How would GB exercises compare to the following....?

New article by the very interesting fellow, Bret Contreras.

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... -exercises

He looked at the mean and peak EMG activity of the rectus, internal obliques, external obliques, and erectors.

The top 3 in each category were the following:

Rectus Abdominis

Mean: Chin Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Ab Wheel

Peak: Chin Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Swiss Ball Crunch

Internal Oblique

Mean: Ab Wheel from Feet, Ab Wheel from Knees, Bodysaw

Peak: Ab Wheel from Feet, Bodysaw, Tornado Ball Slam

External Oblique

Mean: Ab Wheel from Feet, Hanging Leg Raise, Bodysaw

Peak: Turkish Get Up, Hanging Leg Raise, Bodysaw

Erector Spinae

Mean: Kneeling Cable Lift, Landmine, Reverse Hyper

Peak: Kneeling Cable Lift, Tornado Ball Slam, Lumbar Extension

The success of the ab wheel from feet, body saw, hanging leg raise, and chin-up make me wonder about the EMG activity of some GB exercises like, front levers, body levers, cranks, and front pulls. Also, I wonder why he didn't do an L-pullup?

EDIT: Just noticed that dragon flags are in there. They did ok on the abs.

Naturally without emg I can't back this up but in my experience body levers are easier than the ab wheel. Full out abwheel I could only do about 2-3 solids ones at the same time I could do about 7 body lever (dragon flags), this is despite the fact that I mainly trained the abwheel. Although I was also training the front lever which I am sure was the main reason behind my success with body levers. BTW I love the EMG series that he runs on t-nation.

Alex, in the body lever essay thread by Coach, he states that dragon flags and body levers are not the same thing.

So, you can do ab wheel rolls out all the way down from the feet? How is your front lever?

Very cool stuff.

A body lever/dragon flag (hollow) with bent arms isn't as difficult as with straight arms. Try it with straight arms. Dragon flags typically are done with a slightly arched body. This changes things.

I doubt he thought of L-pullup. Not the most common exercise for that crowd.

or lever rows for that matter

When I said dragon flags I indeed meant bent arms but definitely not hollow, to me a dragon flag is perfectly straight if not slightly arched, I'll have to try the straight arm version to see if it feels harder than an abwheel. Yes I can do an abwheel roll out from feet took a long time, my front lever at the moment is at a very solid straddle for 5-7 seconds and a not so solid half lever for 2-3 secs.

EDIT: Just tried body levers. Did the same amount of reps I can do with a dragon flag, weather arms are straight or bent didn't really make a difference which surprised me I really expected it to be harder.

Keep in mind that for HLL, as an example, they are probably not performed on stall bars. If they were I think you'd see much higher values.

AlexX said:

When I said dragon flags I indeed meant bent arms but definitely not hollow, to me a dragon flag is perfectly straight if not slightly arched, I'll have to try the straight arm version to see if it feels harder than an abwheel. Yes I can do an abwheel roll out from feet took a long time, my front lever at the moment is at a very solid straddle for 5-7 seconds and a not so solid half lever for 2-3 secs.

EDIT: Just tried body levers. Did the same amount of reps I can do with a dragon flag, weather arms are straight or bent didn't really make a difference which surprised me I really expected it to be harder.

Thanks, I've been wondered how the ab wheel roll out on the feet compares to front lever. I've haven't practiced it that much, so I can't do it on the feet. How long have you been practicing front lever? Do you think the roll out has any value as an accessory to the front lever?

slizzardman said:

Keep in mind that for HLL, as an example, they are probably not performed on stall bars. If they were I think you'd see much higher values.

I'm assuming his HLL is just a hanging-L from the pic in the article. But I could be wrong, maybe he did feet to the bar in which case the GB HLL would destroy Contreras' HLL, as you said.

The ab roll outs are definitely tough stuff. It takes a while to be able to do them without your back sagging down.

Don't know if anyone mentioned it, but the EMG measurements can not be used to compare forces, they just compare ratios...

Hmm, then again whenever I do straight arm body levers fresh with the girls they aren't so tiring. However, since I tend to them as an assistance exercise, they tend to be difficult or irritate my shoulder at times.