Exercises (Abdominals)

[GRIFFIN]

Hi
I was always led to believe that doing abdominal exercises by lying on your back and holding onto something firmly from behind above your head and raising and lowering both legs up and down at the same time made your back arch and would make your 'abs' protrude instead of flatten them making the end result 'bulge'  the opposite to want you want. I know that 'crunches' etc are the correct way to do 'ab' exercises but a  lot of people in our gym do the leg raising ones on the end of a bench, so what are the body mechanics in all this.

Sorry if I have doubled up on the above question but not sure if I did it righrt as I am new to this site.
Thanks
Griffin

[El D]

Using any form of resistance exercise will cause growth to a certain extent - in the higher rep ranges your various energy systems will also benefit and growth will be restricted - in which case calorie burn is the only result. If you really want a flat stomach you must attend to your diet, it is much more important than exercise. Cardio and resistance exs merely expedite the process - unfortunately the diet is a lot harder to maintain.