A power tower, also known as a knee raise station, and as a captain's chair, is a piece of exercise equipment that allows one to build upper body and abdominal muscle strength. When only the forearm pads alone are used for performing abdominal exercises, the power tower requires minimal arm strength as it is stable and movement occurs in the hips and torso. The equipment commonly has a backrest and forearm rests that form the chair, with vertical handles at the ends of the arm rests. The word "power" comes from the addition of other powerful arm exercises such as parallel horizontal handles for performing dips, a pull-up bar attached to the top for chin-ups and pull-ups, and push-up handles that are usually found on the bottom for Atlas ("deep") push-ups.

Exercises

Chin-ups A pull-up is an upper-body strength exercise. The pull-up is a closed-chain movement where the body is suspended by the hands, gripping a bar or other implement at a distance typically wider than shoulder-width, and pulled up. As this happens, ...

, when one's forearms are parallel with palms facing the operator closer together than shoulder-width, are a common exercise. The user works to pull his body upwards until his chin is over the bar. Chin-ups work the

biceps The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join ...

forearms The forearm is the region of the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist. The term forearm is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm, a word which is most often used to describe the entire appendage of the upper limb, but which in anat ...

, chest, and several upper back muscles, particularly the latissimus dorsi, trapezius, and rhomboid muscles. * Pull-ups, when one's grip is wide with the palms facing away from the user, are also common. One attempts to pull himself up and touch his chest to the pull-up bar. Pull-ups strongly involve the

latissimus dorsi The latissimus dorsi () is a large, flat muscle on the back that stretches to the sides, behind the arm, and is partly covered by the trapezius on the back near the midline. The word latissimus dorsi (plural: ''latissimi dorsorum'') comes from L ...

muscle. * Dips, exercises in which one 'dips' oneself between parallel bars, making sure to never bend the elbows less than 90 degrees, are also used to strengthen the triceps and chest. Keeping the torso vertical can increase the amount of use of many of the involved muscles. * Deep or Atlas

pushups The push-up (sometimes called a press-up in British English) is a common calisthenics exercise beginning from the prone position. By raising and lowering the body using the arms, push-ups exercise the pectoral muscles, triceps, and anterior ...

use the triceps and chest more thoroughly than standard pushups. The

knee raise The leg raise is a strength training exercise which targets the iliopsoas (the anterior hip flexors). Because the abdominal muscles are used isometrically to stabilize the body during the motion, leg raises are also often used to strengthen the r ...

exercise will work the lower abdominals, and can also work the obliques (see

abdominal external oblique muscle The abdominal external oblique muscle (also external oblique muscle, or exterior oblique) is the largest and outermost of the three flat abdominal muscles of the lateral anterior abdomen. Structure The external oblique is situated on the lateral ...

and abdominal internal oblique muscle) if one twists the torso during the exercise. This version of the knee raise has been praised by fitness communities for its effectiveness as working the abdominal muscles. Previous research has shown that a captain's chair knee raise will elicit a greater

electromyography Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG is performed using an instrument called an electromyograph to produce a record called an electromyogram. An electromyog ...

(EMG) response than the standard crunch. This means that the knee raise in the captain's chair will have more activation in the muscle than the standard crunch. However, 2013 research has shown that it has the same EMG activity as the standard crunch. This newer research is yet to be published. One aspect that both research agree on is that there is no difference in activation of upper rectus abdominis and lower rectus abdominis, as it is speculated that the muscle acts as one and cannot be differentiated. Advanced users may increase resistance by wearing a weighted vest or

ankle weights Weighted clothing are garments that have heavy materials incorporated into them, to add weight to various parts of the body, usually as part of resistance training. The effect is achieved through attaching weighted pieces to the body (or to other ...

, holding a dumbbell between the feet,

kettlebells In weight training, a kettlebell is a cast-iron or cast-steel ball with a handle attached to the top (resembling a cannonball with a handle). It is used to perform many types of exercises, including ballistic exercises that combine cardi ...

on the toes, a resistance band tied from one's feet to the bottom of the tower, or other heavy weights.

References

Bodyweight exercises Exercise equipment {{bodybuilding-stub

Exercises

See also

References