Bicycle crunch exercise back pain10/6/2023 ![]() If you find you drop your hips or arch your back, stop, and return to reverse crunches until you have built up more core strength. Point your toes, and slowly lower your legs back down to the bench. To do a dragonfly, get into the reverse crunch position, but keep your legs straight and avoid bending at the hips. Of course, you can also follow in JLo's footsteps and extend your reverse crunch into a dragonfly ab exercise. You can also try putting a medicine ball between your knees and squeezing the ball during the crunch. Alternatively, at the top of the crunch, try rotating to one side, twisting the legs, then alternate from side to side. ![]() ![]() That said, if you’re really looking for a challenge, try straightening the legs during a reverse crunch. Reverse crunches aren’t the easiest ab exercise, so it’s easy to make them more challenging by increasing the number of repetitions you do. How can you make a reverse crunch more challenging? It’s also using just your bodyweight, so you don’t need any additional equipment. The reverse crunch works the rectus abdominis and the transverse abdominis - in other words the inner core muscles, and the outer, six-pack muscles on the torso. (Image credit: Shutterstock) What muscles are worked during a reverse crunch? Be careful to slowly lower back down too, and avoid collapsing back onto the mat. It’s also important to only lift your hips and bottom from the mat - if you’re getting your entire lower back off the mat, you’re going too far. If you struggle to get your hips up off the mat, try strengthening your abs using other ab exercises. It’s tempting to rock back and forth, using momentum to raise the legs, but this won’t work the abs. Make sure you keep the entire movement slow and controlled. As you exhale, lower your hips back to the mat. Your head and neck should stay imprinted on the mat. Pause at the top of the movement, using your core to keep your hips raised off the mat. Keeping your knees bent, inhale, and raise your legs, hips, and bottom off the mat. Bend you legs at the knee, pressing your feet into the mat, and engage your core, thinking about sucking your belly button into your spine. To do a reverse crunch, start by lying on your back, with your lower back, head, and neck pressed into the floor.
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