Crunchless Abs.. any ideas??

I tried Hip Hop Abs which is marketed towards not doing situps and it was ok for me and the moves made sense but it is basically just doing cardio while tucking in your tummy. I stopped doing it because I wasn't getting much out of it and went back to situps and leg lifts and I feel better doing it the old fashioned way :bigsmile:

Planks are great too!

Leg raises, v-ups, flutter kicks, hanging leg raises, overhead squats, reverse crunches, planks, side planks, tuck jumps, jumping rope .... there's a ton of things. Look them up.
You can do a myriad of things by simply lying on your back and lifting your legs at different heights and speeds. Lift and hold at 10", then 20", then 30" then drop. Do one leg, scissor kick. Raise them up and down, in and out, side to side. Knees in to chest. Hold some weight in your hands straight up while you do this too for a different twist. ..... there's another, russian twists. Turkish get-ups. The list is endless.
If you have one of those exercise/swiss balls, try crunches on those - they're different than doing on the ground and you won't get bum sores (if that's why you don't want to crunch).

I don't do any isolation work (crunches). My abdominal muscles got noticeably stronger by focusing on compound weightlifting moves like squats and overhead press.

^^^^^This! And running!

Strength training and yo go. Balancing poses really make you use use core.

planks, ab vacuums, and in my zumba classes that I teach, I do a lot of hip-hop ab moves....just a lot of dancing and pumping my hips. You can see my obliques and my V..if I did not have stretch marks from 6 kids, my tummy would be amazing...no crunches or sit ups at all.

I love planks, too! Regular and side, make sure to use proper form and hold if for a bit and you'll really feel your abs engaging! You can start with 30 seconds at a time and move up in 10 second increments as it gets easier for you.

Thanks for the post. It was helpful to ma also. My abs are sore right now from the sit ups and crunches I did yesterday. I am thinking I would like to try these planks though.

I don't do any isolation work (crunches). My abdominal muscles got noticeably stronger by focusing on compound weightlifting moves like squats and overhead press.

Seriously...what she said...and just because public worship doesn't quite illustrate my point well enough...

:flowerforyou:

crunches are silly.


Weighted full barbell squats and deadlifts work the abs isometrically (as they are designed to function) and well, hit your entire core. They load the abs with far more weight/work than pretty much anything.

I don't do any isolation work (crunches). My abdominal muscles got noticeably stronger by focusing on compound weightlifting moves like squats and overhead press.

Seriously...what she said...and just because public worship doesn't quite illustrate my point well enough...

:flowerforyou:

Again
I like front squats since they really force you to use correct posture (or the weight falls) keeping abs tight, shoulders back, chest up, chin up, toes out, etc.

squats and deadlifts.