When people talk about "crunches" in exercising, what do they mean?

Answer 1

Ab Training



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crunches
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Muscles Worked:

The primary muscles worked during crunches are the upper abdominals. Secondarily are the lower abdominals and the obliques.



Equipment Needed:

Crunches can be performed on the floor or on a bench.



Execution:

Lay flat on the floor or a bench. Bend your legs and raise your knees so your legs are perpendicular to the floor. With your hands placed in front of your chin or behind your head, exhale and curl your upper body towards your knees contracting your abs. Hold the contraction for a second then slowly lower your upper body back to its original position.



Form:

Don't arch your lower back during crunches. Keep it slightly rounded. If you have your hands behind your head, make sure you do not pull on your neck. Don't try to lift your whole body off the floor. Keep your lower back in contact with the floor or bench and round your shoulders towards your pelvis.



Range of Motion:

Make sure to fully contract and stretch the abdominals during crunches. The abdominal muscles are only responsible for about the first 30° of motion so the range of contraction is not that great. Let your abdominals stretch at the bottom of the movement but don't let the tension leave.



Comments:

The abs are a muscle like any other and are stimulated by overload. You can hold a weight a few inches from your face while performing crunches to increase the overload and stimulate more abdominal development.

Answer 2

I'm fifteen and in Physical Education I don't do crunches but my friends who are in Netball, Track and Field, Cross-Country etc does crunches.

With sit ups, you lie down with knees bended 45 degrees and the sole of your feet on the floor.

However, with crunches it is with your knees bended 90 degrees and not touching the floor.

I believe that is way more strenous. If you're doing it for the first time, find some surface as your legs may bob up and down as you move.

Mine did.

Psst. I'd prefer sit-ups over crunches.

Answer 3

"do 100 sit ups for 3 sets..." A set is a collection of repetitions done a specific number of times. In your example above, you would do 100 sit ups, 3 times, for a total of 300 sit ups (reps). Reps (repetions) are how many times you do the exercise. If you do 100 sit ups at a time, that is considered 1 set.

Answer 4

its liek a sit up where you only go up a little bit like to get ur shoulders off the ground like a couple inches.......that is a crunch

Answer 5

crunches are situps but no fully. instead of sitting all the way up you just do smaller movements to stimulate abs just lifting your shoulder blades off of the ground.

Answer 6

Gabe above said it best, but I would suggest adding a tilt to your pelvis to get more out of the motion.

Answer 7

thats when u lie on your back and bend your legs and put your arms behind your head and just bring your shoulders off the floor and u will feel it pulling on your tummy.......happy 4th and be save

Answer 8

Stand then squat, straighten up and repeat. This is best done with weights in your hands.

Answer 9

half sit ups

Answer 10

their liKe sit ups