A generation or so ago, physical education teachers taught that situps were the best ab exercise. Then, the traditional crunch was thought to be the best. In 2001, the American Council on Exercise commissioned a study at the Biomechanics Lab at San Diego State University to determine which ab exercises were the best and the worst.
The Study
The study, conducted by Dr. Peter Francis and Jennifer Davis, looked at 13 abdominal exercises such as crunches, body-weight exercises and some equipment from infomercials. Thirty participants were recruited and monitored with electromyography equipment to measure muscle activity in the upper and lower rectus abdominis and the external obliques. Using the traditional crunch as the baseline for comparison and after much analysis, it was determined that exercises requiring constant abdominal stabilization and body rotation generated the most muscle activity.
The Results
The exercise that topped Francis' list was the bicycle maneuver, with a mean of 248 percent for the rectus abdominis muscles and a mean of 290 percent for the obliques. This was followed closely by the captain's chair with a mean of 212 percent for the rectus abdominis and 310 percent mean for the obliques. Francis recommends choosing several of the ab exercises at the top of the list and doing a daily five-minute session.
Bicycle Maneuver
The bicycle requires you to lie flat, pressing your lower back to the floor. Your hands go up beside your head for support. Your knees come up off the floor to a 45-degree angle and you start the bicycle pedal motion. Touch left elbow to right knee, then reverse. Your head will be off the floor. Do not strain your neck. Other highly rated exercises include the crunch on an exercise ball, the vertical leg crunch and the reverse crunch.
The Plank
The ACE study was done in 2001. By 2008, the fitness world had borrowed a yoga pose known as the plank. There are various positions -- the side plank, the plank on your elbows, the plank with feet elevated, the side plank with feet elevated, the extended plank and the single leg plank. The plank does not feel like the usual ab exercise. Instead of using the ab muscles to flex the spine, the plank uses the ab muscles to stabilize the spine. This makes the abdominal muscles stronger faster.
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