Which Activates Abdominal Muscles More, a Stability Ball, Ab Roller, ABslide, or a Traditional Crunch?
Researchers from Kansas State University compared the electromyographic activity of the abdominal musculature and rectus femoris (hip flexor) during trunk-flexion exercises performed on a stability ball, Ab Roller, ABslide, and a traditional crunch. Ten men and thirteen women performed approximately 15 repetitions of trunk-flexion exercises on each abdominal apparatus. Electromyographic activity was collected in order to determine the amount of muscular activation during each exercise. The results of this study demonstrated that there was no difference in the activation of the lower rectus abdominus between the different abdominal exercise devices. There was also no difference in the activation patterns on the upper rectus abdominus between the stability ball, Ab Roller, and the traditional crunch, while the ABslide produce significantly less activation of the upper rectus abdominus when compared to the other exercises. Conversely, the ABslide produced the highest activation of the ext
