How to Do Crunches – Your Effective Ways to Achieve Perfect Ab Muscles

How to do crunches is your exercise routine targeting your abdominal muscles. Crunches are what you need to have beautiful abs that you can flaunt anytime. Doing crunches are building up your confidence and strengthening your core muscles.

How to do crunches in achieving your dream abs muscles needs focus on the sets of exercises that need to be done. Aside from appearance, the stability and strength of your abdominal muscles are essential. You want to know why?

If you are conscious with your abdominal muscles, you aim to have excellent stability for your body. The strong back and abs muscles are the foundation of the daily movements to perform better tasks. Also, having perfect abs in learning how to do crunches is what many desire.

How to Do it

So what are crunches and how to do them? Well, we are giving you the simple step-by-step in doing perfect crunches.

1. Lie down on the floor with your back and bend your knees.
2. Now place your hands behind your head or across your chest.
3. Pull your mid-belly towards your spine and slowly contract the rest of your abdominal muscles.
4. Then bring your shoulder blades about 1 or 2 inches off the floor.
5. As you will do the crunch, exhales and keep your neck straight, chin up.
6. When you reached the top, hold the position for a few seconds.
7. Then slowly lower your back down but avoid your shoulder touch the floor.
8. Repeat for 15 to 20 reps, with perfect form.

Variations on How to Do Crunches

If you want to do some crunches, you can have it plain and simple. But if you’re going to do it with some equipment, you can do it actually.

You can use a bicycle.

How to do it:

1. Your starting position is lying on your back on the ground.
2. Then, raise your head and shoulders while your hands are resting lightly on the side of your head.
3. Lift one leg just off the ground and extend it out. Do it to the other leg as you bend your knee towards your chest while twisting through the core and moving the opposite elbow towards the knee.
4. Lower your leg and arm at the same time while bringing up the opposite two limbs to mirror the movement.

You can do the reverse crunch.

How to do it:

1. To start the reverse crunch, keep the back of your head and shoulders in contact with the ground and lift your lower back off the floor.
2. Then lift your lower back off the floor.
3. Bring your knees towards the chest.
4. Squeeze your abs for a few seconds and get back to your starting position. The reverse crunch targets your lower abs.

Have a crossover crunch.

How to do it:

1. Your position should be lying on your back but with your right leg crossed over the other. You can do additional crossover crunch by turning your hips on you right while lying.
2. Keep your neck neutral, curl your left arm, shoulder and chest towards your middle.
3. Then lower slowly.

You can use the workout equipment.

1. To do crunches, you can use a gym ball. Lean as far as back on the ball as you can to arch your back in its natural range. Then contract your core to bring your upper body off the ball.
2. You can try using a medicine ball to improve strength and flexibility of your arms and shoulders. It will work to your core. Let yourself lie down while holding the medicine ball in both hands above you. Settle your arms fully extended, and your arms straight as you raise your torso. Then take your arms behind your head, so the medicine ball touches the ground. Raise the ball back to the start and do another rep.
3. Adding some weight to your crunch is one way how to do crunches. Hold a dumbbell on your chest. Keep your neck neutral and squeeze your abs to curl your upper body off the floor. Stay in this position for a second then lower the dumbbell slowly. Keep the weight controlled. Don’t go for a heavy dumbbell; Choose the right amount.
4. You can choose a dumbbell on a weight plate in your hands. Lie flat on while holding light dumbbells. Contract your core as you bring the weights and your legs together. Then, lower dumbbell slowly as to your starting point.
5. Cable crunch is not harmful to keep your muscles under tension for longer and helping them stronger. You will need a high cable and rope handle. Lean forward, keeping your body straight and your arms and hips locked in position. Then crunch down using your abs as the driving force. Afterwards, reverse the move slowly.

Quick Tips for Doing Crunches

To achieve the best results of doing floor crunches, make sure you do it not too high. Focus the pressure on your ribs down and to your belly button. It will raise your chest a few inches off the ground. When doing crunches, your target is your abs.

Use strength to have movements in slow and control. Make sure that your back is firmly against the floor. Don’t rely on the momentum of your workout.

Support your neck while doing crunches for abs. Maintain an apple size space between your chin and chest throughout the entire movement. To avoid, cross your arms over your chest or place your fingertips at the back of your ears. Make sure your elbows are pointing forward.

Relaxation and correctly holding your breath is essential to ease in doing crunches. Relaxation in crises means to focus on your abs muscles. And squeezing is the key. Keep pressing on your abs, lifting yourself off the floor and on the way down.

In a Nutshell

How to crunches is crucial if you want to have the perfect abs. Everyday movement of crunches is not practical. You can have other variations of movements, angles and positions will result in ideal shape ab muscles. Also, you can do squats and planks to make your abs and core stronger. Other than crunches, you can do planking. It will give more strength to your workout to gain more strength.

If you do crunches incorrectly, you will know it. You will suffer back problems, and the tension will not feel in your whole core throughout the movement. So, you can follow our easy steps by steps on how to do crunches.

What can be a suitable type of crunches for you? Finding the appropriate workout for your abs depends on your capacity and your strength to do more activities. Make sure you know it before starting any workout