Exercise Ball Crunches
Tired of the same old crunches and leg raises? Want a deeper stretch and quicker
abs development? Read on…
Fitness Ball Benefits
There are many reasons why using a fitness ball beats not using one. In particular,
the fitness ball gives you a deeper stretch, increases your range of motion and
forces you to balance thus using more muscles groups.
Regular Abs Crunch
The crunch has long been the favourite exercises for six pack experts. The main
reason for this is because the crunch (unlike the sit up) focusses almost entirely
on the abs muscles and doesnt bring the obliques into play. This is a good thing
as you can tense harder and not widen your hips by developing your love handles.
Fitness Ball Crunch
In my opinion the fitness ball crunch kills the regular crunch because of the aforementioned
reasons. You can stretch more, bend deeper and it is thus much harder to perform.
If you are bored of crunches or haven’t made much progress lately then you
must inculde a set of fitness ball crunches in your regular abs workout.
How to do the Fitness Ball crunch
It really isnt that hard, you just lay on the ball and do a crunch.
However, here are some important tips.
Start leaning back on the ball and when you crunch towards your knees roll the ball
so that your bottom finishes closer to the floor. This is opposed to the usual way
of doing it where you lie flat and just crunch up a little bit. Remember, we are
trying to increase the ROM.
Hold a weight or a medicine ball on your chest to increase resistance.
Breathe in and out as you go up and down.
Crunch hard at the top of the motion and keep your abs tensed all the way down.
Do it in front of a mirror so that you can see if you are leaning to one side more
than the other.
Adding a crunch twist for better six pack abs
One of the best things you can do on the fitness ball is to turn the crunch above
into a twisting one such that your elbows point towards the opposite knee everytime
you crunch. Doing this will increase the amount of tension you place on the abs
and speed up your progress.
Abs workout = sore back?
If you get a sore back from workout out your abs than the fitness ball is a must
have!
The ball allows your back to stay in tight contact with the surface and doesnt lead
to arching or any other bad techniques that can injure your back. The rolling motion
of the ball may also assist in mending any old injuries.