Electromyographic analysis of traditional and nontraditional abdominal exercises: implications for rehabilitation and training.

Background And Purpose: Performing nontraditional abdominal exercises with devices such as abdominal straps, the Power Wheel, and the Ab Revolutionizer has been suggested as a way to activate abdominal and extraneous (nonabdominal) musculature as effectively as more traditional abdominal exercises, such as the crunch and bent-knee sit-up. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of traditional and nontraditional abdominal exercises in activating abdominal and extraneous musculature.

Subjects: Twenty-one men and women who were healthy and between 23 and 43 years of age were recruited for this study.