Learning reverse crunches. Reverse crunches for beautiful abs Technique for performing reverse crunches on the abs

Thoughts about beautiful abs captivate both men and women equally. There are certain recommendations that help to quickly and effectively pump up your lower abs. If we consider the issue from the point of view of medicine and body structure, then the so-called lower abs are formed due to the correctly pumped up rectus abdominis muscle, or rather its lower part. A properly selected complex and your determined attitude will help you achieve results in strengthening your abdominal muscles in a short period of time easily and even with pleasure.

Most effective exercises For lower press- These are various twists.

In this case, the lower abdomen is maximally involved. To perform the exercise, lie on your back and place your palms on the floor. Raise your straightened legs to a height of 45 degrees and stay in this position for as long as possible. Then bend your legs at the knee joints and bring them towards your body.

These exercises for the lower abs must be performed in 4 sets of 10 times. With a little creativity, you will soon notice positive results!

High crunches

This variation of twisting involves performing an exercise similar to the previous one, but with the legs raised perpendicular to the body and straightened. For a deeper impact on the muscles, you can add weights that are worn on the legs.

Raising bent legs

Lie on your back, clasp your hands at the back of your head. Bend one leg at the knee and place the other heel on the knee. In this position, you need to raise both legs towards your chest as close as possible. Return to initial position and change legs. Be careful: do not lift your lower back off the floor when pulling your legs up! Try to pull in your abdominal muscles while doing the exercise. Perform the exercise in 2 sets of 15–20 times.

Bike

The starting position is similar. Clasp your hands at the back of your head. To quickly pump up your lower abs, bend left leg in the knee and touch it to the elbow of your right hand. This complex includes 4 sets of 10–15 repetitions. The advantage of the exercise is that in addition to the lower part of the rectus abdominis muscle, the upper segments and a group of oblique muscles are involved. To perform the exercise correctly, draw in your lower abdomen with each repetition.

Airplane

Starting position: sitting on the floor. Bend your legs at the knee joints, slightly pull them towards your chest and clasp them with your arms. Then straighten your legs forward and spread your arms to the sides. Try to stay in this position for as long as possible. Then return to the starting point. It is important to ensure that your feet do not touch the floor to achieve maximum effect. But you shouldn’t force it: cut yourself some slack if necessary.

To enhance the effect, you can use dumbbells or small plastic bottles filled with sand or water. In this case, the muscles of the chest and arms are also captured. Perform the exercise in 3 sets of 15–20 repetitions.

Crossing

Starting position as for push-ups. Then you need to lift your right leg off the floor, bend it at the knee and stretch in the direction of your left shoulder. After this, the right leg returns to its original position and the exercise is repeated with the left leg. Try to rotate your body as much as possible in the direction of twisting.

If the exercise is performed correctly, you will feel your lower abdomen tighten. Your goal: 3 sets of 20 crosses. You will achieve this quickly enough, and if you are in a creative mood, very soon. The exercise is good not only for the lower abdomen, but also affects a number of other muscles:

  • muscles shoulder girdle and breasts,
  • back muscles,
  • gluteal muscles,
  • muscles of the lower extremities.

Leg Raising

The lower abs are well formed under the influence of leg raising exercises. So lie on your back and start doing it. The exercise can be modified by using an exercise ball or ball held between the knees. It is necessary to alternately raise your legs, reaching a perpendicular position in relation to the body, and then smoothly lower them, but do not put them on the floor. Perform 2 sets of 10–15 times.

V-shaped crunches

This exercise will answer your question about how to pump up your lower abs quickly and effectively. Starting position: lying on your back. Arms extended above head. The legs are raised to a height of 30 degrees. Place the palms of your hands on your thighs and stretch them in the direction of your toes. Strengthening the muscles in the lower abdomen will be most effective if you manage to stay in this position for as long as possible. After this, return to the starting position and relax.

Repeat the complex 3 sets 15 times. Very soon you will feel how the muscles of the lower abdomen have become more elastic and stronger. This indicates that your training is going correctly, and your most cherished thoughts about beautiful abs will soon come true!

Reinforced V-Crunches

This complex is a modification of the previous one. To perform it, you need to bend your legs at the knee joints. Don’t forget that during the exercise you need to pull in your lower abdomen and keep your muscles tense.

Scissors

This exercise is good for a muscle group inner surface thighs and lower abs. Starting position: lying on your back. Raise your legs to a height of about 30 degrees. If you succeed, lift your shoulders off the floor. Stretch your arms along your body, palms up. Important note: do not place your chin on your chest! Then start doing the exercise. Cross your legs, constantly keeping them suspended. But in initial period training, of course, you can pause and lower your feet to the floor, giving them rest.

As you perform the exercise, you will feel your abdominal and thigh muscles tighten. This good sign: You are halfway to a beautiful tummy! You need to do a couple of sets of 10 repetitions. To target a muscle group only in the lower abs, do not lift your body.

In order for your training to be as productive as possible, and the results to come quickly, listen to the following recommendations:

  1. High intensity workouts. So, we figured out the question: how to pump up the lower abs. But you still need to be able to show off the earned abs in your lower abdominal muscles. And to do this, it is necessary to remove the fat layer that hides them. Therefore, in addition to exercises on the lower abdomen, it is correct to also master cardio training. Such super-intensive loads increase the metabolism in the body and trigger the process of burning fat. Their effect also has a positive effect on the overall tone of the body, the condition of blood vessels and endurance training. These include running, jumping, dancing, aerobics, and cycling.
  2. Proper nutrition. It is advisable to seek the help of a nutritionist who will help you create a personal diet for you that will promote growth and strengthening of muscles, including the lower abs. The food you eat is a kind of building material for your body. Therefore, without observing the principles proper nutrition your workouts will be ineffective.
  3. Positive infusion. The mood in which you perform the exercises largely determines the result. Without the right mindset, your workouts will become a routine, and you will soon stop doing them. Try to find joy in your activities. Choose inspiring music, put on a tracksuit that makes your figure look as attractive as possible, do exercises with a smile, all the while keeping in mind the image you are striving for.
  4. Breath. Learn to breathe evenly during exercise. Try to inhale when tense and exhale when relaxing. Proper, calm breathing will ensure the saturation of body tissues with oxygen, which not only nourishes organ cells, but also participates in many metabolic processes, including fat burning.

A set of selected exercises must be performed at least 4 times a week. Do not relax when after some time you notice the appearance of cubes on your stomach. Let this become an incentive for you to continue working, to find a new you!

I am glad to welcome you, my dears! On this middle day, as usual, we have a technical note, and today it will be devoted to the reverse crunch exercise. After reading, each of you will learn everything about the technique, muscle atlas and the benefits of this exercise, in addition, we will learn how to properly and effectively train the lower abs.

So, sit down, dear citizens, let's begin.

Reverse crunches. What, why and why?

Very often in the gym you can see how beginners who have just come to the gym immediately stick to the Roman bench and begin to hammer their abs for a ton of repetitions. Moreover, regardless of whether you have a belly or not, they are drawn like a magnet to different benches and press machines. On the one hand, such zeal is understandable - I want to make 1 ball 6 cubes, but the strategy is fundamentally wrong. First you need to adjust your diet, then lose weight and only then worry about how big your belly is. Moreover, the last work must be carried out using different exercises to all parts of the abdominal muscles, incl. lower. It’s exactly this kind of exaggeration, reverse twisting, that we’ll talk about further in the text.

Note:

For better assimilation of the material, all further narration will be divided into subchapters.

Muscle atlas

Reverse crunches used as the opposite of traditional crunches while lying on your back and involves bringing your legs and body closer together. This exercise focuses on working the rectus abdominis muscle and especially the lower section.

The complete muscle ensemble consists of:

  • target muscle – rectus abdominis muscle;
  • synergists - iliopsoas, tensor fascia lata, comb, sartorius, long/short adductor, oblique;
  • dynamic stabilizers – rectus femoris muscle;
  • stabilizers – quadriceps, pectoralis major (sternal head);
  • latissimus dorsi muscles;
  • large round;
  • rear delta;
  • long head of triceps.

In the picture version, the muscle atlas shows the following picture:

Advantages

By performing reverse crunches, you can count on the following benefits:

  • general development of muscle strength;
  • more isolated work compared to traditional crunches, where not only the abdominal muscles, but also the hips and back are involved in the work;
  • achievement flat stomach earlier (compared to straight crunches) due to the effect on the oblique abdominal muscles;
  • avoiding pain in the lower back;
  • improving posture by preventing the upper back from rounding;
  • correction of lordosis;
  • prevention of kyphosis;
  • correction of the curve in the lower back in women that appears during pregnancy.

Execution technique

Reverse crunches do not belong to the class of difficult ones to perform, but they are not without their tricks, and therefore it will be useful to go through the technique of performing it step by step.

Step #0.

Place a mat on the floor and lie on it with your back. Position your legs so that your thighs are perpendicular to the floor and your shins are parallel to it (bend your knees at an angle 90 degrees). Place your arms along your body, palms down. This is your starting position.

Step #1.

Inhale and as you exhale, lift your hips off the floor and bring your legs toward your chest. Lightly touch your knees to your chest and hold this contracted position for 1-2 accounts. Return to IP. Repeat the specified number of times.

In the picture version, reverse twists look like this:

In motion so...

Variations

In addition to the classic version, the following variations are possible:

  • lying on an inclined bench and lifting your legs up;
  • lying on a fitball while holding the handrails of the exercise machine/bench;
  • lying on the floor with a ball between your legs.

Secrets and subtleties

The exercise is not without its nuances, so for maximum effect remember:

  • perform each repetition slowly and under control;
  • at the end point of the trajectory, consciously squeeze your abdominal muscles;
  • slowly lower your hips to the floor rather than throwing them;
  • throughout the entire trajectory of movement, an angle of knee joint should be 90 degrees;
  • do not take your hands off the floor;
  • avoid various deflections of the lower back, pressing it tightly to the floor;
  • do not lift your head off the floor and do not look at your feet;
  • inhale as you lower (stretch phase) and exhale for effort (contraction phase);
  • keep the number of sets in range 3-4 , reps 12-15 .

Actually, we’re done with the theory, let’s look at some practical aspects.

Are reverse crunches effective?

Numerous studies, the main purpose of which was to identify best exercises on the abs through measurements of muscle electrical activity (EMG) confirm that reverse crunches are a very effective abdominal exercise. In particular, they are among the top 7 the best exercises to work the lower rectus abdominis muscle (lower abs).

When should you train your abs, before or after your main workout?

You can pay attention to your abs both before and after your workout. In the case of before, you will stimulate your corset and warm up slightly. It is most advisable to work the abs “before” on days of light training, and when most of the exercises are performed lying down/sitting (for example, chest and delt training day). In this case, intra-abdominal pressure increases slightly and the role of the press on such days is not so great.

It is still better to give the main load on the abs at the end of classes, otherwise the initially tired abs will not cope so effectively with their main support function. Thus, if the schedule includes exercises with a load on the lower back - squats with a barbell, deadlift, various thrusts, then it is better to move the abs to the end of the workout, in a different situation and lying-seated exercises - to the beginning.

This was the last basic information, now let's summarize.

Afterword

Today our shelf of technical notes arrived, we got acquainted with reverse crunches. Well, for the first date to go well, you need to assign it to an exercise in gym, so take action!

That's all for now, see you again!

PS. What abdominal exercises do you use?

P.P.S. Did the project help? Then leave a link to it as your status social network- plus 100 points for karma, guaranteed :).

With respect and gratitude, Dmitry Protasov.

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Among the simply huge number of exercises for the press, only a few that are truly effective can be identified: crunches, cycling. have already been discussed on the blog, today we will talk about reverse abdominal crunches.

Comprehensive information about training the abs with reverse crunches.

Many people consider this exercise to be the main one for building lower abs. Is it really? Let's look at this and how to do them correctly.

Features of the exercise

The rectus abdominis muscle is responsible for the abs. Its function is to twist the upper body towards the pelvis and, conversely, twist the pelvis towards the upper body. This is a flat muscle that originates from the sternum and descends to the lower abdomen. It is divided crosswise and lengthwise by tendons into segments that form the coveted cubes. Thus, we have a single muscle that has no divisions into top and bottom.

Any muscle can contract either completely or not contract at all. Those. Everyone participates in any reduction muscle fibers and all muscle bundles. Forward and reverse crunches use the same rectus abdominis muscle. Any claims that there are specific exercises for the lower abs are nothing more than fiction based on a complete misunderstanding of physiology.

Well, you say, why then does the lower part of the abs always lag behind the upper part in development? How can you still ensure that the “lower” press is sculpted? Nature has made it so that we have fewer nerve endings in the lower abdomen than in the sternum area (women have even fewer nerve endings in the lower abdomen than men). This means that the brain cannot generate the same strong impulse to contract (command to the muscle) as to the upper abdominal area.

This leads to the fact that the upper sections of the rectus abdominis muscle will always be ahead in strength bottom part. It is easier for them to get involved in work, they are more loaded, and as a result will be better developed. But! The body develops harmoniously. Along with the progress of the upper part of the press, the lower part will also progress. So just continue with your training.

In order to make the lower part of the press more prominent, you will have to get rid of subcutaneous fat in the lower abdomen. The most effective tool for this is diet ().

What is the essence of reverse crunches? The fact is that with this type of movement (twisting begins from the lower part of the body to the upper), the lower region of the rectus abdominis muscle is easier to engage in work. It turns out that we load our abs from a slightly different angle, the muscle works the same, but differently, which is very good for us.

What we train is what develops. By persistently training your abs from different angles, you will achieve their strength. But in order for the treasured cubes to appear on your stomach, you will have to remove subcutaneous fat.

Regarding accents. Don't make reverse crunches a priority in your workouts. Include them in the program along with other exercises. The rectus abdominis muscle will develop better from several exercises than from just one.

Correct execution technique

To effectively perform reverse crunches, imagine that your body ends at your buttocks, and you need to roll it into a tube from your buttocks to your head.

Your task is not to lift your pelvis up, but rather to twist it towards your head. Once learned correct execution You won't experience any more problems because... force the rectus abdominis muscle to perform its main function.

The position of the legs and arms does not have any effect on the contraction of the abdominal muscles. The farther the heels are from the pelvis and the palms from the head, the more difficult it is to perform twists. The closer they are to the pelvis, the easier it is! With this setting you can progress, making your work more difficult over time.

Lie down on the floor or on a bench. Place your hands either along your body (easy option) or behind your head (more difficult). Bend your knees and pull your hips towards you, placing them perpendicular to the floor (initial option). Inhale and hold your breath.

Using the force of the press as you exhale, powerfully “twist” your pelvis towards your head. At the moment of peak contraction, pause for a second. Then slowly inhale, filling chest lower your pelvis and legs with air, but not until they touch the floor (keep tension in your abdominal muscles).

Maximum contraction of the rectus abdominis muscle can be achieved as much as possible by bringing your knees closer to your head - this will increase the load on it and allow the muscles of the lower back to stretch well. Do not work in partial amplitude. The more fully you can contract your abdominal muscles, the better it will be for their growth. Try to use the entire possible range of motion.

While performing the approach, do not lower your pelvis to the floor, otherwise you will give the muscles a break - such work will not tire them much, it will noticeably prolong the entire building process relief press. Your task, on the contrary, is to work to maximum difficulty, to increase the load on your muscles in various ways.

Don't try to twist your lower body to the sides. Such a movement will occur with a curved position of the spine, and even under load (weight own body) – such negative tension will definitely not do any good. Try to twist your pelvis strictly in a vertical plane.

Breathe for each repetition. Don't hold your breath for the whole set. Use as much amplitude as possible, while making sure that the muscles at the top and bottom do not get a break so that they do not relax. Do not pull your toes forward, because... this will force the quadriceps to steal the load.

There is no point in chasing a wild number of repetitions in crunches. From 6 to 20 is the operating range in which you should reach failure, i.e. the moment when you cannot cleanly perform the next repetition. It’s better to complicate your work in various ways (position of legs, arms, additional weights)

Conclusion

Use reverse crunches on your abs to give them treasured cubes. Remember to use - make this exercise more difficult over time, and then move on to a more advanced level -.

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What muscles work?

It so happens that this option for pumping the press is not as popular as classic (straight) crunches. However, this is completely unfair. After all, thanks to this exercise, the athlete will be able to achieve a complete and multifaceted development of the abdominal muscles.

Reverse twists are performed slightly differently than classic ones, but they are no worse in terms of effectiveness. Contrary to popular stereotype, it is impossible to achieve isolated study one of the press parts. This is due to the fact that the press is one muscle, and the load on it is always given as a whole. The lower part of the press “lags behind” the upper part in its development only because there are fewer nerve endings there.

Therefore, the muscles involved in reverse crunches will be similar to those worked in the classic analogue:

  • rectus abdominis muscle (it’s called the “abs”);
  • external and internal oblique muscles;
  • the anterior thigh muscle takes on a certain load.

However, it is possible to place emphasis and force the abs to work in different ways and in different directions, thereby achieving the diversity of its elaboration.

Execution options

  • Reverse crunches can be performed on an incline bench, thereby adjusting the load. If your body is positioned with your head towards the floor, then it will be easier to perform the movement (but the negative phase will become somewhat more difficult). If it’s the other way around, your legs will have to travel a greater distance, and your abs will strain more.
  • A close relative of the exercise in question is the hanging or floor leg raise. If reverse crunches on the floor or bench do not provide the proper load, then you can replace them with this option.
  • The exercise can be performed with special leg weights. If you perform crunches on a bench, you can attach a tourniquet to its end and tie it to your legs - this will also complicate the movement.
  • Full crunches are one of the most difficult variations of the exercise. Here the entire torso rises to a position perpendicular to the floor, resting on outstretched arms and trapezius muscles.

Execution technique

The place to perform this exercise must be chosen so that your hands can grab a support. This is important to maintain a stable body position.

Experienced athletes can do without this, but a beginner needs a reference point. Good for this horizontal bench.

So, first you should lie on your back, then raise your legs and bend them at the knees. Next, you should raise your legs, simultaneously bringing them closer to your body (knees should approach your chest) and curling your buttocks. At the point of peak muscle contraction, you need to stop for a second and return the body to its original position, slowly lowering your legs, but not putting them on the floor - they should be suspended until the exercise is completed.


The positive phase of the exercise is done on exhalation, the negative phase on inhalation, but exhalation is performed only at the point of peak contraction, that is, when performing the main movement you need to hold your breath. Optimal quantity repetitions – 10-25.

It is better to do this exercise before straight crunches, as it is more energy-consuming.

Injuries may occur and the effectiveness of the exercise may decrease if:

  1. An ineffective warm-up is carried out, which leads to injuries and sprains.
  2. The knees are pulled towards the body at a right angle.
  3. The movement of the legs occurs upward, not inward.

  • The press should always be tense; if it relaxes even for a moment, then you are doing the exercise incorrectly.
  • Your knees should be bent at a 90 degree angle. By increasing or decreasing this angle, you can adjust the difficulty of the exercise. The less the knees are bent, the greater the load placed on the abs. Reverse crunches on straight legs are only possible for a trained athlete. However, if you have chosen the optimal angle, you should not change it during the movement.
  • If it is not possible to grab the support with your hands, you need to place them parallel to the floor along the body and rest on them while performing the exercise.
  • “Cubes” on the press are a consequence of two factors: a low percentage of subcutaneous fat and hypertrophy of the abdominal muscles. The first is achieved through diet and anaerobic exercise, and hypertrophy is promoted by heavy loads in the range of 5-15 repetitions. Therefore, there is no point in doing reverse crunches for a huge number of repetitions. If they come too easily to you, you should replace them in your training program with more challenging ones. difficult exercises, and leave reverse crunches as a warm-up or for pumping.
  • Since a passive load falls on the lower back, it makes sense to “warm up” it with hyperextensions.
  • To increase the load, you can keep your head elevated in a positive phase.
  • It is necessary to raise the pelvis as much as possible, but maintain a straight position of the spine. This will save you from injury and make the most of your abdominal muscles.
  • The negative phase is no less important than the positive one, so you should lower your legs slowly, feeling the work of your abs.
  • To prevent your legs from “walking,” you can cross them at the shins.
  • The main lever in the movement is the pelvis, and not the legs, which only accompany its twisting.

Let's sum it up

Reverse crunches perfectly complement all other abdominal exercises. They are suitable as stand-alone basic exercise for beginners and as a warm-up or pump for experienced athletes.

It is incorrect to believe that such crunches allow you to strain only the lower abdomen, since the load is distributed across all abdominal muscles.

The technique for performing this movement is more strict, which is associated with a significant load on the spine. Therefore, many of the options available for simple crunches are not available for reverse crunches.

However, they can also be diversified, complicating or simplifying the movement. The main thing is to monitor the position of the legs, not to bend the spine and put pressure on the abs throughout the entire execution.

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Crunching exercises are the basis of a workout program for working out the abs. There are many variations of this exercise, among which reverse abdominal crunches deserve special attention.

This interpretation of twisting is significantly inferior in popularity to the classic version of the exercise, while not lagging behind in effectiveness. The main goal of reverse crunches is to maximally work the abdominal muscles. You can achieve results only by thoroughly studying the nuances and features of the technique.

Reverse crunches: what's the point?

The quality of the press directly depends on the degree of development of the rectus abdominis muscle, which is responsible for twisting the upper part of the body. The muscle has the shape of a flat ribbon located on the segment between the sternum and lower abdomen.

The muscles of the human body can be divided into:

  • curling;
  • non-twisting.

Contractions are the main reason muscles work actively. Reverse crunches are an exercise that activates the rectus abdominis muscle. Unlike the classic version of twisting, this exercise is much more effective. With its help, you can strengthen the thin part of the abs located in the lower abdomen, under the navel. Many people call this area the “lower abs,” which is completely wrong, because we are talking about one single muscle.

A completely natural question arises:"Why top part The abdomen is always more developed than the lower abdomen, what needs to be done so that the relief touches the lower abs too? The answer lies in the peculiarities of human physiology. The surface of the muscle is unevenly divided by nerve endings: there are much more of them at the top than at the bottom.

It turns out that the brain simply cannot generate as strong impulses to contract the lower abdomen as it does in the upper abdomen. Therefore, the problem arises of advancing the development of the muscles of the upper abdomen and lagging behind the lower abdomen. It’s easier for the “top” to get into work mode, it’s easier to load up, and therefore they develop faster.

But this does not mean that the lower abdomen does not work at all. The body is a well-thought-out system, it develops harmoniously, and therefore progress concerns the entire rectus muscle. It’s just that tangible results in the lower abdomen appear later than in the upper abdomen. The only thing that remains for us is to continue training and not give up.

Specifics of reverse abdominal crunches

Getting rid of subcutaneous fat will help to create relief in the lower part of the abs. By intensifying your training with a special diet, the results will not take long to come.

Reverse crunches have certain specifics. Twisting from bottom to top will help make the lower part work more actively. Due to the fact that the abs receive the load from a different angle, the effectiveness of the training can be maximized. Regularly changing the load angle is the way to strong abs with attractive relief.

Diversify the standard training program reverse. An integrated approach to training will help speed up the appearance of the first results. It is recommended to start crunches immediately after leg raises. This allows, as they say, to “finish off” the abdominal muscles. Thanks to this variety, the rectus muscle develops faster than with monotonous training with boring repetition of the same exercise.

Execution technique. How to correctly perform the reverse abdominal crunch exercise?

There is only one way to perform reverse crunches - you need to find a support that will allow you to fix the body in the desired position throughout the entire workout.

Advanced athletes can manage without it, but beginners need it to practice their technique. The reference point can be a horizontal bench or a regular floor. If you have decided on the reference point, then you can begin the exercise.

  1. Take the starting position - lying on your back, placing your hands under your buttocks, raise your legs bent at the knees. Your thighs should form a 90-degree angle with the floor and shins.
  2. Slowly raise your legs, bringing them as close to your body as possible (knees moving towards your chest) and flexing your buttocks.
  3. As soon as the muscles reach the peak of contraction, freeze, mentally count to three, and return to the starting position again.
  4. Never throw your feet on the floor. They need to be lowered slowly, leaving them suspended. Only by providing constant tension to your legs will you be able to work your abs.
  5. Don't forget about breathing. Each time you lift your legs, at the moment of peak effort, exhale slowly.
  6. When you return your legs to their original position and relax your muscles, inhale. That is, when the main movement is performed, breathing must be held a little.

What muscles should be worked?

The effectiveness of training depends on the correct execution of the exercises. If you cannot fully do 15 repetitions of reverse crunches, do not force yourself, do not try to “cheat.” Do less, but do it well. Pain in the rectus and oblique abdominal muscles will help you check whether the crunches are performed correctly. If muscle tension present in this zone, you can feel how the spinal muscles are loaded, it works psoas, quadriceps, - that means everything is going according to plan.

If reverse abdominal crunches become the basis of your workout, your stomach will soon tighten and your abs will become strong and defined. And as a bonus, you will get luxurious posture. By the way, this interpretation of twisting is good because there is no load on the lumbar region.

Exercise options

If you get bored with the classic version of the exercise, you can diversify the workout with a more complicated interpretation of crunches:

  • Lie down on the fitball, grab the edge of the bench or the handrail of the exercise machine with your hands and start the exercise.

  • Lie on the floor and hold a small ball or resistance band between your legs. Now, when performing crunches, the muscles will also work inside hips.

To maximize the effect of training, you should consider some features of performing reverse crunches:

  1. Keep your abs constantly tense. Even a second of muscle relaxation reduces the effectiveness of the workout.
  2. Increase or decrease the angle of your legs to adjust the load on your abs.
  3. Raising your head and legs at the same time allows you to increase the load on your abs.
  4. Don't arch your lower back.
  5. Squeeze your buttocks and abdominal muscles when you reach the end point of the trajectory.
  6. Perform the main movement with the pelvis. The legs only accompany the exercise.
  7. Don't lift your head off the floor, don't look at your feet.
  8. Don't take your hands off the support.
  9. Perform each repetition slowly and steadily.
  10. Lift your lower back off the floor or bench.
  11. Strictly fix the angle of knee bending. Otherwise, part of the exercise will be performed by the legs, not the abs.
  12. Hold your breath to increase pressure on the abdominal cavity, thereby increasing tension on the abdominal muscles, avoiding spinal injuries.

Perform reverse abdominal crunches regularly to strengthen your abdominal muscles, remove excess wrinkles at the waist, and achieve sculpted abs with six-pack abs.

Arm yourself with the principle of progressive load - gradually complicate the workout, master more difficult variations of crunches, increase the number of repetitions and approaches, use weights, supplement the workout with exercise equipment.

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