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lying in the supine (on your back) position, knees up, to relieve stress on your lower back; and with the arms in
one of the following four positions, depending on your state of abdominal conditioning:
1. straight arms between your knees (This is the beginning position; the easiest center-of-gravity (C-O-
G) position for doing crunches.),
2. arms crossed on your chest (The next highest degree of difficulty.)
3. 3- hands clasped behind your neck, with your elbows pointed out to the sides (This position is to allow
you to support the weight of your head, but not to allow pulling your head forward.) and,
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4. hands overhead, with arms relatively straight (This is the most advanced C-O-G position.)
You can only raise the level of intensity now, for this exercise, by adding weights - barbells or dumbbells - except
by doing more reps, of course.). Now that you have assumed the desired starting position, raise your shoulders off
the floor/mat, with your eyes looking out at about a 45 degrees angle - the point here is to keep your neck in the
neutral position, your chin should not touch your chest. Your neck should, in fact, not move during any crunch. The
distance that your shoulders raise off the floor is not really important. The goal here is to contract the abs to their
max, not to reach 25 reps, or 50 reps - it is to make your abs work. When one thinks about reaching a specific
number of reps, one often holds a little in reserve, and, therefore doesn't get the most benefit for effort expended.
In addition to the neck talk, there is one more postural "thing" that needs to be mentioned - the lower back. You
will often be told to keep it "flat." That can be interpreted to mean that you should maintain its normal, slight,
inward curve - also called "slight lordosis," or the "neutral position." The real point to be made here is to avoid
excessive arch in the lower back - always. When you have reached the top of your crunch, pause, then slowly
lower yourself back to just short of the starting position (i.e., keep a little tension in those abs - they'll love you for
it). You have now completed one rep. Now do as many reps as you can up to 50. When you can easily do 50 reps,
it's time to change your arm position, add weights, go to multiple sets, or just add another lower ab exercise to
your program.
Additionally, for WC purposes, try throwing straight chain punches continuously during the crunch. I like to add
them to various exercises for two reasons:
1. you can never throw enough punches
2. it adds to the level of body awareness and concentration by making you concentrate on more
than one thing at once.
There are some other variations on this:
Toes up crunch
Do the same as above, but with the toes off the floor and heels on the floor.
Cross Legged Crunch
Get into a cross legged position (Indian sitting) and do crunches. This just works the muscles in different ways.
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To avoid having to repeat cautions, reps, etc., this insert is to instruct you to do all crunches using the
guidelines provided above for "Front Crunches."
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Reverse Crunches
For this version, which concentrates on the "lower" abdominals (this is still the Rectus Abdominis, but from the
lower attachment), and also the side abdominals. one, again, assumes a supine position. With your thighs vertical,
and your feet as close to your rump as you can keep them, move your knees toward your chest until your hips roll
up off of the floor. Contract your abdominal muscles to lift hips off the floor and bring knees toward chest. Don't
swing your legs! Concentrate on using your abs to lift your pelvis toward your lower rib cage. Go slow and keep
breathing. Pause, then slowly return your thighs to vertical. You have now completed one rep.
Easier: Hands on floor. Harder: Elbows on floor, hands in air.
Curl up
this exercise is slightly more difficult than a crunch but safer than a situp. Works both upper and lower abs, plus
side muscles.
1. Lie flat on your back with your hands cupped behind your ears, elbows out.
2. Bend your knees at about a 45-degree angle, with your feet shoulder width apart and about 6 inches from your
butt.
3. Keeping your lower body stable, curl your upper torso in toward your knees, raising your shoulder blades as high
off the ground as you can get them.
4. Move your torso all the way up in a count of two, concentrating on the contraction of the abdominal muscles.
5. Count to two again as you return to the starting position. Don't rest in between repetitions.
Combination Crunch:
Do the standard crunch and the reverse curl at the same time. If you need a challenging ab exercise, this will work
great. This stresses both attachments of the Rectus Abdominis at the same time. In this variant, as you raise your
shoulders, you simultaneously start pulling your knees toward your chest as you do the upper body part.
Diagonal Crunches
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For this exercise, again assume a supine position with your knees very flexed. As you start to raise your shoulders,
you move one shoulder (actually, one side of your chest) toward the opposite knee. The object is not to touch the
elbow to the knee, it is only to add rotational movement to the crunch, and thereby concentrate on the Obliques.
You can alternate from side to side, but you will get more out of the exercise by completing all reps to one side,
and then switching to the opposite side. Note that these muscles are more important to flattening the abdominal
wall than is the Rectus Abdominis, so don't neglect them.
Abdominal Vacuums
Here's how to give your abs a workout anywhere, anytime, without breaking a sweat and without anyone knowing
what you re doing. This exercise is not very commonly done, but it focuses on the Transverse Abdominis, which
plays a significant role in flattening the abdominal wall. You can do this exercise in almost any conceivable position, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]