A Note On Maximizing Crunches

[alphasquirrel]

At my IST at MEPS I only did 42 crunches despite my best efforts and despite the fact that just a week earlier I had done 75.

I was baffled.

My husband thought it might be a form issue and said we could play around with my body position while doing crunches and we decided to do that tonight.

I've been horribly sick this last week with a sinus infection that has kept me darned-near bed-ridden.

Today, feeling a little better, I decided I would try my first real exercise since my IST.

Still coughing and weezing I got down on the floor and cranked out 59 sit-ups/crunches.

I was so darned irritated I could have spit.

My husband and I played around with my body position for a few minutes and I think we finally figured out the problem.

The advice that I have heard repeated so often (and was told at MEPS) is that one should scoot the butt closest to the ankles so that your arms are as close to your thighs as possible. The reasoning behind this is that the distance between your arms and your thighs will be shorter and therefor you won't have to raise your body off the ground as far to do a complete crunch.

However, a well-established technique to mastering sit-ups/crunches is to come half way up using the abdominal muscles and use the muscles of the thighs to pull the body the rest of the way up. This takes half of the strain off the abdominal muscles and allows you to do far more sit-ups or crunches than by using the abdomen alone.

Here is what I have discovered.

The closer you scoot the butt to the ankles the less your thigh muscles will be able to assist in the crunch and you are limiting all of your efforts to your abdomen alone and your number of crunches will drop.

Don't believe me? Get a chair, and lie on the floor beside it, putting your lower legs on the seat of the chair so that your upper legs are perpendicular to the floor start your crunches. You will notice that your leg muscles are almost useless to your crunches. See how many you can do compared to how many you can do when your feet are on the ground and your thighs can assist in your sit-up.

And therein was my problem. I was so "scootched" in that my legs couldn't help me and my crunch count plummeted.

The secret to the crunch is not just getting your butt as close to the ankles as possible but finding a happy medium between getting your butt close enough to your ankles to shorten the crunch but also back far enough to where your legs can still assist.

I intend to keep playing with my positioning as well as working on my crunches in general to where I can maximize my abdomen and my legs and get a good crunch count in.

Hope my little "discovery" can help some others out there.

[Yonkers]

Ah yes, I did this shortly after MEPS when I was disgusted with my 72 crunches... It seems that about 6 inches for me is just about right to get that medium. I tend to change the distance a lot depending on how good my stomach feels at the time of the crunches.

You described it exactly right, instead of depending on simply one part you can rely on two to get the best effect.

You can also do the "cheater slide" trick I do... do 50 crunches with your butt dang near touching your toes and then switch it up and slide back a bit, continue.

Best of luck to ya gettin' the crunches down

[Yonkers]

Ah yes, I did this shortly after MEPS when I was disgusted with my 72 crunches... It seems that about 6 inches for me is just about right to get that medium. I tend to change the distance a lot depending on how good my stomach feels at the time of the crunches.

You described it exactly right, instead of depending on simply one part you can rely on two to get the best effect.

You can also do the "cheater slide" trick I do... do 50 crunches with your butt dang near touching your toes and then switch it up and slide back a bit, continue.

Best of luck to ya gettin' the crunches down

dang near touching your HEELS, not toes haha.

[sbombard15]

Another thing that might of hurt you is dont do crunches three days before the test. Your abdomen needs three days to completely recover.

[asherdasher114]

The best way to improve crunches, is to just do them! The crunches that we do aren't really crunches or sit ups, they don't actually work a lot of your abs. They target your lower abs and hip flexors. Round your shoulders forward, keep your feet at whatever you feel is the best distance for you, and do 100 every night. It doesn't matter how long it takes you, just get in 100. Eventually you will be able to do 100 in 2 minutes easily, at that point increase how many you do. I went from being able to do 75 to 95 in one month, just by doing them 6 days a week.

[Mulls]

the biggest thing that people have, in pull ups OR crunches, is they forget about eccentric motion. if concentric motion is contraction of the muscle (the 'pulling-up' in a pull-up, or squeezing your abs in a crunch), eccentric is lengthening of it (letting yourself down from a pull up, or lowering your shoulderblades back to the ground in a crunch). eccentric motion is just as much of a workout as concentric motion. that being said, don't do a crunch and lower yourself back down, LET YOURSELF DROP! you'd be surprised how much extra work we add for ourselves self consciously. i used to pump out 30 or 40 crunches before i had to take a few second break in the test, now i usually stop in the 75-80 range and get 100 with like 30 seconds to go.
also, don't forget your breathing. exhale every time you crunch, and make the breaths short and deliberate.

[Le4k]

The best way to improve crunches, is to just do them! The crunches that we do aren't really crunches or sit ups, they don't actually work a lot of your abs. They target your lower abs and hip flexors. Round your shoulders forward, keep your feet at whatever you feel is the best distance for you, and do 100 every night. It doesn't matter how long it takes you, just get in 100. Eventually you will be able to do 100 in 2 minutes easily, at that point increase how many you do. I went from being able to do 75 to 95 in one month, just by doing them 6 days a week.

This is the truth the crunches we do are definitely not "real" crunches. What i do to improve my core strength especially the lower abdomen is to do actual situps inclined as sometimes flat.

The two biggest things in doing crunches to me are pacing yourself and relaxing.

Dont over work your abdomen try and breathe so you can release some of tension on the way down

One other thing which helps and i know most people cant do it easily but I raise my legs parallel to the ground when doing pull ups. Its like doing an isometric but even harder because your doing a pull up at the same time.

[alphasquirrel]

Well, tonight I did 75 (35 of which I did while holding a 5 lbs weight to my chest (my husband's idea)). Another tip from him was to do a set of ten, do a short one or two second rest where I relax my leg and ab muscles and then do another set of ten and max the crunches that way. It really seemed to help a lot!

I can't even express my irritation at myself at MEPS at KNOWING I could do more than 42 and simply NOT being able to do a single crunch more. If only I had moved my butt (literally).

The weight to the chest really did add some difficulty and my husband says he wants to see me do at least 35 of those every night and then I can ditch the weight and do as many as I want from there, weight free.

I really don't have a goal. I'm all for goals, I guess, but my goal is just to do as many as I can do. Sounds reasonable to me.

[Yonkers]

Well, tonight I did 75 (35 of which I did while holding a 5 lbs weight to my chest (my husband's idea)).

I can't even express my irritation at myself at MEPS at KNOWING I could do more than 42 and simply NOT being able to do a single crunch more. If only I had moved my butt (literally).

The weight to the chest really did add some difficulty and my husband says he wants to see me do at least 35 of those every night and then I can ditch the weight and do as many as I want from there, weight free.

I really don't have a goal. I'm all for goals, I guess, but my goal is just to do as many as I can do. Sounds reasonable to me.

Might as well make 100 as a goal

[alphasquirrel]

Might as well make 100 as a goal

Why not 200?

[alphasquirrel]

This is the truth the crunches we do are definitely not "real" crunches. What i do to improve my core strength especially the lower abdomen is to do actual situps inclined as sometimes flat.

I have to do situps because I have a long torso.

No matter how low I try to place my arms, in order for them to touch my thighs I have to do a full sit up.

I talked to a friend of mine (who is a former Drill Instructor at Parris Island) and asked her if she had any tips for long-abdomened girls like me and she said, "Nope, sorry. You're screwed."

It's just as well. A strong core is okay with me.

[Meagan92]

Thank You For The Advice=)

[Yonkers]

Why not 200?

Pff, I do that as a warm-up

[Mulls]

I have to do situps because I have a long torso.

No matter how low I try to place my arms, in order for them to touch my thighs I have to do a full sit up.

I talked to a friend of mine (who is a former Drill Instructor at Parris Island) and asked her if she had any tips for long-abdomened girls like me and she said, "Nope, sorry. You're screwed."

It's just as well. A strong core is okay with me.

that's impossible. you're simply not rounding your back enough - you're trying to raise yourself up with a straight back...that's why you're doing a sit-up - this also works the abs more. i'm telling you right now, you're implying that you are physically unable to do a crunch due to your anatomy, and that can't be true. if your crunches are varying by a +/- 30 or more, you're simply not doing the crunches with proper form - little adjustments like glute placement shouldn't affect it that much. no matter how i set up, i always get over 100 crunches - that's how it should be.

[alphasquirrel]

that's impossible. you're simply not rounding your back enough - you're trying to raise yourself up with a straight back...that's why you're doing a sit-up - this also works the abs more. i'm telling you right now, you're implying that you are physically unable to do a crunch due to your anatomy, and that can't be true. if your crunches are varying by a +/- 30 or more, you're simply not doing the crunches with proper form - little adjustments like glute placement shouldn't affect it that much. no matter how i set up, i always get over 100 crunches - that's how it should be.

You are more than welcome to come and watch me do my situps/crunches.

Perhaps then you could see that nothing is impossible. I assure you that my shoulders are more than appropriately hunched. Long torsos run in my family and it does affect my ability to do a crunch. I have heard of other gals with a similar problem.

And, yes, little adjustments (even just a few inches) make a very big difference for me (obviously).

I have a unique physicality (as we all do) and with our uniqueness there comes different abilities and disabilities.

I'm glad you don't have my difficulties but don't think they don't or can't exist for someone else.