![]() ![]() I've found two studies (which are very similar) that deal with this question: There are big differences between the general activation for various exercises but insignificant differences between upper and lower ab activation.Īll in all, there doesn't appear to be much evidence that exercise choice will greatly affect upper/lower activity ratio, but there is evidence that there's a big difference between exercises in general utility.ĮDIT: I've done some more digging and am going to have to revise my above answer. The Bret Contreras article references previous tests of his that claim that different exercises do vary between the ratio of upper/lower ab recruitment.Ī study referenced in this article shows activation of lower and upper rectus abdominis: Now as for upper/lower muscle groups, the Wikipedia article claims that a crunch with the arms stretched out over your head (effectively lengthening the moment arm) will result in increased activation of the upper abs, although I'm a bit wary of the reference. The hanging leg raise and captain's chair are very similar and an excellent workout provided you focus on using your abdominal muscles and not just the hip flexors.įrom the data it seems like the reverse crunch (raising your legs) is a better option than the traditional crunch (especially for the obliques), and leg raises or captain's chair an all-around superior option. The conclusion here was that chin-ups, hanging leg raises and the ab wheel had the highest mean activity for the rectus abdominis, ab wheel (from feet and from knees) and body saw for internal obliques and ab wheel (from feet), hanging leg raises and bodysaw for external obliques.Īs you can see there doesn't seem to be a consensus amongst there articles, although I'd say the actual study would be the most reliable. There has also been some tests done by Bret Contreras, who looked at a larger number of exercises, but did all tests himself meaning there's far less data points to extrapolate from. Traditional crunch 100% Traditional crunch 100%Įxercise tubing pull 92% Exercise tubing pull 77%įrom this study, the highest mean activity is to be found in the captain's chair exercise (also known as power tower or knee raise station) and the bicycle crunch maneuver, which exceed the other activities rather dramatically on the rectus abdominis. Torso track 127% Vertical leg crunch 216%Ĭrunch with heel push 107% Crunch with heel push 126% You will find the results for the exercises in stimulation of the rectus abdominis and obliques, relative to the traditional crunch, in this Wikipedia section: įor the durability of this answer I'll reproduce the table here: Activity in rectus abdominis Activity in obliquesĮxercise Mean activity Exercise Mean activity ![]() Studies have been performed regarding the EMG (electromyography) activity for various abdominal muscles in a variety of exercises. First let's see how the exercises square up on the whole. ![]()
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