Abs - are crunches good for you?
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I was in one if those YouTube moods, where you keep jumping from video to video (like wiki some days), and ended up watching a bit of Elliott Hulse as per the vid above. Not all my cup of tea, but he says some interesting stuff and, in the case of the video above, at least is prepared to go into some science about it.<br />
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It is quite long winded but basically states that crunches are not the best ab exercise for you. He states an example using an old Vince Gironda story, where he tells a guy to take his money and get out of the gym for doing crunches.<br />
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Have a look over the weekend and state your thoughts below -
I watch a lot of Elliots vids - he's got some excellent stuff imo. I just like that he keeps an open mind and that most training approaches have pros/cons.<br />
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Personally I find crunches boring as sin. I perfer weighted or static core work. Plank is cool - but other than that all my core work involves weights/cables. Reverse woodchops, renegade rows, BBBT round the worlds... and my new favourite - Front Squats! man they smash your core. -
Pull ups too ? did a few max sets yesterday and feeling it today !
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MN5, do what I do: pull up and hold, then run keeping your torso still-10 each leg=20, then lower yourself 3/4 of the way down, and up and repeat
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Not a fan of crunches really either and would never do them by choice but we get them served up weekly in the abs class so I just do it.<br />
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Prefer core work too where possible -
I learned some years ago that crunches really don't do anything for the abs, but aren't too bad for strengthen the lower back if done correctly. <br />
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There are plenty of other exercises to work the core over or lower back so I don't do them personally. -
The only crunches I do these days are once a day for a fraction of a second while sitting up to get out of bed.
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Crunches seem to give my lower back gip. Planks are good but do get monotonous. I like rotational stuff like cable chops and BB torques. Turkish Gets Ups are an awesome exercise. Deads, overhead squats and cleans are all great for building a strong core.
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[quote name='Red Beard' timestamp='1364356028' post='355104']<br />
Crunches seem to give my lower back gip. Planks are good but do get monotonous. I like rotational stuff like cable chops and BB torques. Turkish Gets Ups are an awesome exercise. Deads, overhead squats and cleans are all great for building a strong core.<br />
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I do planks but with the variation of touching your hand to a point about shoulder height and almost arms length in front of you, gets a bit of a different burn than straight planks<br />
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Also when I do Mountain climbers (good in conjunction with Plank exercises) when I bring my knee up I cross it over to the other side which gives a bit of rotation and works slightly different areas, probably a proper exercise, but just a variation I tried one day. -
We do that on our mountain climbers too mate. Do some straight and then some across style. Always good to mix it up.
