INTRODUCTION

For several years, health conscience individuals have tried to maximize their abdominal exercises to produce the highest level of efficiency. Our posture and back muscles are very dependent on strong abdominal muscles to maintain a healthy posture and active lifestyle. It is also very important to find out which exercise works best, so we can minimize the time and maximize the results. This study focused on the hanging abdominal leg raise and the conventional crunch, two movements believed to be most important when studying the best method of exercise to isolate the abdominal muscles. Therefore, we studied " how conventional crunch exercises compare to hanging leg raise abdominal crunches?"

In order to determine which exercise is most beneficial, we set up a series of questions to compare our results. Primarily, we wanted to find out which method best isolated the abdominal muscles. Due to time limitations, we created a hypothesis and limited our results to one individual at one session of training. We also compared which exercise eliminates the most stress on the lower back. This was done through the subject who indicated any discomfort in the lower back. Finally, we determined which exercise is most time efficient, yet, accomplishes his/her goals. Through continuous analysis, we gained a good foundation of theories that allowed us to better understand the kinematics of the conventional crunch and the abdominal leg raise.