In recent years, some commercially available pieces of abdominal exercise equipment have come to the market and have become popular with the public. The objective of the present study was to examine the differences in myoelectric activities between abdominal exercises as performed on a selected device, the NordicTrack Abworks, and the conventional curl-up. Using surface electromyography (EMG), the myoelectric activities of the rectus abdominis, rectus femoris, and sacrospinalis were assessed during two modes of exercise. Forty one participants (21 males and 20 females) aged 17 to 35 years performed 5 repetitions, at 5 s per repetition, on both abdominal exercise modes. To test for differences in relative peak and mean EMG activity between the two exercise modes, paired t-tests were used. To test for differences in the average time percentile at which peak EMG activity occurred, repeated measures ANOVA were performed. For the rectus femoris, the NordicTrack Abworks resulted in significantly (p < .05) higher relative peak and mean EMG activity than the conventional curl-up. For both the rectus abdominis and sacrospinalis, no significant (p > .05) differences in the relative peak and mean EMG activity were found between the two modes of exercise. In respect to the timing of peak EMG activity, no significant (p > .05) differences were found between the two exercise modes across rectus abdominis, rectus femoris, and sacrospinalis. In conclusion, the NordicTrack Abworks and curl-up are similarly effective in recruiting the abdominal and back muscles while the curl-up appears to be safer with less hip flexor involvement.Keyword(s): exercise/fitness, research