Originally Posted by
ubercoach
I saved this quote from Mel Siff for two knuckleheads who insist that one needs to train obliques with more than bodyweight resistence. However, after my first post on the subject they fell silent so I've lost track of the thread.
It may be of some benefit here:
ABOMINABLE AB MANIA
by Dr. Mel Siff
It seems as if the abdominals are the favorite target for exercise in the general fitness and aerobics world -- the more, the better! There are probably more abdominal exercise experts than any other types of fitness expert on the fitness circuit (except possibly for stretching. We have incredible abs, astounding abs, absolutely marvelous abs, marvelous midriffs, super abs, sexy abs and another hundred superlatively shaped ab words (all thinly disguised imitations of the book title "Legendary Abs" by my colleague, Jerry Robinson of Los Angeles.)
If we followed the lead and philosophies of the ancient Greeks, we would probably worship Greek gods and goddesses of abdominal perfection, with a couple of Muses, Nymphs or demi-gods thrown in to take care of each striations on our washerboard abs.!
Machines vs. No Machines
What about ab machines? Well, there are also probably more machines on the market aimed at trimming and shaping the abdominal muscles than any other devices out there. Why? The answer is quite simple--marketing and money! Nothing else.
Sure, some of these weird, wonderful or pretty machines are laughably useless, while other are a bit more successful, but the fact remains that virtually no serious physique athlete or competitive bodybuilder has ever relied solely on any form of AB machine to develop his/her exceptional abs. And if they are publicly claiming that they did, they you can be sure in most cases that they are heavily sponsored to say so!
No research project has ever compared matched groups of subjects working on ab machines with others working with 'crunches' on the mat,'cable crunches', jack-knives or leg raises (yes - I am deliberately including some of the exercises appearing on 'hit lists' because some very successful bodybuilders swear by them, believe it or not! I have also encountered some international level bodybuilders who hardly ever do situps or use ab machines, yet they have 'phenomenal' abdominals.
I have taken EMG readings and muscle tension measurements of the abdominal muscles while bodybuilders have been carrying out every imaginable type of ab exercise with and without machines and quite honestly cannot conclude that any machine-aided ab exercise is better than traditional bodybuilding ab exercises done with resistance. In most cases, I note that carefully executed concentration crunches using powerful mental focus and held breath produced greater electrical activity and muscle tension than ab exercise in aerobics or on machines with the traditional breathing in and out patterns.
From the Eastern Experts
After a few research visits to Russia and collaborative projects with Eastern scientists and coaches, I learned that many of their experts regard special abdominal exercises as a total waste of time, because they consider that the trunk muscle are strongly involved either in stabilizing or moving some or other part of the body during other non-isolational exercises.
At one NSCA (National Strength and Conditioning Association) conference in the USA, I remember one of the top Bulgarian strength coaches, Angel Spassov, laughing at questions from American football coaches who wanted to know the best way of doing situps or crunches to 'strengthen' the abs for Football. His response was that if players were squatting, cleaning and pressing, bench pressing, deadlifting and so forth,their trunk muscles were already much more strongly involved than they are during most situps, crunches or machine training.
Ubercoach
Thanks for all the help 
