The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (104 page)

Bend your knees and lay your feet flat on the floor.

Cross your hands at the chest and put a thumb on each side of your chin. This will help keep your head in a neutral position throughout the movement.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

To really optimize this exercise you’ll want to focus on the motion of bringing your chest plate to your pelvic area. Our focus is to squish the stomach area between the chest and pelvis. The abdominal muscles are what will actually move your chest towards your pelvic region, so what better than to crunch them in-between the two. The reason we say this is because many trainers simply teach their clients to “crunch.” Many times, instead of flexing their spines with their abdominal muscles, these clients often end up using their hip flexors as the primary muscles to “crunch.”

Begin by isometrically contracting the abdominal muscles before moving.

As you begin the crunch, focus on moving your chest (not your head) toward your pelvis.

Exhale as you move up toward your knees. This will allow you to get a more forceful contraction of the abs.

Remember that the distance from start position to end position is not very far at all. It is not like a sit-up. Once again, your focus is not just to move but also to crunch your abs in between your chest and pelvis.

As you reach the top (end) position, make sure that you are contracting the abdominal muscles as hard as you possibly can. This is the most important position of the exercise.

Hold the contraction for a one to two second count.

Return to the bottom position and, without rest or momentum, return to the upward movement.

FAQ:

My neck hurts when I keep my thumbs under my chin
.

ANSWER:

You can put your hands behind your head, but make sure not to pull on your head to assist in the exercise. You can also stretch your hands out to the sides of your body. Imagine trying to touch an object a bit far in front of you. This will both help to take your mind off the ab muscle burn, while making sure that you are really squeezing and contracting those ab muscles. This also applies to the trunk curl and crunch.

VARIATION