The abdominal crunch is the most popular abs exercise of all time. It is done by everyone who is trying to develop their abs muscles. But there is a problem. Many of you aren’t doing it correctly.

So what’s wrong with my abs crunch?

You might be a little offended that I am just flat out telling you that you are doing the crunch wrong. I’m not trying to start some inter-site flame war, I am just trying to help.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Does your back get sore?
If you back gets sore while you are doing your crunches then there is a good chance your technique is way off. This is a sure sign.

2. Does your neck or throat get tight?
A common symptom of bad crunching is a tight or sore neck or throat. It shows that you aren’t putting the correct emphasis on the right muscles.

3. Are your abs growing?
The sure sign. If your abs haven’t improved over the last six weeks then you are doing something wrong. The whole point of the crunch is to make your abdominal muscles grow and if that isn’t happening then something is wrong.

4. Do other muscles get worked?
Is it just your abs doing the work or are your hip flexors and obliques stepping in and helping cover some of the load? Make sure you notice which muscles are sore the day after.

So how do I do the abs crunch properly?

Now that we have looked at some of the symptoms of a poor abdominal crunch we now have to look at how to do the damn thing properly. Here are some tips:

1. Keep your lower back on the floor
Make sure you are not sitting the whole way up. That is a sit up! Keep your lower back pressed against the floor.

2. Mentally crunch the abdominal muscles
As always, make sure you are mentally “crunching” the abs as you do the crunches. Do not just go up and down over and over again - you really need to make sure you are crunching them hard.

3. Go slowly
If you are finding that other muscles are getting sore it is most likely because you are going to fast and your technique is suffering. Make sure you go slow and concentrate on the technique.

If you want to learn more about the crunch the check out these other articles which give more tips and hints to help you get the most out of your abdominal crunch.

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