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Fitness Ball Crunches
Tired of the same old crunches and leg raises? Want a deeper stretch and quicker abs development? Read on…
Fitness Ball Benefits
As I wrote in yesterdays post, there are many reasons why using a fitness ball beats not using one. In particular, the fitness ball gives you a deeper stretch, increases your range of motion and forces you to balance thus using more muscles groups.
And, as I said I was going to post my favourite fitness ball exercises. Without a doubt, the fitness ball crunch is my all time favourite.
Regular Abs Crunch
The crunch has long been the favourite exercises for six pack experts. The main reason for this is because the crunch (unlike the sit up) focusses almost entirely on the abs muscles and doesnt bring the obliques into play. This is a good thing as you can tense harder and not widen your hips by developing your love handles.
Fitness Ball Crunch
In my opinion the fitness ball crunch kills the regular crunch because of the aforementioned reasons. You can stretch more, bend deeper and it is thus much harder to perform.
If you are bored of crunches or haven’t made much progress lately then you must inculde a set of fitness ball crunches in your regular abs workout.
How to do the Fitness Ball crunch
It really isnt that hard, you just lay on the ball and do a crunch. However, here are some important tips.
- Start leaning back on the ball and when you crunch towards your knees roll the ball so that your bottom finishes closer to the floor. This is opposed to the usual way of doing it where you lie flat and just crunch up a little bit. Remember, we are trying to increase the ROM.
- Hold a weight or a medicine ball on your chest to increase resistance.
- Breathe in and out as you go up and down.
- Crunch hard at the top of the motion and keep your abs tensed all the way down.
- Do it in front of a mirror so that you can see if you are leaning to one side more than the other.
Adding a crunch twist for better six pack abs
One of the best things you can do on the fitness ball is to turn the crunch above into a twisting one such that your elbows point towards the opposite knee every time you crunch.
Doing this will increase the amount of tension you place on the abs and speed up your progress.
Abs workout = sore back?
If you get a sore back from workout out your abs than the fitness ball is a must have!
The ball allows your back to stay in tight contact with the surface and doesnt lead to arching or any other bad techniques that can injure your back. The rolling motion of the ball may also assist in mending any old injuries.
Does anyone have any other abs techniques for the fitness ball?
Comments on this article:
| tanya said: | RT - I hope to see lots more fitnessball exercises. My abs were slightly developed before, but using the fitness ball (well taking the fitness ball class is helping a lot). Here are some exercises with the fitness ball: Lying flat on your back, outstretched with arms extended on the ground and holding the ball. Bring arms and legs straight up and pass the ball to your legs - then lower legs and arms. *repeat passing the ball back to your arms). Another one: Rgular crunch, but put the ball underneath your knees - i.e. you legs will be at 90 degree angle with the ball underneath. |
| RT said: | Thanks Tanya! Good to see you around here at Real Women's Fitness. Still training hard? |
