Crunch Exercise - Benefits and Different Variations Of Crunch Exercise

What is crunch exercise and what are the benefits of this?

CRUNCH EXERCISE – For toned abs, a famous exercise to do are crunches, but here are some things you must know first about this specific type.

To achieve rock-solid abs, one of the most effective types of exercise to do is the crunch exercise – a simple but also pretty intense core workout. Crunches are also known as abdominal crunches which target the abdominal muscles and obliques.

How to do a crunch and what is the correct form?

Lie down on your mat with your face up.
Bend your knees and keep both your feet flat on the floor.
Put your hands across opposite shoulders or behind your ears.
Maintain a neutral position.
Then, start to push yourself up by curling your shoulders up on the floor. You should feel a squeeze in your stomach and make sure to engage your core.
Slowly return to starting position and do the same movement over again.
Perform 2 to 3 sets of this with 10 to 15 repetitions in each set.

Among the most common mistakes people make is that they tend to raise their necks instead of the small portion of their upper body. Doing this is not making your abs work.

Here are the benefits of doing crunches:

Burn calories.
An effective way to improve balance.
Can be done without special gym equipment and is ideal for beginners.
Develops and strengthens core muscles.

Meanwhile, according to a study, there was found “no significant effect of abdominal exercises on body weight, body fat percentage, android fat percentage, android fat, abdominal circumference, abdominal skinfold, and suprailiac skinfold measurements”.

Although it did not reduce abdominal subcutaneous fat despite regular activity at a given time frame, it did improve muscular endurance to a greater extent.

Other variations of this include bicycle crunch, vertical leg crunch, long arm crunch, reverse crunch, oblique crunch, and many more.