Abdominal exercises are those that affect the abdominal muscles (colloquially known as the stomach muscles ).
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.
Breakdowns
The anterior abdominal wall is made up of 4 muscles—the rectus abdominis muscle, the internal and external obliques, and the transversus abdominis.
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:
1 Compared to traditional crunch (100%)
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. A study of twelve exercises concluded that no single exercise covered all abdominal muscles with high intensity and low compression.
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.
See also
- Abdomenizer
- Abdominal fat
- Spot reduction
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 .
Weighted Crunch
Instructions. Preparation. Lie supine on bench with head hanging off and knees and hips bent. Hold plate behind neck or on chest with both hands or use no weight.
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