anatomy - muscles involved in crunches

[ged]

ok. u know that bench that people do crunches on, where you hook your feet around the supports, and lie at a 45 degree angle downwards? i was doing crunches on that the other day. ive always believed that to work abs, you're meant to round your back, bring your ribs towards your pelvis, etc. i believed that bringing your actual stomach up towards your legs worked hip flexors, or maybe some other muscles in the legs. but when i first did a set of 20 crunches, and then a set of 20 crunches adding a bit of stomach movement (kind of like half a situp) it burned in my abs a lot more.

can anyone please explain this to me?

[Sharky]

think about it - the reason crunches are better than sit ups are cos of gravity - once u get past a certian point ur not using ur abs anymore.

when on a slant, you have to do a bigger movement to work your abs, as your body position has changed. don't have time to go into it, gotta go out, sorry - but it's kinda obvious :D

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