Single best crunch for abs?

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  • dottheallison
    dottheallison Posts: 42
    Personally I don't like planks (or most ab exercises), and regular crunches never did much for me before. But I learned a simple ab exercise that I don't know the name of that has worked fantastically for my balance and strengthening my core, which in turn has made my walking/running endurance a little better.

    Lie on your back with your legs straight out and your arms straight above you. Hold a small exercise ball/pillow/stuffed animal between your ankles and bring it up slowly without bending your knees as your raise your arms to meet it over your stomach. Pass the object back and forth in this way 15 times, rest for 2 minutes, then do it again. The slower you go, the more you'll feel it by the end.
    The first time I did it I was like, "wow, that's easy" and did like 3 times that.... I could barely move for a week. Sneezing and laughing were sooo painful. So Iearned the hard way that it works!
  • margojr4
    margojr4 Posts: 259 Member
    Serious ab work here!

    funny-gifs-working-those-abs.gif
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    Plank.
    Technically not a crunch, but i think it works rhe core so much more than crunches.

    This ^^^

    Aside from planks 2x a week, I don't do any other form of ab work. I rely on my lifts to take care of that. I stopped doing crunches a year ago because I realized it was making my abs look worse (I have a slight separation from having 2 big kiddos). When you're doing step ups, lunges, squats, deadlifts, etc., they are very engaged and you can feel that working. I think ab work is redundant if you're doing compound lifts.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    Serious ab work here!

    funny-gifs-working-those-abs.gif

    LOL! She went to the gym wearing a bra and undies and started doing that?!? I doubt any of the men there got any work done that day.
  • umamibrain
    umamibrain Posts: 11
    Lie on your back with your legs straight out and your arms straight above you. Hold a small exercise ball/pillow/stuffed animal between your ankles and bring it up slowly without bending your knees as your raise your arms to meet it over your stomach. Pass the object back and forth in this way 15 times, rest for 2 minutes, then do it again. The slower you go, the more you'll feel it by the end.

    This sounds like a great way to build on the leg raises. I'm adding it to the rotation. Thank you.
  • Mummyadams
    Mummyadams Posts: 1,125 Member
    bump for later
  • Mayor_West
    Mayor_West Posts: 246 Member
    While I'm a huge proponent of Squats and Deadlifts as the best total-body exercises, when it comes to core-specific moves, my favorite is without question the Ab Wheel. I'm also a big fan of planks, although my biggest criticism is that they're more geared toward muscular endurance rather than having an eccentric and concentric portion to the movement.

    Other ab exercises I use include Lying Leg Raises, Decline Board crunches, and weighted Swiss Ball crunches.
  • dr3wman
    dr3wman Posts: 205
    I vote the Pike!
  • Vansy
    Vansy Posts: 419 Member
    Plank.
    Technically not a crunch, but i think it works rhe core so much more than crunches.

    Agree.
    And side planks.
    And 6-inch killers.
    And look up the C-Sit Position.
  • vtachycardia
    vtachycardia Posts: 374
    Interesting that a guy I take a lot of inspiration from has this as his "dogma of the week"

    http://www.functionalpatterns.com/2012/08/05/the-dogma-of-the-week-ab-workouts/

    Interesting observations, the links at the end to w/o's are all very doable and look fun.

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