Known as abs or six-pack

Paired muscle running vertically on each side of the anterior wall of the human abdomen
an important postural muscle. It is responsible for flexing the lumbar spine when doing a crunch assists with breathing and plays an important role in respiration when forcefully exhaling helps in keeping the internal organs intact and in creating intraabdominal pressure, such as when exercising or lifting heavy weights

The maximum activation of the upper rectus abdominis during a sit-up ( from 0 to 75) is when the trunk is flexed past 30 with respect to the ground.

Multiple papers have concluded that the exercises which involve the greatest [rectus abdominis] muscle activity are those which flex the trunk forward against gravity from the supine position.
Sternlicht, Rugg. The Electromyographic Analysis of Abdominal Muscle Activity Using Portable Abdominal Exercise Devices and a Traditional Crunch

For the exercises tested, there were no differences between the upper and lower portions of the rectus abdominis muscle when EMG signals were normalized and posture was controlled. Lehman, G. J. and McGill,
S. M. (2001). Quantification of the Differences in Electromyographic Activity Magnitude between the Upper and Lower Portions of the Rectus Abdominis Muscle During Selected Trunk Exercises. Physical Therapy, 81(5), 1096-110.

 Flint study: Greatest activation of upper rectus is when trunk angle ranges from 15 to 45 degrees and lower rectus when trunk angle is between 10 to 60 degrees

Sit ups. Legs flexed 45 degrees. Legs supported. M. Flint. An Electromyographic Comparison of the Function of the Iliacus and the Rectus Abdominus Muscle

Compare mean EMG values between the upper rectus abdominis and lower rectus abdominis to determine if there is a difference between mean activation of the two during the course of a sit-up (trunk angle 0 to 75 )

Pinpoint an angle (or range of angles) of the trunk during a sit-up wherein the upper rectus is maximally activated

Recruited eight individuals with low abdominal fat

N=11

6 males, 2 females
Our test subjects were within the Athlete/Fitness range for body fat percentage

B0dy fat percentage Mean (females): 24.85 Standard deviation: 0.353 Mean (males): 12.99 Standard deviation: 4.87

Wireless EMG Placement

Upper Rectus: 3 cm lateral to midline/umbilicus and 2 cm superior

Ground: Hip Bone

Lower rectus: 3 cm lateral to the umbilicus and 2 cm inferior to the umbilicus

All muscle activity will be reported as a percentage of Maximum Voluntary Contraction (%MVC) 60 Hz notch filtering 600 Hz sampling rate with 16 bit resolution Rectify raw EMG signals then use a low pass filter to remove artifacts and noise

Perform sit-up with knees bent 45 degrees, feet supported

Hold the sit-up at each angle(15 increments from 0 to 75) for a maximum of 10 seconds, minimum of 2 seconds 2 minutes rest in between sit-ups to avoid fatigue effects Repeat sit-up while holding 6.4lb weight to upper chest to induce maximal voluntary contraction during the isometric sit-up.

Actual electrode placement.

Legs bent, feet supported. Subject is doing a set to achieve maximum voluntary contraction.

Top: Raw data result of sample test subject. Bottom: Low-pass Filtered data from raw EMG (above) at 30 degrees Used low-pass filtered data for all calculations

Standard deviations are high

Mean activation of subjects during a sit up. Maximum activation of upper rectus at 15 degrees. Maximum activation of lower rectus at 30 degrees.

P values comparing the activation of the upper and the lower rectus abdominis at each angle is greater than =0.05, therefore we cannot reject our null hypothesis that there is no difference between the activation of the upper and lower rectus abdominis.

One way unstacked ANOVA (in Minitab) results for lower and upper rectus activation at angles 0,15 ,30 ,45, 60 ,75 shows p-value results of less than 0.05. We CAN reject the null hypothesis and say that at least 2 of the sample populations (ie: the muscle activation means at the 6 different angles) compared are different.

Next question: Which muscle activation mean at the different angles for the upper and lower rectus are actually different? How are they different?

Did a Tukeys Multiple Comparisons Test (5% error). Recap: Experimental data showed max activation at 15 for the upper rectus abdominis and 30 for the lower rectus abdominis After the Tukeys test: Upper rectus mean activation at 0 is different and less than the mean activation at 15 and 30 but the same when compared to activation at 45 , 60 and 75 . We also CANNOT say that mean activation at 15 of the upper rectus is different and higher than the mean activation at 30 , 45 , 60 and 75 . Lower rectus mean activation at 0 is different and less than the mean activation at 15 and 30 but the same when compared to activation at 45 , 60 and 75 . We also CANNOT say that mean activation at 30 of the lower rectus is different and higher than the mean activation at 15,30 , 45 ,and 60 . The mean activation of the lower rectus at 30 was found to be different and greater than the mean activation at 75. (from ANOVA/TukeyMultiple Comparisons test results)

We cannot reject the possibility that the lower and rectus abdominis activation is the same. Experimental data does not correspond with our hypothesis that the max. upper rectus abdominis activation is past 30. At first glance it seems to somewhat follow the results of the Flint study. Even though it seems that our data shows that the max. activation of upper and lower rectus is at 15 and 30respectively, we cannot definitively say that mean activations at these angles respectively are different and higher than the other angles that it is compared to (except 0 ).

Clothing interfered with EMG reading Subjects anticipated next movement Extraneous movement of subjects Artifacts from heavy breathing and/or heart rate (not effectively filtered out by low pass filter) Subjects held weight incorrectly (not at upper chest) Subjects were not completely still during rest period EMG signal is hard to compare across subjects and is not completely representative of what the actual muscle is doing Not enough test subjects for a robust study

Subject stays completely still during rest period Subject holds weight to upper portion of chest Recruit more test subjects for better test results and more robust statistical data

Break-up/re-write a hypothesis that will be easier to test. In our case: -Is the activation of the lower rectus different from the upper rectus abdominis? -What is the angle where maximum activation of the muscle occurs? -Is this maximum activation found at a particular angle actually different and greater than the activation at other angles?

Better understanding of abdominal muscle activation Data is useful for future development of abdominal exercises and machines that can achieve the greatest muscle activation with the least possibility of work and injury to the other muscles Since we CAN conclude that we cant reject the possibility that the lower and upper rectus abdominis muscle activations are the same, its possible that there is actually no need to develop preferential exercise treatments for these 2 parts of the rectus abdominis during an abdominal exercise EMG signal is mostly useful for studies that deal with muscle activation timing