Muscle growth, not simply making the midsection burn, drives the testing here. The exercises are judged primarily on whether they can be progressively overloaded, place the abs under tension in a stretched position, and minimize unwanted takeover from the hip flexors. That framework immediately gives the comparison more substance than a typical collection of ab exercises, because familiar movements such as sit-ups and lying leg raises are forced to justify what they actually contribute rather than benefiting from their popularity.
EMG measurements add another useful layer, particularly when comparing ab activation with hip-flexor involvement. Sit-ups illustrate the approach well: upper-ab activation is high early in the movement, but the hip flexors increasingly contribute as the torso rises. Crunches improve that balance but sacrifice stretch against the floor, while adding an ab mat or rolled towel extends the available range. The demonstrations with Dennis are especially valuable because they expose practical problems that raw measurements cannot, including neck straining, arm swinging and movements that are simply too difficult for a beginner to execute properly.
The progression through leg-raise variations is similarly informative. Lying and conventional hanging versions produce substantial hip-flexor involvement, while deliberately curling the pelvis into a C shape shifts more demand toward the abs. Stabilized alternatives, including the captain's chair and the bar-supported variation, make that technique easier to control. Importantly, the presentation does not equate a difficult exercise with a superior muscle-building exercise: dragon flags generate enormous measured activation but are held back because the abs work largely isometrically rather than through the stretched range prioritized by the ranking system.
Some of the scientific interpretation deserves more caution than the confident tier placements imply. The presenter explicitly acknowledges that the rectus abdominis is one continuous muscle and that controlled research has not established whether exercises showing different upper-versus-lower EMG patterns actually produce correspondingly different regional growth. Similarly, EMG activation is useful for examining what muscles are working during these demonstrations, but the measurements presented here do not by themselves establish long-term hypertrophy superiority. The video is at its best when it treats the readings as one piece of evidence alongside biomechanics, progression and usability rather than as a direct muscle-growth scoreboard.
The Garhammer hold and raise provide one of the more interesting sections because they test the video's own criteria rather than simply rewarding high activation. The hold places substantial tension on the abs in a lengthened position but lacks dynamic range and straightforward progression, keeping it below the top tier. Turning that position into a Garhammer raise solves more of those problems and produces a strong lower-ab emphasis in the measurements. Reverse crunches offer a more accessible version of the same pelvic-curling idea, with an ab mat addressing the limited stretch that otherwise keeps the standard version from scoring as highly.
The final cable-crunch comparisons bring the exercise-selection logic together particularly well. Conventional cable crunches offer convenient progressive overload but lose tension toward the stretched position and invite hip movement. Facing away from the cable changes the resistance profile while providing a structure against which the hips can be stabilized, and the lat-pulldown variation gives Dennis an especially secure setup. That leads logically to the final recommendations: the face-away lat-pulldown cable crunch for upper-ab emphasis, paired with an ab-mat reverse crunch for beginners or a Garhammer raise for more advanced trainees seeking lower-ab emphasis.
Presentation is energetic and unusually hands-on for a tier-list format, with Dennis serving as more than comic relief by showing where exercises become confusing, uncomfortable or impractical for someone less experienced. The repeated experimentation makes the recommendations easy to follow, although the constant tier assignments can create a stronger sense of scientific precision than the testing can fully support. Promotional interruptions for the training app also break the otherwise effective progression, but the closing reminder that visible abs depend on diet prevents the exercise ranking from being presented as a complete solution to abdominal definition.
Pros
- Clear criteria make the rankings more meaningful than simply comparing which exercises feel hardest.
- EMG comparisons help reveal substantial hip-flexor involvement in several popular ab movements.
- Dennis provides a useful beginner perspective and exposes technique and difficulty problems that an advanced demonstrator could easily overlook.
- Variations such as pelvic curling, added back support and altered cable direction show how familiar exercises can be improved rather than merely dismissed.
- Beginner and advanced recommendations emerge logically from the testing instead of being arbitrary final picks.
Cons
- Short-term EMG readings cannot by themselves establish which exercises will produce the greatest long-term muscle growth.
- Upper-versus-lower ab conclusions remain somewhat speculative, something the presenter acknowledges when discussing the lack of controlled growth research.
- The tier system occasionally makes nuanced differences in biomechanics, accessibility and evidence look more definitive than they are.
- Promotional sections interrupt the otherwise focused exercise comparisons.
A strong combination of biomechanics, measured activation and real-world demonstrations turns a familiar exercise-ranking concept into a genuinely useful guide for choosing and modifying ab work. Its scientific framing occasionally reaches beyond what the presented measurements can establish, but the clear criteria and practical beginner-versus-advanced distinction make the final recommendations convincing within the video's own methodology.
