Whether you are regularly doing hundreds of crunches each day or the only crunch you've done in the last little while has been made by Nestle, adding twists to the standard crunch can get you one step closer to get those six pack abs that you so desperately desire.
While traditional crunches will help to develop the ab muscles, they are not the most effective movement to be doing in your ab workouts because they are not working the muscles as much as they could be.
By adding the following elements to your abdominal crunches, you'll up the intensity a factor and be on the road to a six pack.
Add Weight The first thing you can do is add some weight to the crunch, by holding a weighted plate either behind the head or right next to your chest.
Note when doing so you must still really focus on contracting the ab muscles throughout the exercise to be sure you don't 'cheat' your abs out of the work.
Do Hanging Crunches The next way to improve the traditional ab crunch is to do them hanging from a bar.
This will help really put all the stress on those ab muscles and get them working maximally.
If you want to bump the intensity up even further from there, then proceed to hold onto a weight just like the above example.
Add an Exercise Ball The third way to get six pack abs is to add an exercise ball into your regular ab workouts.
These work great because they help to reduce the stability of the body, thus fibers deep within the body will be forced to start working to crunch the body up.
Keep in mind that you can do most standard versions of the ab crunch on top of an exercise ball, so don't limit your choices whatsoever.
Elevate The Legs Finally, the last way to add intensity to the ab workout is to elevate the legs while performing a standard crunch.
Your goal is to get them between ninety and 180 degrees, so somewhere between 45 degrees and 90 will be ideal.
Watch when doing so though that you do not let the lower back come off the floor, as this could create lower back pain over time.
This will work your lower abs more than just the standard crunch, so you're getting more of a total workout.
So, next ab workout, consider adding these movements in so you can move one step closer to six pack abs.
While traditional crunches will help to develop the ab muscles, they are not the most effective movement to be doing in your ab workouts because they are not working the muscles as much as they could be.
By adding the following elements to your abdominal crunches, you'll up the intensity a factor and be on the road to a six pack.
Add Weight The first thing you can do is add some weight to the crunch, by holding a weighted plate either behind the head or right next to your chest.
Note when doing so you must still really focus on contracting the ab muscles throughout the exercise to be sure you don't 'cheat' your abs out of the work.
Do Hanging Crunches The next way to improve the traditional ab crunch is to do them hanging from a bar.
This will help really put all the stress on those ab muscles and get them working maximally.
If you want to bump the intensity up even further from there, then proceed to hold onto a weight just like the above example.
Add an Exercise Ball The third way to get six pack abs is to add an exercise ball into your regular ab workouts.
These work great because they help to reduce the stability of the body, thus fibers deep within the body will be forced to start working to crunch the body up.
Keep in mind that you can do most standard versions of the ab crunch on top of an exercise ball, so don't limit your choices whatsoever.
Elevate The Legs Finally, the last way to add intensity to the ab workout is to elevate the legs while performing a standard crunch.
Your goal is to get them between ninety and 180 degrees, so somewhere between 45 degrees and 90 will be ideal.
Watch when doing so though that you do not let the lower back come off the floor, as this could create lower back pain over time.
This will work your lower abs more than just the standard crunch, so you're getting more of a total workout.
So, next ab workout, consider adding these movements in so you can move one step closer to six pack abs.