Written with love, by Jennifer Dene
Welcome back for our final week of fitness variations to take your workout from blah to babe!
Today we are elevating the humble abdominal crunch into a thing of fitness magnificence. Are you ready?
I’ve written before that I don’t always isolate my abdominal muscles during workouts, as too much targeted ab work can lead to injury. Over the last two week’s you have been strengthening your core with squats and planks, which are both terrific to do on a regular basis. The crunch variations below will be the perfect addition to your workout once or twice a week.
How To Do The Basic Crunch
Step One: Start by laying on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Take your hands behind your head and relax your head into your palms.
Step Two: Keeping your low back still against the ground flex through your upper torso to lift your head and chest away from the floor and direct your gaze to your navel.
Step Three: Lower back down to the starting position. On a crunch you exhale when you lift the chest and inhale to return.
The Variations
Rope Climber
This move targets your six-pack muscles as you slowly roll the spine up and down from the floor. Try to keep your feet still and not use any momentum!
Reverse Crunch
The six-pack is still engaged as you hold a static upper ab curl, but then you recruit your deep belly muscles to lift the hips and bring the knees to the nose. Often women forget to train the lower half of their abs so you will be thanking me for this one come the honeymoon!
Side Glides
This move flexes the spine from side to side to tone those oblique muscles in a different way than the normal bicycle twist. Keep your knees as still as possible as you reach towards your heels.
I recommend starting with 5 repetitions for each of these new moves and adding on once you feel confident. Press play for the quick video tutorial to see exactly how to do these moves, and then let me know which one is your favorite and why by leaving a comment below!
I can’t wait to workout with you!
Jennifer Dene
