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Home :: Abdominals
To anyone feeling confused about the best ab exercises...
You might have seen lists of exercises, with movements such as
the bicycle maneuver, or the captain's chair, cited as the best
ab exercises.
Although this list is supposedly based on the "definitive
study" of the best ab exercises, there is a large amount of
individual variation in terms of abdominal activity during various
ab exercises. In other words, the best ab exercises for one person
might not work quite so well for someone else.
Best ab exercises
Scientists from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, for
example, tested a series of abdominal exercises, including the trunk
curl, reverse
curl, v-sit,
and twist
curl (these animated demonstrations aren't exactly the
same as the exercises used in the study, but they're close enough).
Their study shows that abdominal activity varies from person to
person, even when the same exercises are used.
• For 7 subjects in the study, the upper abdominals were
most active during the trunk curl.
• For 8 other subjects, the reverse curl led to the greatest
amount of muscle activity in the upper abdominals.
• The twist curl and v-sit produced the greatest upper abdominal
activity for 8 and 2 of the subjects, respectively.
When the results were taken as a whole, different exercises were
found to be more effective for certain areas of the abdominals than
others.
• The reverse curl, for example, led to the greatest amount
of activity in the lower abdominals.
• The v-sit and the reverse curl produced the greatest amount
of activity in the external obliques (the muscles running
down the side of your waist).
• The trunk curl, reverse curl, twist curl, and v-sit all
resulted in similar amounts of upper abdominal activity.
Breathing
These findings show that different ab exercises emphasize
rather than isolate different abdominal muscles. What the
study didn't mention, however, is that different breathing patterns
affect the degree of activity in some abdominal muscles.
According to conventional wisdom, you should exhale (breath out)
as you contract your abdominals. Then, you inhale (breathe in) as
you return to the starting position.
Although such advice is rarely questioned, Dr. Mel Siff, in his
book Facts and Fallacies of Fitness, makes the point that
exhaling while rising during the sit-up actually reduces
muscle activity in the external obliques (the muscles running down
the side of your waist).
"The recommended method of inhaling during trunk extension
and exhaling naturally during flexion is undoubtedly safer for persons
with hypertension or heart disease", writes Dr. Siff, "but
it produces a much smaller training effect on all of the abdominal
muscles."
Of course, this doesn't mean that you should hold your breath for
the whole of the exercise. Instead, rather than focus on a fixed
breathing pattern, allow your body to do what it does naturally,
and hold your breath briefly while allowing your abdominals to tense.
Reference
Willett, G.M., Hyde, J.E., Uhrlaub, M.B., Wendel, C.L., & Karst,
G.M. (2001). Relative activity of abdominal muscles during commonly
prescribed strengthening exercises. Journal
of Strength and Conditioning Research, 15, 480–485
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