alone will not specifically reduce belly fat."

[emg-1] Mark Anders; Peter Francis, Ph.D., Jennifer Davis, M.A (2001). "New Study Puts the Crunch on Ineffective Ab Exercises". ACE fitnessmatters. http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/BestWorstAbExercises.pdf.

[2] Respiratory problems from abdominal exercise

[3] CT Axler; SM McGill (1997). "Low back loads over a variety of abdominal exercises: Searching for the safest abdominal challenge". Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 29: 804–810.

[4] Reynolds, Gretchen (2009-06-17). "Is Your Ab Workout Hurting Your Back?". New York Times. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/core-myths/. Retrieved 2009-06-19.

[5] ttp://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/spinoff1997/hm1.html

[6] ttp://www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/astronauts/osm_ems.asp

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