However, a safe, simple and effective way to for a beginner to started an abdominal program is to emphasize basic
abdominal flexion exercises such as crunches, stability ball crunches, cable crunches, hip lifts, full range knee ups and reverse crunches.
Not exact matches
Deemsy explained that we wouldn't be doing any crunches or reverse crunches because those types of ab
exercises require spinal
flexion, which can increase tension on the
abdominal wall, causing the left and right sides to separate even more.
Crunches, sit ups and other spinal
flexion exercises are fine but as your spine moves in a variety of directions, you need to select a variety of
exercises if you want to maximise your
abdominal development.
So many
abdominal exercises involve hip and trunk
flexion — sit - ups, leg raises, crunches — all of them involve drawing the hips and rib cage closer together, potentially causing shortening of the hip flexors.
Imagine an
abdominal crunch (or any other core
exercise that involves trunk
flexion) with weak and / or un-engaged pelvic floor and core muscles... You bend at the waist to «crunch» and... Splat.
Assessing the effect of stability during both compound and trunk
flexion exercises, Mok et al. (2014) assessed the muscle activity of the
abdominals in a number of suspension
exercises including the hip abduction plank (feet in straps), press up, inverted row and hamstring curl (feet in straps).
Assessing the effect of relative load during different trunk
flexion exercises, Sternlicht et al. (2003) compared a number of
abdominal exercises (Ab Roller Plus, Torso Track 2, AB - Doer Pro, and the Perfect Abs) to the traditional curl up.
There is certainly a place in sports conditioning for all types of integrated
abdominal - hip
flexion exercises.