EMG Comparison of Various Abdominal Conditioning
Exercises.
W.A. Sands, J.R. McNeal, F.Koch, Motor Behavior Research Laboratory.
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
An electromyographical investigation was undertaken to compare
the activity of the upper and lower rectus abdominus during the
execution of several common abdominal conditioning exercises. Surface
EMG recordings were collected at a sambling rate of 100 Hz, amplified
and the average root-mean square calculated in 13 active college
age subjects. The average of three trials of each exercise was used
for analysis. It was discovered that the nature of the EMG recording
for each exercise fell into one of two descriptions, a signal described
by continuous, relatively low amplitude activity throughout both
concentric and eccentric portions of the exercise. The exercises
were therefore compared only with those demonstrating the same characteristic
EMG recording. It was found that within the continuous-activation
group of exercises, the upper rectus abdominus showed no significant
differences between the typical flay-lying crunch (FLC), ab-roller
exercise (ROL), AbMat™ (Mat), and ab-roller combined with
AbMat™ (MROL) exercises. The lower rectus abdominus however
showed that the MAT elicited greater activation than the ROL and
MROL, and the FLC was greater than the MROL. The full situp (FSU)
and the Ab Bench™ (BEN) EMG recordings were characterized
by higher amplitude, discrete phasic activation. The FSU elicited
significantly greater activation in both the upper and lower portions
of the rectus abdominus than the BEN. The major finding of this
study was that abdominal exercises do not have similar EMG patterns,
and therefore consideration should be given as to how to properly
compare activities with differing patterns.
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