Breathing problems during crunches

mjrkearney

Before this goes down the obvious path, I know crunches aren't an efficient form of ab exercise. I've been issued a challenge, so they're happening.

Anyway, I have been having serious problems with breathing while actually doing them. Either I get this weird hiccup-y feeling where my diaphragm doesn't seem to want to work, or I just start to feel like I'm suffocating. I'm both top-heavy and front-heavy, so that's probably a good chunk of the problem, but it hasn't always been an issue.

Does anybody know if this is a normal problem and/or a way of fixing it?

marieamethyst

Eh, I love me some good crunches as part of my ab routine to help keep my stomach toned.

Are you sure you're breathing properly during them? For example, during the basic crunch I exhale going up, and inhale coming back down. The only time I had trouble with breathing was when I first started doing them and wasn't inhaling/exhaling at the right time during each rep. Might be worth mentioning to your doctor otherwise.