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Ground crunch
The crunch is a simple and effective exercise to strengthen the abdominal muscles. It tones the stomach, strengthens the core and allows you to obtain a beautiful chocolate bar. This popular bodybuilding exercise requires no equipment and can be done almost anywhere. It refines and firms the waist if you work with body weight, and develops the abdominals if you use increasingly heavy weight.
This is a widely practiced ab exercise, perfect for beginners and more advanced bodybuilders alike, but you need to use good technique to safely target these muscles .
If you want to learn how to do crunches correctly, you've come to the right place! Follow our instructions to do the exercise correctly and our advice to get abs as quickly as possible.
What muscles do crunches work?
The crunch mainly uses the rectus abdominis, the famous “chocolate bar”, and secondarily the oblique muscles located on the side of the waist. This is the exercise to do to get a 6 pack! The transversus abdominis muscle and the hip flexors are also involved.
The rectus abdominis allows the trunk to be flexed by bringing the pubis closer to the sternum by a vertebral coil when the pelvis is fixed. It also allows retroversion of the pelvis when the trunk is fixed.
The crunch has the reputation of requiring more of the upper part of the abdominals (above the navel) compared to pelvis or leg raises, which rather work the lower part.
How to do crunches?
1 - Starting position lying on the floor on a sports mat or on a weight bench. The hands can be placed on the head at the temples, on the chest or along the body (easier). Avoid positioning them behind the neck, as there is a tendency to help yourself and pull on the neck.
2 - The chin should be tucked in to avoid unnecessary pressure on the neck.
3 - The feet can be placed on the ground, near the buttocks, or rest on a bench. You can also place your thighs vertically, knees bent and apart, feet crossed, so as not to arch your lower back during the movement. Be careful, the more the legs are raised or even stretched, the more the difficulty increases.
4 - Inhale then roll your torso forward, strongly contracting your abdominals. Bring your navel closer to your pelvis. The shoulders only lift a few centimeters from the ground, and the lower back and hips remain fixed, pressed against the ground.
5 - The return to the starting position must be achieved smoothly, maintaining contraction and tension in the muscle. The execution speed is slow and constant.
6 - Repeat the movement until you reach the desired number of repetitions.
You can place a weight on the chest - such as a cast iron washer or a dumbbell - to add difficulty to the exercise. You can also extend your arms back to increase resistance.
Breathing
Inspiration at the start of the movement when the rib cage is open. Breathe while performing the movement, contracting your abdominals well, and inhale while returning to the starting position, on the ground. Respiratory blockage should be avoided.
How to properly do crunches for the abs?
- Lie on the floor on a gym mat for greater comfort.
- Avoid placing your hands behind your head, because we often use them to do the exercise when we are blocking. This can lead to neck problems. The easiest way is to hold your hands on your temples or chest.
- Do not lift your lower back, the very reduced amplitude does not detract from the effectiveness of the exercise.
- Avoid blocking your feet under a bar, furniture or with the help of your training partner. Working with your feet not locked, together and your knees apart, limits the activity of the hip flexors, iliopsoas and anterior rectus, and avoids a lot of tension and pain in the lower back.
Don't lock your feet or those muscles will work instead.
If you have back pain when you do ab exercises, this article should help you: Why does my back hurt when I do ab exercises?
- Do not hold your breathing during exercise. Apnea is not recommended, especially since breathing helps you contract the transverse muscle, an exhalation muscle that helps you have a flat stomach.
Tips for crunching
As postural muscles, the abdominals are rather durable and can be worked in fairly long sets. We suggest sets of 15 to 30 repetitions. But if you can do more, don't hesitate to toughen up the exercises.
In terms of planning, 3 complete abdominal sessions per week will do the trick. But don't forget to work all the muscles that make up this group, not just the visible ones on the surface! The oblique of course, on the side of the waist, but also the transverse using core exercises. We can do the abs at the end of the session, so that they remain fresh for the overall exercises where they are used.
If you can't feel your abs during the exercise, don't hesitate to touch your stomach with your hands to see what's happening, to feel the contraction. This strengthens the connection between muscle and brain and allows for better recruitment.
If you find the exercise too easy and you can do sets of more than 50 repetitions, do not hesitate to toughen the exercise by adding resistance. To do this, you can move your hands away from your chest and extend your arms behind your head. You can of course use weights, discs or dumbbells, and place them on the chest or behind the neck. This is particularly valid if you want to gain mass at the waist (thin people). The machine crunch or the high pulley crunch are a good alternative to toughen up the exercise. These two exercises allow you to work the abdominals with a defined load. But for beginners, we will favor crunches on the ground before adding ballast.
If your goal is to develop a 6 pack before summer, to have rock-solid abs, to shape your abs for the sunny days, doing a lot of abs on the ground is only half the solution. To obtain lean and defined abs, doing exercises will not be enough. The exercises strengthen the abdominal muscles and help to reduce the waistline, particularly through the practice of sheathing. But only diet will get rid of the layer of fat that covers them. To do this, review your nutrition and regularly practice aerobic activity (cardio training) in addition to weight training.
Crunches FAQ
IS CRUNCHING AN EFFECTIVE ABS EXERCISE?
The crunch isolates the rectus abdominis, improves the tone of the abdominal muscles, the strength and stability of the trunk. It is an effective exercise for strengthening the abdominal muscles, toning them or hypertrophying them depending on the resistance applied. Strong abs and strong back muscles stabilize and relieve the spine. Having well-strengthened abdominals is the basis of bodybuilding. Not only for aesthetics, but also to provide strength training exercises for the upper body and lower body.
For a full-body workout, add core exercises and strengthening of the obliques and lower back. If your goal is to strengthen and stabilize your core as a whole, focus on exercises that work and maintain your core. This is called “core training”, an effective workout to strengthen the center of the body. On the program: face plank, side plank, mountain climber, static hip thrust , superman etc.
To have a flat stomach, you must work the rectus but also the transverse muscles. The stomach vacuum will help you control the contraction of the transverse muscle.
IS CRUNCH BAD FOR YOUR BACK?
Performed correctly, with a reduced range of motion, crunches effectively strengthen the abdominals. It's a classic exercise that has received a lot of criticism lately, and many trainers seem to favor other core exercises like the plank over crunches. Still, for beginners, this is a great way to start. So, is this exercise really bad for your back? Can it wear out your back early if you do it often? Yes, if you do a lot and if you are an “at risk” person.
In fact, the key is to work your abs according to your posture - which is not the same for everyone. Are you too arched? You should choose ab exercises to have less arching like the crunch, and strengthen your glutes. Do you have little lumbar arch? Not too much crunch, as it accentuates the arch. Strengthen your hip flexors and back.
Beginners in bodybuilding can do crunches, but in the long term you must take your body type into account .
The crunch is not recommended when you have weakness in the abdominal area or perineum. In some women, doing too many crunches can lead to weakening of the perineum. This is not an exercise to do after pregnancy! We will prefer to move towards hypopressive abdominals, working on them through breathing, in addition to re-education of the perineum. There are many alternatives to crunches to strengthen your abs and get a flat stomach. Core training remains an excellent exercise . The reverse crunch as well, because it does not involve any pressure.
Sit -ups , a sort of crunch where the entire torso is raised, are also not recommended by sports professionals , because they are harmful to the discs (lower back pain and hernias).
IS IT OKAY TO DO ABS EVERY DAY?
You need to strengthen your abs all year round, whether you are bulking or losing weight. Abs are not there to decorate your waist, they have an important function in most exercises. On this note, should we work on them every day? No, the abs need rest to recover. A frequency of 2 to 3 complete sessions per week is more than enough to strengthen your abs, varying the demands.
DOES DOING ABS LOSE BELLY?
Yes and no. A misconception is that doing a lot of crunches will cause your body to burn belly fat. To see your abs, you need to put several things in place: an appropriate diet to get your body fat below 12%, strength training and cardio training to help you do this.
On the other hand, yes, working your abdominals, your transverse in particular, which is part of the abdominal belt, will help you reduce your waistline. You will not lose weight, but this will allow you to improve the maintenance of your viscera and therefore to tuck in your stomach. The obliques also contribute to your wasp waist, so don't neglect them.
CRUNCH HAS BECOME TOO EASY, WHAT TO DO?
Can you do 20 minutes of bodyweight crunches almost non-stop? Do sets of 100 or 200 abs not scare you? You can add difficulty by maximizing the time spent under tension or by adding weight. How ? By making slow, controlled movements to feel the contraction, and adding weight to the chest or behind the head. Often, athletes use momentum to complete repetitions. So slow down and charge!
WHICH ACCESSORY TO USE FOR CRUNCHS?
You can use a floor mat and a towel for hygiene. Without a gym mat, your lower back will probably hurt a little when it hits the ground. A little padding with a soft exercise mat won't hurt. In fact, you don't need to buy specific equipment to strengthen your abs with bodyweight crunches. If you want to weight down the exercise, a dumbbell or a 5 or 10 kilo disc will do the trick.
Certain accessories can nevertheless be interesting, such as the AbMat. The Abmat cushion is placed under the lower back and allows you to increase the range of abdominal exercises. In addition to being comfortable, it advantageously stretches the rectus abdominis. You will feel it pass with new sensations and aches as a result. It is a very interesting accessory for increasing the amplitude and difficulty of the floor crunch and all abdominal exercises.
The Abmat, equipment that allows you to perform more intense abs exercises.
WHAT EXERCISE TO DO TO REPLACE THE CRUNCH?
Don't like crunch? This is not an exercise for you? Wondering which exercise is best to replace the crunch? What is the most effective exercise for abs? There are several options.
Core training: A good alternative to replacing crunches is to core. It’s not just reserved for the physical preparation of athletes! This works the deep (transverse) and superficial (rectus abdominis), as well as the obliques. Everyone is in high demand during these core bodybuilding exercises, whether static (isometric work on the deep muscles) or dynamic (in movement). You will also gain mobility and stability by practicing them regularly. On the program, the front plank, the side bridge, the dynamic lateral plank, the dynamic plank with raised leg, the T plank plank, the mountain climber, the bear plank hold, the side plank with rotation, the inverted plank etc. There is plenty to do and many training circuits are offered.
Machine crunch: The “abdominal crunch” machine, which you can find in many weight rooms, is ideal for isolating the abdominal muscles and intensifying the training compared to floor exercises. It allows you to perform weighted crunches on the machine while working with a greater and above all adjustable additional load. A good alternative to the floor crunch.
The high pulley crunch: The high pulley crunch exercise is useful for adding difficulty to the exercise. You need a certain level of technique to master the exercise, rolling your torso well, curling up into a “ball” and not doing sort of straight torso hip flexions as you often see in the gym.
The reverse crunch: This exercise consists of bringing the knees towards the chest rather than rolling up the trunk as in the classic crunch. This variation has a reputation for targeting the lower abs. The exercise is simple to perform and can be done on the floor, on an incline bench or a pull-up bar.
The crunch with Swiss ball: Nothing better than the Swiss ball to make the movement unstable and therefore more difficult. Because it is postural and requires more balance. In addition, this ab exercise allows you to work with a greater range of motion compared to crunches. And it's pretty comfortable off the ground.
HOW LONG IS AN ABS SESSION?
You can do two to three sessions of 15 to 20 minutes per week. Choose exercises based on your goal. Sessions should be short.
For a complete session, allow a good 20 minutes. You can use short rest times between sets, 30 seconds to 1 minute, because the abdominals recover quite quickly. So take your stopwatch! For an ab routine at the end of the session, 10 minutes will do the trick.
If you're in a hurry, you'll find ab circuits in 8 minutes or more. But a specific and personalized program will always be better.
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME OF DAY TO DO ABS?
The best time to exercise depends on your desires, your needs and your schedule. But some studies show that the afternoon is the best time to do muscular efforts, between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. more precisely. Exercising later is not recommended. Because once excited, you may have difficulty falling asleep. For the abdominals, be careful not to train right after eating, on a full stomach, or to drink a lot of water, especially if you suffer from stomach upset or nausea during exercise.