Sick of doing hundreds of crunches and not getting results? For years I performed hundreds, upon thousands of crunches in hopes of sculpting a tight, defined mid-section, but ended up building a distended mass of muscle. I couldn’t understand why my abs pooched out, until I was introduced to Pilates. I realized my form wasn’t the greatest. To sculpt a strong, flat tummy that will actually make you look thinner and offer amazing support for your spine, try this technique.
There is a lot going on in a seemingly simple crunch (or upper body curl) so here are the cues:
1. Think Down And Flat: As you curl up exhale the abdominals down and wide to the mat. Think about creasing and sinking at the bra line. Instead of pooching out the muscles draw them toward the spine. The exhale will definitely help you get this feeling. Don’t be afraid to breath.
2. Get Out Of Those Shoulders: If you normally perform crunches with your hands supporting your head with elbows wide, think about anchoring the shoulder blades down the back so you won’t use your arms to yank the neck and head forward. Try reaching the arms long by your sides to engage the lats and get the arms out of the equation.
3. Lengthen Instead of Crunch: As you curl up thinking about lengthening the head, neck and upper body out and over, tractioning the spine. This will help you find more length in the spine and prevent the crunching feeling. After all we don’t want “crunched” up muscles, but long lean muscles.
4. Don’t Forget About The Pelvis: The pelvis is an important part of building abdominal strength and support for the spine. It’s really common to tuck the pelvis during abdominal work so that the low back is on the ground. The problem with this technique is that you end up using your hip flexors or legs instead of the abdominals. It’s important to strengthen the abdominals in a way that will support the natural curvature of the spine. The best way to do this is to use a neutral or flat pelvis position, where the hip bones (A.S.I.S) and the pubic bone are level on the same plane. This allows for the natural curve of the lumbar vertebrae.
With all of these things to think about suddenly the crunch is not so easy!! Test out this technique the next time you hit the mat and let me know what you think. I guarantee you’ll feel the burn.
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