Whether it’s performing crunches before breakfast or sit-ups before bed, some people make consistent ab training a priority. Some even take it a step further and use progressively more challenging exercises, which is where the bicycle crunch often appears.

By combining a rotational upper body movement with lower body coordination, the bicycle crunch can effectively train your abdominals and oblique muscles in unison. This makes it an effective muscle-builder while also creating athletic core strength that can carry over to performance on the field, in the ring, or on the lifting platform. Here’s how to get the most out of this complete core-builder.

Bicycle Crunch

• How to Do the Bicycle Crunch
• Bicycle Crunch Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Bicycle Crunch
• Benefits of the Bicycle Crunch
• Muscles Worked by the Bicycle Crunch
• How to Program the Bicycle Crunch
• Bicycle Crunch Variations 
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Bicycle Crunch Step By Step

The bicycle crunch may look like it requires “pat your head and rub your stomach”-levels of total-body coordination, but it doesn’t. Break the exercise into its component parts and you can learn the technique.

Step 1 — Lie on the Ground

Lie face up on the ground with your legs bent at roughly 90-degrees. Your feet should be in the air with your toes pointed up. Rest your head on the ground and bring your hands to your ears. Let your fingertips barely touch your head behind your ears with your palms facing the ceiling.

This is a familiar setup for many ground-based ab exercises whether it’s a full sit-up, crunch, or any related variation. Some exercises would have your feet planted flat on the ground, but the bicycle crunch requires your legs to begin in the air.

Form Tip: Don’t interlock your fingers and cradle the back of your head. This would put you in position to unconsciously crank your neck to complete repetitions. Your fingers should lightly touch the sides of your head or your ears.

Step 2 — Pedal the Bike

The bicycle crunch gets its descriptive name from the lower body action that appears similar to riding a bike. Contract your core muscles to raise both shoulders slightly off the ground. As your torso comes up, bring your left leg up and in toward your upper body.

At the same time, “crunch” your upper body forward and lean your right side toward the approaching leg. The range of motion will be relatively short, so focus on bringing the opposite sides together.

Don’t overfocus on reaching your elbow to your knee. That can lead to flapping your arms with reduced core activation. Instead, think about bringing one shoulder toward the opposite knee even though they don’t need to actually touch at the top of the movement.

Form Tip: Visualize an X-shaped band across the front of your body. As you move, think about each line drawing one leg and the opposite shoulder closer together.

Step 3 — Repeat the Rhythm

After a strong contraction at the top, extend your left leg forward while lowering your upper body to the floor. When your shoulders are on the ground and your leg is returned to the starting position, smoothly transition to repeat the movement with the other side.

Draw your right leg toward your torso while crunching your upper body forward and leaning the left side of your body into the approaching leg. As you complete multiple repetitions, alternating sides with each rep, you may eventually find a natural rhythm not unlike the rhythm needed to pedal a bike smoothly.

Form Tip: Perform each repetition slowly at first. Focus on the cross-body activation and core recruitment. As you become more comfortable with the movement, gradually increase the speed without sacrificing the quality of individual reps.

Bicycle Crunch Mistakes to Avoid

Because the bicycle crunch involves your legs and torso working together, there are several opportunities for things to go wrong. Here are some big issues to watch out for.

Elbows Flapping

Some people misinterpret the cross-body action of bringing their legs and upper body together, and end up swinging their upper arms and elbows toward their knee instead of activating their abdominals.

This not only reduces the work done by your abs, but it may potentially strain your shoulders or neck. Keep the movement strict, maintain focus on feeling your abdominals working to crate the movement, and don’t make it a priority to force your elbow and knee to touch in the middle of your body.

Avoid it: Keep your hands very lightly against your head, which will make any shoulder or elbow movement more noticeable. As you crunch, keep your elbows “back” nearly in line with your ears. Don’t allow them to point forward.

Shoulders Stay in the Air

One bad habit some people develop when performing high-rep sets of bicycle crunches is holding an ab contraction, remaining in the top of a crunch position, while “pedaling” their legs and explosively rotating their shoulders back and forth.

While this may potentially increase some work for your oblique muscles, you’re short-changing your abdominals because you’re holding a static contraction instead of working through a range of motion.

Avoid it: Treat each phase of the movement as separate parts — crunch and twist in one direction, lower fully, crunch and twist to the opposite side, lower fully again, repeat. Don’t try to rush through the set by completing reps as quickly as possible.

Not Enough Leg Movement

The bicycle crunch requires you to drive one leg up with each repetition. Performing the upper body movement without also “operating” your lower body changes the exercise. Instead of a bicycle crunch, it becomes a relatively more basic twisting crunch.

This can be an effective exercise on its own merit, but it doesn’t offer the same lower ab and hip flexor recruitment of the bicycle crunch. (1) If you begin a set intending to get the benefits of the bicycle crunch, make sure that’s the movement you end up performing.

Avoid it: If your legs aren’t moving, you’re not performing a bicycle crunch. With each repetition, draw your leg in toward your upper body and extend it as the opposite side moves.

How to Progress the Bicycle Crunch

Even though it’s a bodyweight exercise, the bicycle crunch can be considered relatively advanced because you’re operating your upper and lower body together. Work up to the full movement by mastering these foundational movements.

Crunch

Arguably the most fundamental ab exercise of all time, the basic floor crunch is an essential movement to be familiar with. The crunch offers lower body stability, with your feet firmly on the ground. The movement also lets you zone-in on creating a strong abdominal contraction over a short range of motion.

Be sure not to turn the crunch into a full sit-up by raising your torso too high. The sit-up can also be an effective exercise but it won’t carry over as directly when building to a bicycle crunch.

Twisting Crunch

As mentioned earlier, failing to properly incorporate your legs into the exercise turns the bicycle crunch into a twisting crunch. However, you can flip that situation around by deliberately performing the twisting crunch as a way to build up core strength for the more advanced bicycle crunch.

By learning how to crunch “up and over,” you’re recruiting your obliques and abdominals into a single movement. When you become comfortable and capable with the twisting crunch, add the alternating leg movement to evolve the exercise into the bicycle crunch.

Benefits of the Bicycle Crunch

The bicycle crunch recruits your entire core by involving your upper body and lower body with rotational movement. This makes it a versatile and effective exercise for many fundamental goals.

Core Strength

Athletes in traditional sports, strength sports athletes, and recreational lifters can all benefit from a stronger core. Core strength has also been shown to help reduce lower back pain. (2)

The bicycle crunch can be an efficient addition to a comprehensive core-strengthening routine. The exercise works upper and lower body coordination and strength transfer, while also activating the obliques, which can play a major role in many athletic movements from running to throwing.

Ab Muscle Development

The upper abdominals are recruited in many ab exercises, but the lower abs are only heavily activated when the hips and lower body are involved in a given movement. The bicycle crunch achieves this increased muscle activation through repetitive leg movement.

The twisting motion of the torso also activates the oblique muscles, which are strongly recruited during rotational movements. Because it maximizes activation of several different ab muscles, the bicycle crunch is a very comprehensive bodyweight ab exercise.

Muscles Worked by the Bicycle Crunch

Most ab exercises, as expected, train your abs. The bicycle crunch kicks it up a notch by involving rotational movement which also recruits the obliques on the sides of your abs.

Abdominals

Your abdominals, or rectus abdominis, run along the front of your torso from the bottom of your chest to your hips. The abdominals are technically one single muscle with various muscle insertions, which means the muscle needs to be trained with a variety of movements for complete development. (3)

Essentially, movements focused on curling the trunk with a stable lower body will emphasize the “upper” portion of the abs while movements that emphasize curling the hips with a stable upper body, such as a reverse crunch, are more effective at recruiting the “lower” section of the muscle.

Obliques

The obliques are a pair of muscles on either side of your abdominals, near your hips. Your obliques primarily work to rotate your torso, as well as resist rotation. The oblique muscles are also activated side side flexion — bringing your shoulder closer to your hip in a sideways motion.

During the bicycle crunch, your obliques are strongly recruited as your torso twists in the direction of your approaching leg. So-called “love handles” are typically body fat that your genetics have decided to store near your oblique muscles. Contrary to popular myth, training your oblique muscles will not create love handles.

How to Program the Bicycle Crunch

As an efficient ab exercise, the bicycle crunch can find a home in any well-planned ab workout. Here are a few guidelines to get even more benefit.

Unweighted, Moderate to High Repetition

The nature of the bicycle crunch movement doesn’t lend itself to adding external resistance. Wearing a weighted vest can impede torso rotation and adding leg weights will excessively fatigue your smaller hip flexor muscles before targeting your ab muscles.

To get the most out of the exercise, use only your body weight as resistance and focus on achieving a strong muscular contraction with each repetition. Try completing two to four sets of 10 to 20 repetitions. Count once to each side as a side rep — left leg to right shoulder followed by right leg to left shoulder would be one single repetition, not two.

Bodyweight Circuit

Because the only “equipment” required to do the bicycle crunch is a clear section of floor, the exercise makes an efficient addition to a bodyweight exercise circuit (technically a workout complex, if all the exercises are bodyweight-only). For a quick and effective conditioning workout, try the following for three to five total circuits.

• Reverse Lunge — 10 reps per leg
• Push-up — 15 reps
• Bicycle crunch — 20 reps

Bicycle Crunch Variations

Whether you’ve mastered the bicycle crunch or need another complete core-building exercise to complement it, here are some of the most similar movements.

Hanging Scissor Kick

The scissor kick is a hanging leg raise variation. It involves dynamic action, alternating your legs with each repetition. Even though your upper body isn’t actively involved in performing a crunch, you can still benefit from a cross-body movement — especially if you “angle” your kick slightly toward your opposite shoulder.

Don’t let your grip strength limit performance. If necessary, use lifting straps to secure yourself to the overhead bar. The exercise can also be done with your elbows supported at a “Captain’s chair” knee raise station.

Cable Woodchop

The cable woodchop, specifically the high-to-low variation, strongly recruits your obliques with stabilization assistance from your abdominals. Your lower body provides a stable base, while pivoting on your feet creates a strong transfer of power for greater athletic carryover.

The low-to-high woodchop variation could be used for variety, but may excessively recruit your shoulder muscles. The low-to-high movement also requires less ab and oblique involvement in exchange for more lower and upper back activation.

Dead Bug

The dead bug may have one of the most visually descriptive exercise names of all time, but it’s also an underrated movement for core strength. It appears similar to be a “slow motion bicycle crunch” due to the cross-body movement and arm/leg coordination.

One key to getting the most from the dead bug is to keep your lower back flat on the ground. If your lower back arches, you significantly reduce the core strength benefits. To stay focused on your lower back position, be sure to move slowly and deliberately, unlike the often more fast-paced bicycle crunch.

FAQs

References

1. Sarti, M. A., Monfort, M., Fuster, M. A., & Villaplana, L. A. (1996). Muscle activity in upper and lower rectus abdominus during abdominal exercises. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, 77(12), 1293–1297. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0003-9993(96)90195-1
2. Smrcina, Z., Woelfel, S., & Burcal, C. (2022). A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Core Stability Exercises in Patients with Non-Specific Low Back Pain. International journal of sports physical therapy, 17(5), 766–774. https://doi.org/10.26603/001c.37251
3. Escamilla, R. F., Lewis, C., Bell, D., Bramblet, G., Daffron, J., Lambert, S., Pecson, A., Imamura, R., Paulos, L., & Andrews, J. R. (2010). Core muscle activation during Swiss ball and traditional abdominal exercises. The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy, 40(5), 265–276. https://doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2010.3073

Featured Image: Ground Picture / Shutterstock

The post How to Do the Bicycle Crunch for Sharp Abs and Obliques appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Outside of her competitive career, the former “Survivor” contestant trains and coaches other athletes. She also shares training tips for her social media followers, such as the ab workout she posted to her Instagram on May 8, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr_Ie4IuRUt/

Gillon told her 139,000 followers that she includes these three exercises regularly into her training routines, performing an ab workout in every training session. Besides the video demonstrations, she also included tips in the caption of the post to help execute the exercises.

Foam Roller Crunches

Gillon can be seen lying on the floor with a foam roller under her mid-back area. She lowers herself down so her upper back rounds around the foam roller before performing a standard crunch.

Her hands are behind her head with the elbows coming forward as she rises and flaring out as she goes back. She didn’t offer a specific rep goal, but performed eight reps on the video.

“There should be zero strain in your neck. Make sure your hand is properly supported and you aren’t bending your neck versus using your abs.”

Plank Knee Taps

Next, Gillon takes a push-up position before lowering her knees to the floor. Once they touch the ground, she immediately brings them back up to the starting position. She maintained a consistent cadence with each rep. Gillon showed herself doing 15 reps on this exercise.

Replying to a question in the comment section, she clarified the goal of the exercise by saying it works the entire ab muscle with an emphasis on the lower abs.

“Great if done efficiently. The core should be tight the entire time and the knees should not collapse to the floor. Plank first, drive knees down and right back up for each rep. This variation is good if your hip flexors are zapped from leg lifts or leg day.”

Planks

Gillon placed her elbows on the floor for the final exercise of the sequence. She performed a traditional plank with her elbows and forearms on the ground, while keeping her glutes slightly higher than her shoulders.

This stationary exercise is most effective when the abs remain strongly contracted instead of allowing them to relax. Gillon is shown holding the position for roughly 10 seconds before the clip ends.

“Make sure your core remains engaged and try to make sure you don’t rock forward to your shoulders when the abs begin to fatigue. Start with a short count then work your way up.”

Gillon will be making her next title defense when she steps on stage at the 2023 Figure Olympia contest as a part of the 2023 Olympia Weekend, scheduled for Nov. 2-5 in Orlando, FL. With six consecutive titles, she’s already the winningest champion in her division’s history.

The next-closest uninterrupted string of title wins was inaugural Figure Olympia champ Davana Medina’s three-year run (2003-2005). Nicole Wilkins amassed four total wins across six years (2009, 2011, 2013, 2014), still not approaching Gillon’s six-and-counting victories.

Not to discount her fellow Figure competitors, but Gillon appears to have no doubts about retaining her title indefinitely. In November, her streak could be expected to extend even further.

Featured Image: @vytamin_c on Instagram

The post Six-Time Figure Olympia Champion Cydney Gillon Shares Ab Training Tips appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The half-kneeling Pallof press is a challenging, progressive core exercise derived from the basic standing Pallof press. The unique ground-based position challenges different musculature on both sides of your body while coordinating your torso, core, and legs with different tasks.

Here’s a review of all the elements you need to know about building total-body stability and core strength with the half-kneeling Pallof press.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

• How to Do the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press
• Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press
• Benefits of the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press
• Muscles Worked by the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press
• How to Program the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press
• Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Variations 
• Frequently Asked Questions

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Video Demonstration

Author James Shapiro explains the half-kneeling Pallof press and offers in-depth guidance for exercise technique, common mistakes, as well as several simple and effective ways to adjust the exercise.

How to Do the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Step By Step

Following these detailed instructions to position yourself up for the half-kneeling Pallof Press will optimize your results. You will need a cable pulley system or a long resistance band with an anchor point that will not move, such as a squat rack.

Step 1 — Set Up Your Equipment and Position

Being relatively comfortable is a priority since you’re in a half-kneeling (one-knee down) position Use a pad to cushion your knee if you don’t like the surface you are kneeling on. Set the pulley or band height so that the resistance runs in-line with your sternum — above your hips and under your chest — when you’re in the kneeling position.

Stand sideways to the cable and assume a half-kneeling position with the foot of your outside leg flat on the ground and the knee, shin, and toes of your inside leg on the ground. Your outside leg should have a roughly 90-degree angle relative to your hip and knee. Set the heel of your outside leg directly underneath the same side knee and set the knee of your inside leg underneath your hip.

Form Tip: Tucking the toes of your inside leg down (aiming your shoelaces to the ground) will add an extra level of lower-body bracing and activation. If you keep that foot pointed up on its toes, you might experience less hip stabilization and glute activation.

Step 2 — Brace with the Weight

Grab the cable or band with both hands and interlock your fingers. Slowly pull the handle to the center of your sternum. With your lower body in position, drive your shoulders down pull your elbows to your sides to brace your total-body position before initiating the movement.

Keep your outside leg strong by engaging your glutes and activating your shoulders prior to the press. You should be able to maintain these key positions throughout the entire exercise.

Form Tip: The half-kneeling Pallof press is not an evenly distributed movement toward the body. The rotational forces being applied by the resistance are biased more toward the side closest to the band’s anchor point. This means you need to work even harder with the side farthest from the anchor point (the outside half of your body) to stay in line and balanced. This is also why it’s essential to perform reps equally on both the left and right sides.

Step 3 — Press and Pause

Keep your lower body stable as you press your hands in a straight line, from the center of your sternum, away from your body until your arms are locked out. Pause briefly in the locked out position.

This is the hardest point of the movement — when your arms are farthest away from your body. The greatest amount of anti-rotation occurs when the arms are extended and the hands are the furthest point away from the sternum. Pausing in the arms-locked position will maximize tension through your core.

Form Tip: Do not try to exceed the muscular stress your body can maintain. If you start to feel that you’re shifting away from pressing in a straight line as your arms extend, do not go further just to get “more” out of the exercise. At that point, it’s likely you’ve lost some of your initial brace and need to return to the starting position. If necessary, stop before lockout to maintain position.

Step 4 — Return to the Starting Position

Bring your hands back to your sternum in a controlled manner. Repeat steps two through four — brace, press and pause, return — for your intended repetition scheme before carefully returning the weight back to the anchor point.

Form Tip: There is no need to speed through the half-kneeling Pallof press. With a reduced and lowered base of support, plus a greater emphasis on core control, you need to be careful and deliberate with each individual repetition. Focus on quality movements instead of piling up a quantity of repetitions.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Mistakes to Avoid

A successful half-kneeling Pallof press requires a lot of moving parts and internal communication. Steer clear of these common mistakes to maximize your performance and results.

Leaning Too Far Forward or Backward

One common issue with half-kneeling positions is that people sometimes have a hard time understanding what a “neutral hip position” actually is. Either their torso leans too far forward because their lower body is positioned wrong or they lean back too much “for balance” and create too much extension through their low back.

Avoid it: Think about keeping your upper body as tall as possible when entering the half-kneeling Pallof press. When you look down, you should see your hips are under your shoulders and above the knee of your lower leg. If you start to see an angle form between your torso and front thigh, you’re likely pushing your hips back.

Allowing Your Outside Knee To Collapse

Your outside knee might experience some movement during the pressing motion as your core is activated and your body fights against the resistance, however your knee can actually be the last place a lot of people focus on.

If your outside knee collapses inward toward the weight, it is demonstrating a lack of coordination from your glutes and obliques. Loss of coordination and strength from the internal obliques on the outside portion of your body can lead to more torso rotation toward the inside leg.

Avoid it: Be attentive to not push your knee out excessively. Having your inside-leg toes tucked under and engaging your glutes will help your outside leg maintain stability. An additional cue is to focus on how much ground pressure you are developing — feel power coming up from your outside foot. Pushing through the big toe of your outside leg can keep your hips and ankle in more efficient alignment. 

Having Your Arms Fall “Off-Center”

Finding an imaginary line on the floor or focusing on a spot on the wall may initially be hard, but it’s possible when you don’t have any tangible landmarks to aim for while pressing away from your chest.

Once you’ve picked a target, your arms should not be moving excessively “off-center”. If they do, it indicates you have either lost the brace position or you’re using too much resistance. Being in a half-kneeling position only amplifies either of these two common faults because your stability is challenged that much more.

Avoid it: You can either reduce the resistance, which should allow you more overall control, or you can slightly reduce the range of motion to a stay in a more easily controlled position. The half-kneeling position is a very demanding variation for any movement let alone an anti-rotation core movement.

Hips Falling To The Side

Poor oblique control paired with a lack of adductor (inner thigh) activation from your outside leg will lead you to have your hips falling to the side. Some of the functions of your obliques (side abs) include rotation, flexion, and lateral flexion — performing those movements as well as resisting them.

As you press forward, you may notice your hips potentially falling to the inside if you’re not strongly stabilizing the adductors of your outside leg.

Avoid it: Imagine you’re slightly crunching your obliques prior to your brace and press — just imagine, don’t actively crunch sideways. With your obliques and core fully engaged prior to pressing, you can expect little-to-no movement at your hips.

How to Progress the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

Progressing through the half-kneeling Pallof press comes in a variety of ways. Using a band or cable pulley system can be a preference or a factor of accessibility depending on your available equipment. When the basic half-kneeling Pallof press becomes mundane or “easy,” challenge yourself with these small adjustments.

Pause Repetitions

Changing your tempo (speed of movement) is one of the best initial ways to progress a standard half-kneeling Pallof press, outside of changing your sets and reps. You can challenge your core with a longer pause in the lockout position before returning your hands to your sternum. You can also add multiple pauses for a second or less at specific points throughout the range of motion to make each repetition longer, creating more time under tension. 

Increasing Repetitions Performed

Performing any anti-rotation exercise depends on the strength and endurance of your entire core musculature working together. Increasing the number of repetitions performed puts a strain on your core and challenges your local and overall muscular endurance. Making small incremental jumps in repetitions will also increase the amount of time worked and is a form of linear progression.

Benefits of the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

The list of benefits the half-kneeling Pallof press holds may persuade you to add it into your workouts even if it may not look like the most interesting exercise. The research and evidence demonstrate the effectiveness of this exercise for relieving pain, supporting strength development, and improving sport performance. (8)

Reducing Lower Back Pain

One of the primary sources of work absence and disability is lower back pain (LBP). (1) With sedentary lifestyles, bad ergonomics, and poor posture, it shocking to see that more than 50% of people in the United States are affected by lower back pain that can lead to physical therapy or disability. (12)

By using the half-kneeling Pallof press to train the muscles responsible for improving the stability and endurance of your lumbar spine and hips, you can either reduce, eliminate, or prevent pain and discomfort in your lower back.

Increasing Your Strength

Performing compound (multi-joint) exercises like squats, lunges, deadlifts, overhead pressing, and bench press requires minimal movement where there should be stiffness. Many hear the word “stiffness” in a gym setting and attach a negative connotation. However, in places where there should be stiffness — such as your low back and spine — stiffness can simply mean wanting to be as stable as possible.

The effects of abdominal bracing have been shown to increase the strength and power of trunk and hip extension. (10) A core program that includes the half-kneeling Pallof press can stimulate intra-abdominal pressure, which helps to create that much-needed stability, and results in improved force output. 

Sport Performance Improvements

Athletes who play sports are going to be rotating through their spine to generate force when they change direction, move sideways, jump, throw, or swing. Having the ability to generate core stiffness in certain athletic positions can also lead to great force application and prevent “energy leaks” (losses of strength and power) from occurring when attempting athletic movements. (5)(9)

Athletes who engage in core training with exercises like the half-kneeling Pallof press may see improvements in their athletic skill, agility, and power while maintaining a healthy spine. (2)(4)

Muscles Worked by the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

Even though it has the word “press” in the exercise name, the half-kneeling Pallof press does not fall under traditional pressing exercises which would train your chest or shoulders. The press portion of the exercise is used to increase the lever arm and more strongly challenge your core stabilizers. You’re not actively lifting the weight during the pressing movement, so your chest and shoulders are not significantly recruited.

This means the muscles in your hips, core, and a few intrinsic muscles of your back get utilized a lot more than muscles of the shoulders, pecs, and triceps.

Obliques and Transverse Abdominis

Your internal and external obliques — found on each side of your abdominal wall — maintain abdominal tension, increase intra-abdominal pressure, and coordinate to rotate your trunk.

This buildup of intra-abdominal pressure reinforces the transverse abdominis (your “primary” abdominal muscle) to stabilize your spine and pelvis. (6) Coordination between all of these muscles help to keep your spine and trunk stable and relatively stationary during he half-kneeling Pallof press as you press with your hands away from your body. (11)

Hip Musculature

In the half-kneeling position, your hips work isometrically to activate and integrate your core muscles. Your hamstrings and glutes are firing to maintain hip extension on your inside leg while holding a neutral hip position. Your outside leg has the TFL (tensor fasciae latae, a hip muscle) to assist the leg in hip flexion. Your inside leg is relying on a neutral position that counteracts the hip flexion of the outside leg. These muscles work in concert to prevent your hips from tilting sideways, forward, or backward during the exercise.

Intrinsic Back Muscles

People often misinterpret “core muscles” to mean only those located where we can see them — on the front of our body. However there are smaller intrinsic muscles located on our back, near our spine, or with attachment to our ribs.

The erector spinae, semispinalis, quadratus lumborum, and multifidi are a few that play a part during the half-kneeling Pallof press. These muscles are designed to extend the spine, laterally flex the spine when contracted unilaterally, maintain posture, and stabilize the low back. (7)

How to Program the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

The half-kneeling Pallof press is considered a “supplemental” or accessory exercise and doesn’t necessarily need to be the primary movement for your workout. Understanding where the half-kneeling Pallof press can be programmed will determine its effectiveness in your program. Also note, if you’re familiar with performing the standing Pallof press, use less resistance with the half-kneeling exercise due to the change of position.

Supplementing Your Main Compound Lift

Performing the half-kneeling Pallof press at relatively lower intensities can be beneficial to those who lack proper core bracing during heavier sets of their squats, deadlifts, bench pressing, or overhead pressing. (3)

Fatiguing your core is not a smart or effective approach before performing compound movements. However, performing the half-kneeling Pallof press with lower intensities (staying away from muscular failure) and lower volume (such as two sets of 10 to 12 reps) can reinforce and maintain core tension for your primary training movements.

Low Intensity Recovery Days

Adding the half-kneeling Pallof press to recovery workouts or low intensity days can be an effective way to prepare your body, and your central nervous system, for the more intense workouts during your training week. Performed at low to moderate volume — such as two to four sets of eight to 12 reps — can help prime your body for the next day. It can also help with small “power leaks” with your strength-based movements.

Positioned in a Core Circuit

Many experienced lifters have found that training multiple core movements together as a form of circuit training amplifies the intensity of each exercise, compared to performing separate exercises by themselves. Pairing up other core exercises such as suitcase carries, hollow body holds, or deadbugs can amplify the intensity of the half-kneeling Pallof press.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press Variations

Challenging yourself with the half-kneeling position can be difficult, but definiely not impossible. Below are a few variations of the half-kneeling Pallof press that increase with difficulty and should be progressed slowly. Demonstrations can be reviewed in the technique video at the beginning of the article.

Pallof Press and Lift

Moving your arms away from your center-mass is the driving force behind the anti-rotational benefits of the Pallof press. The farther the leverage moves from your center, the more difficult it will be.

Adding a lift above your sternum, to eye-level or higher, further challenges your whole body to remain stable while engaging your serratus and shoulder stabilizers even more. Start small, as even a little movement will yield exponential difficulty to the exercise.

Pallof Perturbation Press and Hold

When your goal is to brace and maintain position, your body will work even harder when forces are trying to move you, rather than forces being manipulated more passively. This advanced exercise variation is performed with a small weight plate and a resistance band attached to an anchor point, rather than with a cable pulley.

Attach a relatively light resistance band to the anchor point and slide a five-pound weight plate halfway down the band. Step out farther from the anchor position than normal and assume a half-kneeling position.

Focus on a rapid, almost explosive, press and hold the locked out position. The momentum of the movement should sling the plate forward and back. This forward and backward disturbance will try to push your body out of position. Work hard to maintain full-body tension, with core stiffness and a strong position, as the weight plate slowly comes to rest.

Isometric Split Squat Pallof Press

This variation increases lower body involvement while decreasing your base of support, which further increases the stability requirement. Start off in the half-kneeling position, brace, and press your arms in front of your chest. Then the hard part begins.

Hold the locked out position, and push from the ground with both legs until your back knee is slightly off the ground. Briefly hold this isometric split squat position before gently returning the knee back to ground. Keep your arms locked and repeat the split squat position for repetitions. 

FAQs

References

1. Chang, Wen-Dien et al. “Core strength training for patients with chronic low back pain.” Journal of physical therapy science vol. 27,3 (2015): 619-22. doi:10.1589/jpts.27.619 
2. Hibbs, Angela E et al. “Optimizing performance by improving core stability and core strength.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 38,12 (2008): 995-1008. doi:10.2165/00007256-200838120-00004
3. Huxel Bliven, Kellie C, and Barton E Anderson. “Core stability training for injury prevention.” Sports health vol. 5,6 (2013): 514-22. doi:10.1177/1941738113481200 
4. Kibler, W Ben et al. “The role of core stability in athletic function.” Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) vol. 36,3 (2006): 189-98. doi:10.2165/00007256-200636030-00001
5. Luo, Shengyao et al. “Effect of Core Training on Skill Performance Among Athletes: A Systematic Review.” Frontiers in physiology vol. 13 915259. 6 Jun. 2022, doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.915259
6. Lynders, Christine. “The Critical Role of Development of the Transversus Abdominis in the Prevention and Treatment of Low Back Pain.” HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery vol. 15,3 (2019): 214-220. doi:10.1007/s11420-019-09717-8
7. Malátová, Renata, Jitka Rokytová, and Jan Stumbauer. “The use of muscle dynamometer for correction of muscle imbalances in the area of deep stabilising spine system.” Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine 227.8 (2013): 896-903.
8. McGill, Stuart M.. “Core Training: Evidence Translating to Better Performance and Injury Prevention.” Strength and Conditioning Journal 32 (2010): 33-46.
9. Samson, Kim M. et al. “A Core Stabilization Training Program for Tennis Athletes.” Athletic Therapy Today 12 (2007): 41-46.
10. Tayashiki, Kota et al. “Effect of abdominal bracing training on strength and power of trunk and lower limb muscles.” European journal of applied physiology vol. 116,9 (2016): 1703-13. doi:10.1007/s00421-016-3424-9
11. Willson, John D., et al. “Core stability and its relationship to lower extremity function and injury.” JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons 13.5 (2005): 316-325.
12. Wu, Aimin et al. “Global low back pain prevalence and years lived with disability from 1990 to 2017: estimates from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017.” Annals of translational medicine vol. 8,6 (2020): 299. doi:10.21037/atm.2020.02.175

Featured Image: James Shapiro Performance / YouTube

The post How to Do the Half-Kneeling Pallof Press for Core Strength and Full-Body Stability appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Fast-forward two decades. Pallof’s “belly press” was renamed by way of common usage, and what’s become known as the Pallof press is a mainstay exercise in settings from rehabilitation clinics to the strength and conditioning facilities of elite athletes. (1)(2)(3)(4)

This relatively new spin on the classic plank challenges core strength at a new angle, literally. The direction of force requires anti-rotation, as opposed to dynamic rotation. “Anti” movements are a generally overlooked and undertrained aspect of core health and strength.

How can a single exercise be effective across such a wide range of populations? Well, it’s scalable for difficulty, making it effective and accessible to beginners and experienced athletes alike. It also trains the body to resist rotation, which is useful across human movement patterns from athletics to daily life. Here’s a detailed look at the Pallof press and how to incorporate into your training plan.

Pallof Press

• How to Do the Pallof Press  
• Pallof Press Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Pallof Press  
• Benefits of the Pallof Press  
• Muscles Worked by the Pallof Press  
• How to Program the Pallof Press  
• Pallof Press Variations 
• Frequently Asked Questions

Classic Pallof Press Video Tutorial

Author Dr. Merrick Lincoln demonstrates the Pallof press in the video below. Read on for step-by-step instructions. 

How to Do the Pallof Press

Follow these detailed instructions to dial-in proper Pallof press form for maximum benefit and efficiency. You’ll need a cable system with an adjustable pulley or a resistance band and a stable, chest-high anchor point.

Step 1 — Set Your Equipment and Step Out

Set a resistance band or cable pulley (with a single handle attached) at approximately chest-height. Grasp the band or handle with both hands and hold it in front of your sternum with bent arms.

Pull your shoulders back and brace your core. Sidestep away from the anchor-point until you feel moderate tension on the band, or until the weight plates lift several inches from the cable stack.

Form Tip: Although this is just the “setup” of the exercise, your core is already experiencing resistance from the band or cable. Before the walkout, not after, is the best time to set your brace and tense your abs, as this avoids having to establish proper alignment while under greater resistance. 

Step 2 — Quarter-Squat and Press

With your shoulders squarely over your pelvis and your feet just beyond shoulder-width, perform a shallow squat. Maintain this stable position throughout the remainder of the exercise. Slowly press the band or cable directly away from your sternum until your elbows are straight. 

Form Tip: The turning force from the band or cable doesn’t stop at your core. You will need to establish a firm connection with the floor during the Pallof press. Accomplish this by attempting to “grip” or “spread” the floor with your feet.

Step 3 — Pause at Peak Tension

This portion of the exercise is responsible for a relatively large amount of the training stimulus, so give it plenty of attention. The end position of the press is the most challenging part of the exercise — Savor it by pausing for a moment or longer.

Form Tip: You’ve (likely) inhaled to set your brace before initiating the repetition, and you’ve exhaled throughout the pressing motion. Now, fill the pause at peak tension with another full breath cycle (breathe in, breathe out) without losing your brace. This is a good way to make sure you hold the pause for a sufficient duration.

Step 4 — Return to Start Position

Pull the band or cable handle back to your sternum with a smooth, controlled movement. Repeat steps two through four (press, pause, pull back) for the desired number of repetitions before sidestepping toward the anchor point or pulley and switching sides.

Form Tip: Although the exercise becomes progressively easier as you bring the band or handle back toward the start position, do not lose your brace. Strive for no movement below the shoulders. 

Pallof Press Mistakes to Avoid

Don’t be lulled into thinking this simple-looking exercise doesn’t require focus. Avoiding these Pallof press pitfalls ensures exercise effectiveness. 

Setting Up at an Angle

One common error in the Pallof press occurs before the exercise really begins. After you step out with band or cable, your torso must be perpendicular to the line of pull of the resistance. Don’t bend at your waist and don’t stand in front of, or behind, the anchor point or cable.

Any substantial deviation from perpendicular will reduce the effectiveness of the exercise by decreasing the turning force (“torque”) applied to your trunk. An oblique angle reduces demand on your obliques.

Avoid it: No need to track down a protractor or angle finder. Just imagine a straight line running between your shoulder joints and another straight line running through your hip joints. These two imaginary lines should be parallel to each other and run at a right angle to the actual line of the band or cable. 

Midsection Motion

Poor trunk control during the Pallof press is indicative of a misunderstanding of the exercise or the use of too much resistance. Assuming you’re not simply overpowered by the band or cable, you can improve your Pallof press form by focusing on a “braced” midsection.

Avoid it: Treat the Pallof press like a “standing plank.” Make your trunk rigid by bracing or co-contracting the muscles on the front, back, and sides of your midsection. 

Retreating Quickly From Peak Tension

The Pallof press should be most challenging after the press, when your arms are outstretched in front of the body. This is informed by Newtonian physics (i.e. “law of the lever”) and it’s supported by the obvious sensation of effort you should feel at the end-range.

Avoid it: Make Sir Isaac Newton proud by pausing and demonstrating control when the resistance force has the most leverage. When your elbows are straight and your hands are at approximately chest-height, take a moment to verify your shoulders and hips are square. As you breathe during the pause, make sure your midsection is tight and braced before returning to the start position. 

How to Progress the Pallof Press

When progressing the Pallof press, use a combination of traditional exercise variables (e.g. adding resistance or volume) and non-traditional variables (e.g. devising modifications that increase the technique-demands or complexity of the exercise. (5) When the traditional Pallof press gets too easy, lean into one or more of the progression strategies below.

Change the Base of Support

The basic version of the Pallof press is performed with both feet slightly outside shoulder-width. Your “base of support” is always going to be the area outlined by your feet and all the space between the feet. The exercise becomes drastically more difficult with a smaller base of support. Achieve this progression by standing with a narrower stance. Once you’re able to perform Pallof presses with your feet together, try the lunge variation or even the single-leg variation, described below.

Increase the Number of Repetitions

For performance training, the Pallof press is considered an “accessory exercise,” generally performed for moderate to higher repetitions. It isn’t the type of exercise conducive to high resistance/low repetition programming. No one cares about your Pallof press one-repetition maximum. Rather than push for more resistance, push for higher-repetition sets. Work up to sets of 20 or more smooth, controlled repetitions before worrying about adding resistance.

Increase the Movement Speed

Your primary task during the Pallof press is to keep your trunk motionless. Or, if there is any motion or loss of the initial trunk position, your task is to regain control and re-achieve the initial position as soon as possible. In fact, the latter scenario most closely describes the biomechanics definition of stability. (6) Rapid movement speed during the Pallof press exposes the body to a greater stability challenge.

As long as any movement below your shoulders is minimal and well-controlled, increasing the speed of the pressing motion can be an effective progression. However, even when performing faster repetitions, you should still pause at peak tension when arms are fully outstretched.

Benefits of the Pallof Press

Isometric core exercises like the Pallof press are recommended to improve core muscle endurance. (7) But the benefits of the Pallof press don’t stop there. Emerging research points to its potential role in improved sports performance and injury-risk reduction. 

Enhances Force Transfer and Performance

From a movement development perspective, we know the ability to control the trunk and demonstrate stability is a prerequisite for effective limb movement. This is evidenced by babies sitting unsupported before they walk or before launching their toys across the room. This same phenomenon is seen in athletes, albeit during much higher-level activities. Trunk stability enhances the ability to generate forceful, rapid, and precise limb movement. (8) The good news is, this appears to be trainable.

For example, a core training program including Pallof press variations was shown to improve striking force among Muay Thai athletes. (9) Whether you’re a fighter, thrower, field- or court sport player, swimmer, or just about any other type of athlete, progressive training with the Pallof press might up your game.

Teaches You To ‘Breathe and Brace’

Many sports and athletic endeavors require the skill of simultaneous breathing and bracing — sprinting, kayaking, swimming, and pretty much any CrossFit-style workout, just to name a few. The peak tension position of the Pallof press is a great opportunity to practice this skill.

As noted in the step-by-step instructions, you should pause when your arms are fully pressed away from your sternum. If you fill this pause with one or more breath cycles while also preventing any motion between your shoulders and hips, you are training “breathing and bracing.” Since the Pallof press is typically programmed as a fairly-high repetition, moderate-to-low load exercise, it gives plenty of opportunities to practice. 

Potentially Reduces Injury Risk

Poor core stability is thought to predispose athletes to injury. (10) And although we know not all injuries can be prevented, there is a strong case for the inclusion of core exercises like the Pallof press in workout programs designed to reduce injury risk. Improving core stability is thought to improve control or coordination of the body and limbs. (10)(11) And improved coordination may translate into reduced risk for injury.

For example, across 13 studies, core training was shown to improve balance, which may ultimately decrease the risk of injurious falls. (12) Altogether, exercises intended to improve stability and coordination (i.e. “neuromuscular training”), along with strength training, are among the most well-supported types of training to reduce risk of injury. (13)

Muscles Worked by Pallof Press

Although the term “press” may seem to imply the shoulders are targeted, the Pallof press is decidedly core work. The pressing motion is minimally-resisted due to the body’s orientation to the line of pull of the band or cable stack. The press isn’t “lifting” the weight. Instead, the exercise hammers your core, particularly the muscles that prevent trunk rotation. 

Abdominals

The primary muscle task during the Pallof press is to resist trunk rotation, which is why the movement pattern is termed “anti-rotation.” Muscles that act to rotate the trunk contract isometrically and create tension without creating appreciable movement.

Key muscles include the external obliques and internal obliques. Your rectus abdominis (i.e. the six-pack abs) and transversus abdominis (the deepest abdominal muscle) may also contribute to the Pallof press by increasing intra-abdominal pressure to increase the rigidity of your trunk.  

Tiny Back Muscles

Often forgotten, many small muscles on the backside of the trunk contribute to trunk rotation and anti-rotation. These muscles are arranged between the bones of the spine (vertebrae), run between the ribcage and vertebrae, or span the pelvis and sacrum to vertebrae.

Among them, erector spinae may be the most notable, but semispinalis, multifidi, and rotatores deserve honorable mention. Multifidi and rotatores, in particular, are thought to produce“fine-tuning” muscle contractions needed for effective stabilization of the spine. (14)

How to Program the Pallof Press

For most, the Pallof press is an accessory exercise, meaning it plays a supplementary role in the training program. Accessory exercises can be programmed in a variety of ways, provided they support, or at least do not interfere with, the primary objectives of the workout.

As a Warm-up or Primer

The warm-up is a time dedicated to increasing body temperature and rehearsing movements that support the upcoming training session. It’s also a great time to incorporate core work. As a fairly low-intensity exercise, the Pallof press is well-suited for inclusion during any general warm-up.

As Dedicated Core Training

By setting aside time specifically for core training, as you likely do for your shoulders, arms, chest, back, or quadriceps, you help to ensure the work gets done. The Pallof press primarily works the rotators of the trunk. Therefore, to create a robust core workout, you may also wish to add exercises targeting the flexors, extensors, and lateral flexors of the core, such as crunches or planks, Roman chair back extensions, and farmer’s walks, respectively.

Although the Pallof press is a wonderfully effective year-around core exercise for most individuals, high-level athletes may wish to incorporate more dynamic trunk rotation training, such as medicine ball twists and tosses, during the pre-season and in-season for more sport-specific training. (7)

As Rest Interval “Filler”

The amount of exercise completed in a defined period of time determines the density of a workout. Increasing the density of your workouts makes them more efficient, as long as the additional work (or reduced rest) does not adversely affect exercise performance. The Pallof press does not create excessive fatigue in muscles commonly targeted by traditional resistance training.

Therefore, it may be a great “filler” exercise. Take some of the two or three minutes you’d typically rest passively between sets of bench presses, rows, or any other exercise, and hit a set of Pallof presses. By supersetting the Pallof press with another exercise, you’ll increase the efficiency of your workout and keep your mind (and body) engaged throughout your entire training session. 

Pallof Press Variations

The Pallof press can be modifiable in countless ways. Below, find a beginner-friendly version of the Pallof press, followed by three relatively more advanced modifications.

Half-Kneeling Pallof Press

To reduce the difficulty of the Pallof press, try the “half-kneeling” position. Place your inside knee (the leg closest to the band or cable stack) on the floor and bend your outside leg 90-degrees at the knee and hip. Place your front foot flat on the floor. (1)

From this position, brace your midsection and perform the Pallof press with typical pressing technique. When you switch sides, be sure to switch leg positions — the leg closest to the resistance is on the ground and your opposite foot is flat on the floor.

Lunge-Position Pallof Press

Performing the Pallof press in a lunge stance increases the difficulty by narrowing your base of support. (1) With your outside leg in front, drop into a narrow lunge position, brace, then perform the Pallof press with standard “press and pause” form.

Be sure to keep your outside knee pointing straight ahead, as tension from the band or cable will try to “unravel” your body. Don’t allow your knee to collapse inward. When you switch sides, switch lead legs and repeat the lunge position.

Single-Leg Pallof Press

The single-leg Pallof press is performed standing on the outside leg — The leg farthest from the anchor point of the band or the cable stack. By performing the exercise on one leg, the single-leg Pallof press increases training demand on the lateral hip muscles, namely the gluteus medius. (4)

You will also need to prevent your foot and ankle from caving inward (“pronating”) under the pull of the band. To get the greatest training effect from the foot and ankle complex, perform in minimalist shoes or even barefoot. 

Chaos Pallof Press 

To further progress the Pallof press, increase the reactive demand of the exercise by adding a light weight to the center of the resistance band setup (demonstrated in the video). Be sure the weight is secured in place, so it can’t slide up and down the length of the band.

Performing the “press” portion rapidly will create oscillating movements of the weight plate. Your core muscles will be forced to contend with the added, and somewhat unpredictable, challenge of the bouncing plate. Hold the paused position to regain core control before continuing repetitions.

FAQs

Make Room for Anti-Rotation in Your Exercise Rotation

Since its introduction, the Pallof press has become a contemporary classic exercise. It builds rotational strength and enhances trunk stability. And it might even boost athletic performance and reduce injury risk. Remember, to achieve meaningful benefits, consistency and progression are key.

References

1. Mullane, M., Turner, A. N., & Bishop, C. (2021). The Pallof Press. Strength & Conditioning Journal, 43(2), 121-128.
2. Wilson, K. W., et al. (2019). Rehabilitation and return to sport after hip arthroscopy. Operative Techniques in Orthopaedics, 29(4), 100739.
3. Cotter, A. (2022). Return to Sport Following Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Women’s Field Hockey. Journal of Women’s Sports Medicine, 2(2), 57-69.
4. Holling, M. J., Miller, S. T., & Geeslin, A. G. (2022). Rehabilitation and Return to Sport After Arthroscopic Treatment of Femoroacetabular Impingement: A Review of the Recent Literature and Discussion of Advanced Rehabilitation Techniques for Athletes. Arthroscopy, Sports Medicine, and Rehabilitation, 4(1), e125-e132.
5. La Scala Teixeira, C. V., et al. (2019). Complexity: a novel load progression strategy in strength training. Frontiers in Physiology, 10, 839.
6. Reeves, N. P., Narendra, K. S., & Cholewicki, J. (2007). Spine stability: the six blind men and the elephant. Clinical Biomechanics, 22(3), 266-274.
7. Willardson, J. M. (2007). Core stability training: applications to sports conditioning programs. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 21(3), 979-985.
8. Kibler, W. B., Press, J., & Sciascia, A. (2006). The role of core stability in athletic function. Sports Medicine, 36, 189-198.
9. Lee, B., & McGill, S. (2017). The effect of core training on distal limb performance during ballistic strike manoeuvres. Journal of Sports Sciences, 35(18), 1768-1780.
10. Willson, J. D., et al. (2005). Core stability and its relationship to lower extremity function and injury. JAAOS-Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 13(5), 316-325.
11. Huxel Bliven, K. C., & Anderson, B. E. (2013). Core stability training for injury prevention. Sports Health, 5(6), 514-522.
12. Barrio, E. D., et al. (2022). Effects of core training on dynamic balance stability: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences, 40(16), 1815-1823.
13. Lauersen, J. B., Bertelsen, D. M., & Andersen, L. B. (2014). The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(11), 871-877.
14. Kavcic, N., Grenier, S., & McGill, S. M. (2004). Determining the stabilizing role of individual torso muscles during rehabilitation exercises. Spine, 29(11), 1254-1265.

Featured Image: Merrick Lincoln, DPT, CSCS / YouTube

The post How to Do the Pallof Press for a Stronger, Healthier Core appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

People often neglect core training because it can be grueling, boring, or just plain difficult. But it doesn’t have to be any of that. Simple and effective core training starts with the basics. When it comes to simple core training, it’s hard to beat what’s arguably the most ubiquitous of all core exercises in the gym, the classic plank. But when it comes to being both simple and effective, take the plank to the next level.

Enter, the bear plank. This upgraded plank position is both easier to learn than the classic and it hits your core harder. Here’s how to get a win-win for your core workout.

Bear Plank

• How to Do the Bear Plank 
• Bear Plank Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Bear Plank
• Benefits of the Bear Plank
• Muscles Worked by the Bear Plank
• How to Program the Bear Plank
• Bear Plank Variations 
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Bear Plank

The bear plank, or bear-stance plank, refers to holding a ground-based position using straight arms and bent legs, rather than straight arms and straight legs (like a standard plank position). Your weight is supported on your hands and toes, with no other bases of support, but your legs are bent and your knees are very slightly above ground-level. 

Step 1 — Hands, Knees, and Toes

Get on the ground and support your body with your hands, knees, and feet. Set your hands directly under your shoulders, not in front or behind them. Place your feet hip-width apart.

Get an approximate 90-degree joint angle at your knees. If your legs are too bent, the movement won’t be challenging enough and you’ll risk resting your knees on the ground. If your legs are too straight with your knees behind your hips, you’ll end up looking like a poorly performed standard plank, which defeats the purpose of the exercise.

Form Tip: Your overall position should be comfortable, square, and balanced. Take the time to check the position of your hands, shoulders, knees, hips, and feet. Look directed down to the ground or slightly in front of your hands. Cranking your head to look forward will only stress your neck.

Step 2 — Lift Your Knees and Brace

Bring your knees just a few inches off the ground and keep them in line with your feet. Don’t let your shins or knees wobble in or out of alignment. Flex every muscle from your toes to your wrists. Although this is a core-focused exercise, the more muscles surrounding the core you can also contract to promote stability, the better. (1)

Squeeze your quads, glutes, and hips. Think about driving your hands and feet into the floor as hard as possible without actually raising your body. Keep your knees off the ground and maintain complete tension for the duration of each set.

Form Tip: Don’t only focus on flexing your abs. Achieving full-body tension will contribute to a better quality bear stance which will make the movement harder and require more effort, which can yield better results.

Bear Plank Mistakes to Avoid

Even though the bear plank is a static exercise with no “moving parts,” there are still some common technique errors that will prevent maximum tension or limit progress.

Poor Knee Position

When your knees are touching the ground, your body has very little need to stabilize, so you’re not actually performing the exercise. Keeping your knees elevated also helps to maintain a strong hip position and prevent back rounding. This can also help maintain tension through your hamstrings, glutes, core, and trunk.

Avoid it: Set your knees directly under your hips or tailbone, not far back in a nearly straight position. When you begin the exercise, imagine having a tray of wet paint appear under your knees. Stay tight, stay focused, and keep your legs clean. If your knees dip down into the “paint,” end the set, rest briefly, and try again.

Bending Your Arms

The fully supported bear plank position uses your fully straightened arms to support your upper body while your lower body is supported by bent legs. Bending your upper arms changes the overall angle of your torso and alters your center of gravity.

This makes the exercise less effective overall and emphasizes the relatively smaller muscles of your arms and shoulders to support the majority of your body’s weight, compared to dispersing the tension throughout your entire body.

Avoid it: Keep your arms locked straight during the exercise. If your shoulders or triceps fatigue excessively, end the set. Over time, your muscles will adapt by building strength and endurance to support the position.

How to Progress the Bear Plank

The bear plank is a relatively a simple movement, so the natural inclination of a lifter would be to seek ways to make it more difficult once they’ve “graduated” from the basic execution. 

Add a Weight Vest 

Adding a weight vest creates a heavier load to bear when in position, requiring even more from the trunk for stability and positioning. However, the typical weight distribution of a standard weight vest (with the weighted inserts often placed around the midsection) creates even greater temptation for the spine to slip into an arched or extended position. That means more reliance on your abs to negate this repositioning and keep your spine flat. 

Keep in mind that using a weight vest usually goes hand-in-hand with reducing the amount of time spent in the plank position. Focus on high-quality performance rather than just achieving long durations. 

Shoulder Taps

In the typical bear-stance plank, there are four points of contact with the floor — two hands and two feet. That means forces are distributed evenly among all those points. As soon as one of those points of contact leaves the floor, there are added demands on the body to resist changing position to compensate for reduced stability. In the bear plank, these are rotational forces and resisting them would be termed “anti-rotation.” 

Since a massive function of your core is to brace and work against unwanted outside forces, the simple shoulder tap is a great way to train anti-rotation from a bear stance. Work hard to stay square and keep your back and trunk parallel to the floor without twisting or shifting. Try sets of 12-20 shoulder taps, alternating hands as you go along. Remember to move slowly with control. 

Bear Dogs 

Assuming a bear-stance starting position allows you to maintain a much more neutral spine when in starting position, as previously discussed. The basic bird dog exercise is a core stability movement that many lifters can master, but taking things to the next level involves some strategy. Bear dogs are a smart modification that provide all of the benefits in blasting contralateral stability (coordinating left and right limb movements).

Keep sets very low-rep, such as three or four reps per side. Instead of progressing with higher reps, opt for more total sets. This ensures you can focus on high-quality repetitions while avoiding too much fatigue which would prevent good performance.

Benefits of the Bear Plank

The bear plank, like all types of plank exercises, can be a top-level core strengthening drill. The total-body tension and abdominal activation can carry over to provide stability in other strength-focused exercises.

Better Ab Recruitment

The bear plank works well as a modification or alternative to basic planks, while being much more effective in targeting the abs due to simple changes in positioning. The abs are much more difficult to fully engage in a classic plank due to the long-legged position. Everyone naturally has a slight arch (lordotic curve) in their lower backs, and it’s especially present when standing up straight. The same issue applies when we get into a typical plank position.

However, when sitting down, it’s a lot harder to maintain the same degree of back arch. When you’re bending your knees to sit down, your pelvis tends to rotate “under” your body into more of a posterior tilt, making the spine exit extension and edge toward neutral or even a flexed position — that’s part of what makes you “slouch” when you sit.

Using that to our advantage can go a long way in its efficacy for core training. While it can be tough to keep a flat spine using a classic plank, opting for the bear plank almost ends up mimicking a seated position while kneeling. This change in knee angle also affects your pelvic position and brings your lumbar spine into a much more neutral state, which is great news for targeting and activating your abdominals. (2)

Simplified Technique

The bear plank is both a more challenging plank modification because it hits the abs harder than most other plank variations will. Fortunately, it’s also a less challenging modification because it’s relatively easier to perform for most lifters.

A lifter looking to take their core training game to the next level of quality and effectiveness can’t go wrong with the bear plank. Doubling down on the exercise by applying the advanced methods listed later in this article will be gold for keeping your training interesting while providing a continued challenge to trunk strength and stability. 

Muscles Worked by the Bear Plank

Any exercise in the plank family will first and foremost target your core muscles. The bear plank, specifically, recruits these crucial stabilizing muscles better than many other exercises due to your overall body position.

Rectus Abdominis

When all four limbs are on the ground, the bear plank primarily focuses on the rectus abdominis muscles — the body part that most people reference when they say “six-pack”. The goal of the exercise is to keep the strength of the muscular contraction consistent and high-intensity.

Transverse Abdominis

The transverse abdominis is the “inner layer” of the abdominal wall. During the bear plank, or any high-effort core bracing, your transverse abs will be firing at maximum capacity to provide stability to your entire trunk, like beams of a house giving stability to the outer framework.

Obliques

Your obliques, on the sides of your abdominals, are responsible for rotating your trunk and thoracic spine, as well as resisting rotation. During the bear plank, your obliques are activated to help prevent tipping over sideways.

Anytime you lift a hand or foot during any anti-rotational bear plank variations, your obliques take on significantly more work. They will be asked to isometrically contract to keep the core from twisting out of position.

How to Program the Bear Plank

The bear plank can be plugged into any number of workout programs, either as a warm-up and activation drill, a focused core training exercise, or as part of a conditioning workout.

High Intensity for Time

The bear plank, and all plank variations, are somewhat unique to other exercises you can perform because they’re typically not done for multiple repetitions. Instead, focus on achieving maximum tension from head-to-toe and holding that tension for a specific time — using your phone’s timer feature comes in real handy for this. Aim for anywhere from five to 30 seconds of fully flexed tension for two to five sets.

Just like you “shouldn’t” use poor form to squeeze out a few extra reps of squats, you shouldn’t allow yourself to gradually apply less and less tension as a set goes on just to hit a pre-set time limit. When you feel the focused tension falling less than 100%, stop the set, rest, and do another.

Variations of the Bear Plank

Once you’ve mastered applying full-body tension with the bear plank, you can adapt that skill and conditioning to other exercises for a variety of results.

Classic Plank

As popular and common as the plank exercise is, the interesting truth is the fact that many people perform it poorly. Positioning the body on your elbows and toes has proven to be a slightly more demanding task than meets the eye, especially with form cues to ensure your abs are working their hardest. For starters, it’s important to remember that the abdominals posteriorly tilt the pelvis.

That means keeping your back flat with your butt squeezed and “tucked in” is far superior to keeping your back slightly (or generously) arched. Doing the latter will negate the purpose of the exercise.

Actively “pull inward” with your elbows in an attempt to move your ribcage down toward the hips. This keeps your core braced while contracting as hard as it can. This is an important cue, as it’s really easy to “hang out and chill” when performing a plank, enabling someone to stay in position for minutes on end. It’s much more effective to hold an intense contraction for 30 seconds or less, than to hold a poor quality position for three, five, or 45 minutes. 

Bear-Stance Renegade Row

Doing renegade rows from a bear-stance position isn’t only harder and more intense for the abs, it’s also an easier way for you to assume the right lumbar (lower back) posture. Your pelvis enters anterior (forward) tilt and your body has to find a way to keep your glutes and lower abs engaged enough to overcome this. This isn’t easy in the presence of fatigue.

Making the switch to bent knees with tilt your pelvis posteriorly (backward) just enough to enforce a neutral spine, potentiating more lower ab involvement while leaving the glutes less involved. If the goal is core training, this is an ideal “gym hack.” The inclusion of the row pattern (which shouldn’t use a very weight) will also train your upper back to address posture, strength, and development.

FAQs

Get Down, Knees Up

There are hundreds of abdominal and oblique-focused exercises that might help a lifter get stronger and more conditioned, but it doesn’t have to get too fancy. Taking a basic plank and turning it into a bear-stance can be all that’s needed to step your training up a notch or two. Exercise doesn’t need to be complicated for good things to happen — quality is king. The bear plank is a great example of emphasize simple and effective training being the path to better results.

References

1. Gontijo, L. B., Pereira, P. D., Neves, C. D., Santos, A. P., Machado, D.deC., & Bastos, V. H. (2012). Evaluation of strength and irradiated movement pattern resulting from trunk motions of the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Rehabilitation research and practice, 2012, 281937. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/281937
2. Workman, Chad & Docherty, David & Parfrey, Kevin & Behm, David. (2008). Influence of Pelvis Position on the Activation of Abdominal and Hip Flexor Muscles. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength & Conditioning Association. 22. 1563-9. 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181739981.

Featured Image: Susan Niebergall Fitness / Youtube

The post How to Do the Bear Plank for Stronger Abs and Total-Body Stability appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

You’ll see it performed by bodybuilders, fitness influencers, “functional fitness” athletes who wear toe-gripping shoes that look like gloves, group-fitness worshipers, and cardio enthusiasts. 

One reason why it’s so regularly used is that it lets you really feel you abdominal muscles working, almost irrespective of how well the exercise is actually performed. You can do it “wrong” and still feel some kind of burn because you’re bending and twisting. A better reason why it’s so popular is because it targets nearly every muscle in your core, including the rarely targeted oblique muscles.

Here’s how to make sure you do the Russian twist the right way to get that deep burn in your abs and obliques, not your lower back.

• How to Do the Russian Twist
• Russian Twist Mistakes to Avoid
• How to Progress the Russian Twist
• Benefits of the Russian Twist
• Muscles Worked by the Russian Twist
• How to Program the Russian Twist
• Russian Twist Variations
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Russian Twist

The Russian twist is performed seated on the ground and looks quite simple, but there are some very important steps that often get overlooked. These small changes will make a big difference.

Step One — Find Your Feet

Sit on the ground, bend your knees, and point your feet up to dig your heels into the ground. Bring your feet and heels close to your glutes and hips, which will be your fulcrum to move your upper body. Having your feet closer to your hips is going to give you more stability. Hold your hands together in front of your chest.

Form Tip: Keep your feet flexed and pointed up during the entire movement. Pointing your feet is going to do two things: First, it’s going to keep your weight shifted backward through your hips and into the ground, giving you more stability. Second, it’s going to help engage your hamstrings, which will then help to tuck your pelvis under during the movement. This helps engage more of your lower lower abs and internal oblique muscles instead of your hip flexors. (1)

Step Two — Tuck Your Chin and Roll Back

Imagine you’re trying to hold an orange between your chin and upper chest. Tuck your chin down to hold it in place. This will stack your rib cage over your pelvis, so you can flex your abs and maintain core tension. It will also encourage your upper back to round so your lats can “wrap” around your ribs. If you try twisting your body while keeping a tall posture with your shoulders down and back, you’ll have the mobility of an elephant on a tightrope.

Be sure to roll back, not just lean back. If you quickly lean back from your hips, you’re likely going to extend your spine and lose the stable position you worked to get into. Instead, imagine you’re about to do a backwards roll and “uncurl” yourself into position. Allow your center of mass to be drawn backwards and use your feet to engage your hamstrings for stability.

Form Tip: How far should you roll back? If you’re laying on the floor, you’ve gone too far. If you can’t feel your heels digging hard into the floor, you probably haven’t rolled back far enough. Aim for a five or six out of 10 effort to hold the position.

Step Three — Look Over Your Shoulder

With control, twist as much of your torso as possible to one side. If you’re doing it right, it should feel like someone karate chopped you in the outside part of your obliques (muscles on the sides of your abs). Then, rotate all the way to the other side. Alternate back and forth between sides with each repetition.

Form Tip: Look over your shoulder behind you, trying to get your shoulders to 12 and six on an imaginary clock. Each person will have a slightly different range of motion depending on their mobility and strength, so work within your own comfortable range.

Russian Twist Mistakes to Avoid

Make sure that when you’re performing the Russian twist, it looks good and feels good. Don’t let your technique slip as you fatigue and don’t grind through painful, improper form. Here are some common mistakes to watch out for.

Extending Your Back 

If your chin and rib cage aren’t tucked when you roll back into position, then you may end up in extension with your abs are in a lengthened position. The more extended you are, the more lengthened your abs will be. This shifts stress away from your targeted ab muscles.

When a muscle contracts, it shortens, so although you might “feel” your ab muscles working, you’re not setting yourself up for success to properly train and strengthen them since they won’t be able to effectively shorten or fully contract. 

Avoid it: Don’t roll back quite as far. That way, you can maintain a better chin and ribcage tuck. Focus on making the exercise harder by using a full rotation, not by trying to lean as far back as possible.

Not Actually Rotating 

This one is one of the most common problems. Some people swing their arms from side to side like a malfunctioning lawn sprinkler, but they’re not rotating their torso or shoulders.

With this misapplied “technique,” you might feel some tension in your abdominals because they are simply resisting rotation, but there’s not much working in the obliques because they’re not moving through any real range of motion.

Avoid it: Keep your hands as close to your body as possible. You can use them to help guide the rotation to each side, but the farther your hands move away from your center, the more your arms will want to swing. Until you master the movement, keep your hands close.

Kicking Your Legs Out

When your legs are extended too far, it’s more difficult to shift your center of mass back while keeping your hips tucked under properly. This means there’s less load, tension, work sent through your abdominal muscles and obliques, and you’ll most likely feel the burn in your hip flexors and the top part of your quads (thighs).

Straight legs also make it difficult to drive your heels into the ground, which will limit your hamstring engagement and affect your abdominal activation.

Avoid it: Pay attention to your entire lower body. Bend your knees, pulling your feet and heels back towards your glutes and hips. Point your feet and dig your heels into the ground. This will help to engage your hamstrings and lengthen your quads and hip flexors so they can’t take over. 

How to Progress the Russian Twist

One general goal of training is to gradually progress each movement or exercise for consistent improvement. However, almost anyone can make an exercise “feel” more challenging. You need to make sure you’re are making it harder in a productive way.

Arms-Extended Russian Twist

Reaching your arms forward, away from your body’s center, is going to create a longer lever with increased challenge for your entire core. When you rotate, don’t let your arms take over or move separately from your torso.

Be sure to fully rotate by looking over your shoulders. The altered leverage is going to add more relative load for increased challenge, especially in the end ranges of motion.

Dumbbell Russian Twist

Adding resistance is the most common way to make a bodyweight ab exercise more challenging. By using a dumbbell, or a single weight plate, you increase the force needed to rotate your torso. Be sure to continue using a full range of motion, aiming your shoulders in a 12 and six position.

Begin holding the weight close to your chest. As you gain strength, you can hold the weight farther from your body, in the arms-extended position, before going heavier. This lets you squeeze more overall progression from relatively lighter weights.

Decline Russian Twist

Using a decline bench will shift more of your weight backwards because of the steeper angle working against gravity. Even though your legs are securely hooked into the bench, you should still actively try to dig your heels in to get your hips tucked under.

The increased angle of the decline bench should also allow each individual to get more range of motion towards the end of each rep.

Benefits of the Russian Twist

Many ab exercises train your central core muscles — the abdominals above your hips. The Russian twist incorporates rotation, which not only recruits additional muscles but creates more stimulus for a variety of results.

Good-Looking Abs

Ab training alone won’t deliver a great set of abs. You need to pay attention to calories and nutrition, too. But incorporating the Russian twist into your ab workout can give some attention to your oblique muscles, while hitting your main “6-pack” abs with a serious growth stimulus. Training your abs for muscle growth won’t create a blocky-looking stomach area, but it will play a role in creating a classic washboard look.

Athletic Ab Strength

Rotational movements are sometimes overlooked when it comes to building a strong, powerful core. (2) Training your abs with rotation, like the Russian twist, can help to build inter-muscular coordination that can carryover to the field, while building general core strength and stability that can help support heavy lifting.

Muscles Worked by Russian Twist

The Russian twist works more than just “your abs.” It emphasizes your oblique muscles, while calling much of your entire upper body into play.

Obliques

The obliques are the muscles on the sides of your abs that frame the six-pack. They run diagonally at an oblique angle, which is where they get their name. More accurately, there are two types of oblique muscles on each side of your body — the internal obliques and the external obliques. The internal obliques are found deeper in your core, while the external obliques are more visible.

When twisting your body, the external obliques are responsible for contralateral rotation — the external oblique on your left helps you rotate to the right, and vice versa. These are the prime mover in the beginning part of each rep. Once you have rotated past the midpoint, the internal oblique is recruited for ipsilateral rotation — the internal obliques on your right help you complete rotation to the right. The internal obliques are not often trained, so don’t be surprised if you feel a deep burn at the end range of each twist.

Rectus Abdominis 

The classic six-pack is actually a series of muscles known as the rectus abdominis. During the Russian twist, the rectus works to brace down and resist movement, because they’re primarily involved in traditional flexion exercises like crunches or sit-ups. This muscle works isometrically to keep your upper body stacked and stable during the twist. 

Transverse Abdominis

Like the film Inception where there’s a dream within a dream, the transverse abdominis is essentially a set of abs under another set of abs. It is a thin sheet of muscle found underneath the rectus abdominis. The transverse abdominis, or TVA, primarily works isometrically to maintain postural tension. It also increases abdominal wall pressure to stabilize the spine and pelvis when moving, including during rotation. (3)

Hip Flexors 

As their name suggests, the hip flexors are primarily involved in creating flexion (bending) at your hips. Reaching the top portion of that hip flexion, with your legs bent at an angle to your upper body, is when you can create a posterior pelvic tilt to target the lower abdominal muscles. (4)

Erector Spinae

The erector spinae, or spinal erectors, are deep muscles on your back that sit underneath the more well-known back muscles like the lats, rhomboids, and trapezius. The erector spinae extends your upper body backwards and creates lateral (side to side) flexion. During the Russian twist, they are involved more toward the end of each twist as your body reaches its peak range of motion.

How to Program the Russian Twist

The Russian twist isn’t just some random ab exercise. Because it trains your core in a unique way, with rotation instead of more traditional flexion, it can play a key role in your workouts.

Timed Circuits

This bodyweight ab exercise fits efficiently into a abdominal circuit performed at the end of any workout. Combine this with timed sets — performing continuous repetitions in a given time instead of counting individual reps — and you’ve got a winning pair.

Timed sets let you just focus on the quality of your work, and the clock will save you at the end. Good options are to use either 30 second of work with 30 of rest or 40 seconds of work with 20 seconds rest. Pick three to five exercises, including the Russian twist, and do two to four rounds at least twice per week.

Unweighted to Light Weight, Moderate to High Repetition

If you’re performing the Russian twist as a standalone exercise, not part of a circuit, you can burn your core using two to three sets of 15 to 25 reps. Remember that turning both to the left and right counts as one rep. You’ll reduce your workload if you count “right, one, left, two, right, three, left, four,” etc.

Russian Twist Variations

Once you’ve gotten a handle on the basic Russian twist, you can upgrade the exercise to hit your abs with more difficult movements.

Bicycle Twist

When paired with a specialized fat loss diet, this progression can be a key player in developing abs that look and feel like they have been carved from rich mahogany. As you rotate to look over your right shoulder, pull your right knee in towards your chest. But the major key is to not touch your elbow and knee together, as if you were doing a classic bicycle crunch.

To get a full range of motion using full hip flexion, your left elbow should pass your right knee as you twist. Keep the opposite foot braced and hooked into the floor. You have to go slow with this one because it involves some coordination. Try taking three seconds to reach each rotation and hold the end position for a brief pause.

Overhead Russian Twist

This movement is similar to the basic dumbbell Russian twist, but brings the arms in an overhead motion to further change the leverage and recruit the shoulders, serratus, and upper back muscles.

Don’t sacrifice range of motion. Bring the weight from one side of your body, to a straight-arm overhead position, to the opposite side of your body.

Standing Russian Twist

Sometimes called a full contact twist, this standing movement is one of the more athletic variations because it’s performed in a standing position and involves your entire lower body.

Use a barbell in a landmine unit to allow a smooth rotation from side to side. This exercise can be done with your feet stationary while moving the weight from hip to hip or, as a more advanced variation, pivoting on the balls of your feet and moving the weight from mid-thigh to mid-thigh.

FAQs

C’mon and Do the Twist

When you design your next ab workout, don’t overfocus on crunch variations and planks. Rotational exercises like the Russian twist target underappreciated muscles like the obliques and help to develop serious core power. Once you learn to perform the movement correctly, you’ll be on the way to creating a stronger core with a complete and well-developed set of abs.

References

1. Workman, Chad & Docherty, David & Parfrey, Kevin & Behm, David. (2008). Influence of Pelvis Position on the Activation of Abdominal and Hip Flexor Muscles. Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength & Conditioning Association. 22. 1563-9. 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181739981.
2. Stephens, J; Bacon, E; Evans, C; Locke, S; and McCulloch, R (2021) “ANTI-ROTATIONAL AND ROTATIONAL ABDOMINAL EXERCISES AND THE CONCURRENT MUSCLE ACTIVATION: A METHODOLOGY STUDY,” International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 8: Iss. 9, Article 12.
3. Urquhart, D. M., & Hodges, P. W. (2005). Differential activity of regions of transversus abdominis during trunk rotation. European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society, 14(4), 393–400. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-004-0799-9
4. Takaki, S., Ms Pt, Kaneoka, K., PhD Md, Okubo, Y., PhD Pt, Otsuka, S., Ms, Tatsumura, M., PhD Md, Shiina, I., PhD Md, & Miyakawa, S., PhD Md (2016). Analysis of muscle activity during active pelvic tilting in sagittal plane. Physical therapy research, 19(1), 50–57. https://doi.org/10.1298/ptr.e9900

Featured Image: Shopping King Louie / Shutterstock

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Your shoulders, grip, forearms, and lungs soon burn with every step, and any deviations in your walking pattern will be felt twofold while lugging around dumbbells. Besides strengthening your grip to open all the pickle jars, carries can boost your mental toughness, which has a huge carryover to your lifts and daily activities.

As great as the classic farmer’s walk is, there are plenty of effective variations to diversify your game plan. Here are some of the best loaded carry variations, the muscles particularly trained by carrying heavy weights, and the things to watch out for to get the best out of your carries.

Best Loaded Carry Variations

• Offset Carry
• Figure-8 Trap Bar Carry
• Trap Bar Overhead Carry
• Trap Bar Suitcase Carry
• Unilateral Chaos Carry
• Barbell Overhead Carry
• Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Waiter’s Carry
• Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Overhead Carry
• Zercher Carry
• Bear Hug Sandbag Carry
• Plate Pinch Carry

Offset Carry

Offset carries train your body with mismatched weights, requiring your core to work overtime to stabilize your core as you move. Because the load is distributed asymmetrically, your body will want to tilt sideways. The challenge is in not allowing that to happen.

With the offset carry, there is a more significant demand on your core to maintain stability and a neutral spine. The greater difference in the offset, the greater the need for core stability and strength to maintain good posture, even if using the same total load. Holding 60 pounds in one hand and 40 pounds in the other is less challenging than holding 80 pounds in one hand and 20 pounds in the other.

When to Use it

You can program the offset carry at the start of your training session, as part of your warm-up or core work before hitting your main workout. Use can also perform it as a superset and pair it with a press, squat, or any exercise that doesn’t demand too much grip strength. For example performing a landmine press for six to 12 reps, then immediately performing the offset carry for 40 yards per side.

How to Do it

Although you can use dumbbells, kettlebells allow several specific offset carry variations. Hold a heavier load on one side of the body, with your arm hanging straight and your palm facing your leg. Hold a weight roughly 50% lighter in your opposite arm. This can either be locked out overhead or in the “rack position” with your arm bent and your thumb near your shoulder.

With a kettlebell, you can also use a “bottoms-up” position, with your arm bent, elbow pointed forward, and the bottom of the kettlebell aimed at the ceiling. This will require you to squeeze the handle extremely hard to maintain the bell’s vertical position.

Figure-8 Trap Bar Carry

One drawback of any loaded carry is that it requires a lot of space to move and some gyms don’t have 20 or 40 yards of clear space to walk. This is the perfect opportunity to take the trap bar figure-8 carry for a literal spin.

Walking in a figure-8 pattern allows you to get more yards out of a limited space. The trap bar makes turns easier as it places less rotational torque on your lower back than dumbbells do.

When to Use it

The movement brings the opportunity go heavy, as the trap bar allows you to carry more load than dumbbells. Use this carry when training space is limited. Program it at the start of your training when your grip is fresh.

How to Do it

Stand in the center of the trap bar, hinge at your hips and slightly bend your legs to grab the handles. Keep a neutral spine and brace your core as you deadlift weight to a standing position. Walk in a figure-8 pattern — go forward for several steps, turn slowly to one side, continue forward, turn slowly to the other side, and repeat.

Resist the urge to hurry. Walking at a controlled, deliberate pace will make your turns easier and safer, and it extends your time under tension. Keep your shoulders down and your chest up. When you’re finished walking for distance or total time, stabilize the weight before lowering it with control.

Trap Bar Overhead Carry

The overhead carry can be great for shoulder health and upper body strength, but not everyone can carry a barbell locked out overhead due to wrist or elbow issues. Enter the trap bar with the neutral handles to put your joints in a more user-friendly position.

Setting the trap bar in a squat rack at shoulder-height works best. With the weight overhead, watch every step you take due to total-body demand and instability.

When to Use it

Use the trap bar overhead carry if you have any wrist or elbow pain when supporting a barbell in the overhead position. Overhead carries are especially demanding of your upper back and shoulder stabilizers, so the movement is best trained early in your workout before those support muscles are fatigued from other exercises.

How to Do it

Set up the trap bar in a squat rack at shoulder-height with the handles pointed down. Step inside the trap bar, facing the direction you are walking. Perform an overhead press and hold the locked out position. Walk slowly straight ahead for a set distance or time. Stand still and carefully turn around before walking back into the squat rack. Lower the weight to the pins and rest.

Trap Bar Suitcase Carry

The suitcase carry is single-arm farmer’s walk, performed with the load in one arm hanging at your side. The offset load is an way to strengthen your lateral core (abdominals and obliques) while building your grip.

The trap bar suitcase carry takes this movement up a notch as the weight is more off-center, forcing your obliques to work harder. You can also potentially use more weight on a trap bar than any dumbbell variation to further your strength gains.

When to Use it

The trap bar suitcase carry works well to emphasize your oblique muscles and stabilizers on the sides of your core. This is another variation to plug in when you want to challenge yourself with heavier loads, or when your available dumbbells only go so high. Perform the exercise as part of your warm-up or early on in your training before grip strength and core stability are exhausted from other movements.

How to Do it

Stand the trap bar on its side and load plates on both ends. Grab the center of the bar, and with your shoulder down, chest up, and shoulders level, and walk slowly with good posture. Once you have gone your programmed distance, put the trap bar down and rest it on the side of your leg. Then hold it with one hand as you turn around. Swap sides and repeat.

Unilateral Chaos Carry

Adding a band around the handle of kettlebell or through the center of a weight plate creates tremendous instability because of the oscillations or “micro-bounces” created with each step. This will light up your core, grip, and shoulder stabilizers.

Gripping the band places unique demands on your grip strength because it’s tough to hold on to. The single-sided load will also increase the challenge to your oblique muscles.

When to Use it

If you have access to resistance bands, this is an excellent variation to incorporate. It’s ideal for focusing on shoulder stabilizer strength and rotator cuff health. You can do this as part of your warm-up or pair it with an exercise during your workout that doesn’t require too much grip strength, like a squat or a press variation.

How to Do it

Wrap a heavy looped band around the kettlebell handle (sometimes called the “horn”) or slide it through the center hole of a weight plate. Holding the band closer to the load makes this exercise easier because there will be less room to bounce. Sliding your hand farther from the weight will increase the difficulty. Keep your shoulder down away from your ear and your chest up. Don’t let your shoulders tilt to compensate for the weight. Walk for distance or time, place the weight down, and then repeat with the opposite hand.

Barbell Overhead Carry

The barbell overhead carry puts your whole body under tension. Every step will test your single-leg balance, strength, concentration, and mental toughness. It also might be one of the most eye-catching movements you can do.

Because the weight is so far from your center of gravity, a little goes a long way. Start on the lighter side, somewhere around 60% of your barbell overhead press one-repetition maximum. This also makes it less difficult to get the weight into position, so you can focus on holding the lockout as you walk.

When to Use it

This is one of the most challenging loaded carry variations because it works every muscle from head to toe and requires laser-like focus. Perform this early in your training before fatiguing any muscles, after your general warm-up and before your main workout.

How to Do it

Set up the barbell in a squat rack near head-height. A wider-than-shoulder-width grip works well for most people, but adjust to your individual arm length and mobility. Press the barbell overhead and ensure your wrists are neutral, elbows are locked out, and your biceps are even or behind your ears. Walk slowly and with total control. Pause and carefully rotate to return the barbell to the squat rack.

Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Waiter’s Carry

The instability of holding a kettlebell “bottoms-up” forces you to squeeze the squeeze the daylights out of the kettlebell’s handle to maintain its inverted position. This does wonders for your grip strength and carries over to increased recruitment of your shoulder stabilizers. (1)

The bottoms-up kettlebell waiter’s carry helps to build your rotator cuff, shoulder stability, and lateral core strength. Your forearm and grip muscles are also called into action non-stop, so don’t be surprised if your grip burns out before your abs or shoulders.

When to Use it

If you’re coming back from a shoulder injury or if you lack the shoulder mobility needed to maintain an overhead carry, this is a great exercise to strengthen your shoulders, rotator cuff, and upper back. If you dislike side planks, this is a good alternative to work your obliques without laying still for 60 boring seconds.

How to Do it

Grip one kettlebell and bring it to shoulder-height with your thumb toward your face and the bell pointed to the ceiling. Bend your elbow and create a roughly 90-degree angle from your forearm through your elbow to your shoulder. Make sure your wrist is neutral and the kettlebell’s handle sits centered in the meat of your hand. With good upright posture, walk straight ahead, swap hands, and repeat.

Bottoms-Up Kettlebell Overhead Carry

This is a more challenging progression of the bottoms-up waiter’s carry. You’ll get increased intensity with a reduced load because of the extra muscular tension needed to hold the bottoms-up KB overhead.

Because the load is farther from your center of gravity, it’s much harder to balance the weight with each step. Your core, shoulder, and arm will be highly activated for the entire set.

When to Use it

When you feel comfortable with the bottoms-up waiter’s carry, use the same load and progress to this alternative. It’s an efficient way to train your upper back, shoulders, and core, with an emphasis on the obliques and shoulder stabilizers.

How to Do it

Grip a kettlebell firmly with the bottom of the bell facing the ceiling. Use a neutral-grip with your thumb toward your face, and press the weight overhead while maintaining the bottoms-up position. Keep your wrist neutral and your pinky facing forward. Walk with the weight locked out overhead. After a set distance or time, lower the weight, switch hands, and repeat.

Zercher Carry

The front-loaded position of the Zercher carry challenges your upper back, core, arms, and legs while dealing with holding the weight in the crooks of your elbows. This helps build some mental toughness, total-body conditioning, and rock-solid anterior core (abdominal and hip) strength.

If you want to improve your ability to deal with physical and mental discomfort, this exercise is for you. However, if supporting a barbell in the crook of your arms is too much, the movement can be performed with an EZ-bar or even a sandbag or duffel bag filled with random objects for heft.

When to Use it

The Zercher carry is tough, no doubt about it. It works well as part of a conditioning circuit to improve fat loss or as a standalone session for mental toughness.

How to Do it

Set up a loaded barbell around hip-height in the squat rack. Squat down and cradle the barbell in the crooks of your elbows with your palms facing you. Clasp your hands together for added strength and stability, pull your shoulders back, and stand up without rounding your back. Avoiding shrugging your shoulders up as you walk. Pause after a set distance or time, turn around, and return to the squat rack. Try not to collapse when the set is done.

Bear Hug Sandbag Carry

When most people think of loaded carries, they think of fairly traditional exercises using balanced and symmetrical implements that give you convenient handles to hold. But how often does that perfect scenario happen outside of the gym? Not often, and that’s why it pays to get a bit awkward with asymmetrical loads like the sandbag carry. (2)

By manipulating unevenly distributed weight, like a floppy sandbag, your body is challenged to recruit a variety of stabilizers in most joints including your ankles, hips, and shoulders.

When to Use it

Whenever you have access to a sandbag, this exercise is great to include as part of a conditioning or fat-loss circuit. It can also be performed as a finisher, for either time or distance, at the end of your training.

How to Do it

Place the sandbag on a flat bench, or leave it on the floor for even more lower body work. Squat down and slide your hands under the bag to set your grip. Pull the bag close to your body as you stand upright. Hug the bag to your torso and stabilize your upper body. Walk upright, maintaining total body tension for safety and effectiveness. Keep the bag close to your body as you walk. Don’t allow the weight to pull your upper body out of alignment as your arms and shoulders fatigue.

Plate Pinch Carry

The plate pinch tests your “pinch grip” strength, which is different from “support grip” (trained in movements like the suitcase carry) or “crushing grip” (trained with bottoms-up movements). The pinch grip specifically strengthens your fingers and thumbs, as well as your forearms.

This is an excellent exercise for football players, rugby players, and combat sports athletes to improve sport-specific grip strength. Stronger hands and fingers will also carry over to boost any pulling exercises, making your grip less of a weak link.

When to Use it

This movement is best trained at the end of your workout because you don’t want to exhaust your finger strength before other exercise, which will interfere with your strength work. Pairing it with a biceps exercise will give your forearms a nice pump.

How to Do it

In each hand, grab a weight plate by the outer ring using just your fingertips and thumb, not “sinking” your entire hand onto the weight. Pull your chest up and set your shoulders down to maintain good posture. Walk straight ahead, paying careful attention to your finger fatigue as you walk. Be careful not to unexpectedly drop the weight on your feet.

Muscles Worked by Carries

Most carry variations work similar muscles, but certain variations can emphasize your upper back, or core strength, shoulder stability, or more. Generally, loaded carries and their variations train the muscles of your back, core, and arms.

Forearms

Any time you pick up a weight, your forearm flexors (on the bottom of your forearm) and extensors (on the top side) co-contract to grip and to keep your wrists in a neutral position.

Your forearm muscles will be more heavily recruited in movements that keep your arms down by your side and relatively less recruited in overhead movements.

Upper Back

Keeping your shoulders down and your chest up  while walking with a load will put your upper back to work overtime. The upper back is composed of several muscles including the trapezius, rhomboids, and rear deltoids (shoulders). These muscles work together to control your shoulder blades, which are held in a static contraction during any walking exercise.

Rotator Cuff

Your small rotator cuff muscles are engaged when you grip anything in your hands. Its primary role is, essentially, to keep your upper arm in its socket. Loaded carries will attempt to push or pull your arm out of position, and the rotator cuff is required to constantly fight to maintain a strong, stable position.

Deltoids

You shoulder muscles (deltoids), along with your rotator cuff, work isometrically to give your shoulders the stability it needs to carry heavy things. Supporting a locked out position overhead or holding your arms in front of your body (as in the sandbag bear hug or Zercher carry) will increase recruitment of the shoulders, specifically the anterior (front) head.

The lateral and posterior heads (side and rear) are more significantly recruited during overhead or “arms-at-your-side” carries.

Core

Your core muscle — the abdominals, obliques, and lower back — work isometrically to keep your spine neutral and to maintain good posture while carrying things. A stronger core can help to reduce your overall risk of injury.(3) Any exercise emphasizing a single-side of the body (like the offset carry) will drastically increase the challenge to your core muscles.

Glutes

When you’re carrying a load, every single step you take will engage your glutes to keep you balanced and to propel you forward through a little thing called hip extension. Hip extension is what drives your leg back behind your body (and, at the same time, pulls your body forward in motion), and it’s a key function of the glutes.

Interestingly, the glutes have been shown to be more heavily recruited in single-arm carries, like the suitcase carry, compared to front-loaded carries like the Zercher carry. (4)

Carry Form Tips

Although you “can” carry some things with less than optimal posture — the sandbag bear hug can be tricky here— it’s more efficient and safer if you don’t let your posture slip. To get all the benefits of carries, it’s best to walk under load with good posture. Keep your shoulders punched back and pulled down away from your ears, keep your chest up, and aim to keep your shoulders and hips level without being pulled sideways.

When you’re new to performing loaded carries, start with the by-your-side variety like the suitcase carry or even the plate pinch carry. The further away the load is from your body’s center, like any overhead carry, the more stability and balance demands increase. If you lack the shoulder mobility to press overhead, stick to carries with a lower arm position while working on your shoulder mobility.

Although increasing the load you carry is often the name of the game, it pays to vary your load and distance depending on your specific goals. If you’re after fat loss or improved conditioning, reduce the weight, shorten the rest period between sets, and increase the total distance. If your goal is strength, increase the load and decrease the distance to shift focus.

Carry Away For Gains

Loaded carries are some of the biggest bang for your buck exercises. They can have a huge carryover to your lifts inside the gym and the activities of daily living because they strengthen key muscle groups in your legs, hips, abs, and shoulders. They can improve your strength, mental toughness, posture, and balance. All you have to do is pick up a weight and walk. Work your way though these variations and you’ll soon find out they sound simple, but they’re far from easy.

References

1. Gontijo, L. B., Pereira, P. D., Neves, C. D., Santos, A. P., Machado, D., & Bastos, V. H. (2012). Evaluation of strength and irradiated movement pattern resulting from trunk motions of the proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation. Rehabilitation research and practice, 2012, 281937. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/281937
2. Sell, Katie PhD, CSCS¹; Taveras, Kurt BS²; Ghigiarelli, Jamie PhD, CSCS¹. Sandbag Training: A Sample 4-Week Training Program. Strength and Conditioning Journal: August 2011 – Volume 33 – Issue 4 – p 88-96 doi: 10.1519/SSC.0b013e318216b587
3. Huxel Bliven, K. C., & Anderson, B. E. (2013). Core stability training for injury prevention. Sports health, 5(6), 514–522. https://doi.org/10.1177/1941738113481200
4. Neumann, D. A., & Cook, T. M. (1985). Effect of load and carrying position on the electromyographic activity of the gluteus medius muscle during walking. Physical therapy, 65(3), 305–311. https://doi.org/10.1093/ptj/65.3.305

Featured Image: lunamarina / Shutterstock

The post 11 Loaded Carry Variations Worth Trying appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

When it comes to a good-looking set of abs, lower ab development is especially coveted. Exercises that involve leg movement, such as various leg lifts or the simple reverse crunch, are commonly used to target this area. Is it a valid strategy? Maybe, as you’ll soon learn.

In any case, the reverse crunch is a simple and effective exercise to build and strengthen your abs, improve spine stabilization, and become a fitter, more muscular human being. For many, it’s the first “leg raising” exercise learned, so it’s time you know how to do it properly and reap its benefits.

• How to Do the Reverse Crunch
• Reverse Crunch Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Reverse Crunch
• Muscles Worked by the Reverse Crunch
• Who Should Do the Reverse Crunch
• How to Program the Reverse Crunch
• Reverse Crunch Variations
• Reverse Crunch Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Reverse Crunch

Even though it’s a beginner-friendly exercise, you have to ensure proper form if you want maximal efficiency while avoiding pain. The reverse crunch is slightly more complex than a traditional crunch because it involves leg movement, torso flexion, as well as spinal control. Here’s how to do it right.

Step 1 — Lie Down in Position

No need for equipment — except for a gym mat if you need some comfort. Simply lie down on the floor. Keep your upper body completely flat, squeeze your glutes, and tilt your pelvis backwards to push your lower back into the ground. This will prevent your lower back from arching at any point during the lift.

Place your arms on the floor by your side, palms down, and use them for balance. Bend your legs and set your feet flat on the ground.

Form tip: If you have trouble keeping your lower back flat, lift your shoulder blades slightly off the ground. This will help you create more tension in your abs and provide more control over your spine and hips. Having an arched back reduces your ability to contract your abs.

Step 2 — Bring Your Knees Toward Your Head

Take a breath into your belly and brace your abs. Tuck your legs towards your face until your hips and lower back lift from the ground. As your legs move, maintain a roughly 90-degree angle at your knees.

No other movement should occur in your body: keep your legs at the same angle, brace as much as you can, and drive your hands into the ground to stabilize yourself. Go slow so that you don’t risk losing posture. In the top position, your hips should be off the ground for maximum ab recruitment.

Form tip: If you want to make the exercise harder, straighten your legs as you begin the movement or after you’ve reached the top position. This creates a longer lever arm and increases the challenge on your core muscles.

Step 3 — Lower Your Legs With Control

Lower your legs slowly until your feet touch the ground and you’ve returned to the starting position. Moving at a relatively slower speed helps you feel your abs working and eliminates momentum.

To keep tension in your core, don’t allow your lower back to arch as you bring your legs down. Keep your pelvis tilted backwards and your lower back pushed into the ground throughout the entire repetition.

Form tip: If your back begins to arch as your legs move, bend your legs more. Shortening the range of motion can also help. Until you have enough total-core control, only lower your legs until you feel your back starting to arch, and then reverse the movement.

Reverse Crunch Mistakes to Avoid

Ab exercises that incorporate leg movement are prone to bad form because many people lose focus. Even though the reverse crunch is probably the simplest leg raise-type of exercise, mistakes are still frequent.

Arching Your Lower Back

This is a frequent mistake with beginners, because many new lifters lack spinal control and core strength. Arching your lower back will decrease ab involvement and shift more of the workload towards the hip flexors.

Is it a bad thing? Well, if you want better-looking abs, it won’t be as efficient. More importantly, this can cause stress on the lower back region. If you want to avoid pain and potential injuries, aim to minimize lower back arching and hip flexor involvement. (1)

Avoid it: Make sure your core is always braced and under tension. When you’re not flexing your trunk, make sure your lower back is firmly in contact with the ground. Do the exercise slowly and with control. Slightly elevate your shoulder blades from the floor to further engage your core, if needed. 

Using Momentum

It can be tempting to allow momentum to take over because it makes the exercise easier, but it will greatly diminish muscle activation. If you start swinging your legs around, you’ll end up using mostly your hip flexors in lieu of your abs, and you risk arching your lower back during the eccentric (descent).

If you’re aiming for muscle growth, this is inefficient as it will also reduce time under tension and you’ll have to perform many more repetitions, and spend more time and overall effort, just to have the same stimulus as a strict movement. (2) This can also put more strain on your hip joints and lower back, possibly resulting in pain or injuries.

Avoid it: There is a certain execution speed at which your body will lose muscle tension and optimal bracing. You should never reach that speed but, unfortunately, you only know it once you reach it. If you’re not sure, simply use a slow tempo — two to three seconds on the concentric (lifting) and two to three seconds for the eccentric (lowering).

Benefits of the Reverse Crunch

The simplest exercises are often the most efficient, and the reverse crunch is no exception. Learn how this lift can improve your fitness and provide benefits that other ab exercises lack.

Abdominal Muscle Growth

They say that “abs are made in the kitchen,” but they are actually made in the gym. A balanced diet and a healthy body fat will only reveal them, but if you want to display an impressive set of abs, you have to train them like any other muscle.

A properly executed reverse crunch will offer significant time under tension and provide a different stimulus than what your abs are used to if you’ve only been doing standard crunches or sit-ups. Incorporating the movement for variety will also help build more muscle. (3)

Core Strength

This exercise will improve ab strength and boost your core and bracing abilities. The reverse crunch teaches you how to transfer energy from your your core to other limbs (your legs, specifically). You also learn how to brace properly for maximum efficiency and strength.

The general principle is similar to squatting, where your core helps you transfer the energy from your legs through your core and into the barbell. The reverse crunch can help you get better at compound exercises which require core stability, making you a stronger and more complete lifter.

Spinal Control

The hard part of the exercise is actually to exert proper ab tension while bracing enough to prevent your lower back from arching. Maintaining this strong position will teach you how to stabilize your spine and efficiently brace your core. Improved spinal stability and control can reduce your risk of lower back pain and injuries, and improve your total-body strength. (4)(5)

Muscles Worked by the Reverse Crunch

The reverse crunch is a trunk flexion exercise, which means that it will mainly target the rectus abdominis, but most of the core will actually contribute. Ab exercises which incorporate leg movement are said to emphasize lower-ab development. Let’s see if that’s true and what muscles it trains.

Rectus Abdominis

This is the famous “six pack.” It’s the most visible ab muscle and goes from the pelvis to the sternum. The main function of the rectus abdominis is to flex the trunk by bringing the ribs and the pelvis closer together.

Now, here’s the tricky part: It is often claimed that you can “target” the upper or lower sections of the muscle. Typically, ab exercises which bring the ribs closer to the pelvis are considered “upper ab exercises.” Movements which bring the pelvis closer to the ribs, like the reverse crunch, are thought to be “lower ab exercises.”

However, the rectus abdominis is still one single muscle (with multiple tendons running across it) so it is always fully contracted. Is it really possible to emphasize the lower separate from the upper? Let’s look at the research.

One study didn’t find a significant difference between exercises in terms of upper or lower ab recruitment. (6) But the exercises were performed with the lifters’ hands under their lower back, which might have caused less lower abs involvement by increasing the back arch.

Comparatively, some studies have found a difference in activation. (7) If the hips are flexed towards the ribs while the upper body remains stationary, the lower abs have been shown to do more work.

So it seems that recruiting the lower abs is highly related to exercise selection. You cannot “isolate” the upper or the lower abs — the rectus abdominis will always work as a whole — but some movements can stress either section slightly more. Properly performed exercises that contract the abdominals by rotating your pelvis closer to your (stationary) ribcage may emphasize the lower abs more than the upper. (8)

Obliques

The internal and external obliques are the “side abs” going from your hip bones up towards your ribs. They are significantly recruited when twisting from the waist or bending sideways.

The obliques are also slightly involved in flexing the trunk, and they work heavily to prevent the body from bending or twisting. They are recruited, particularly in the top portion of the reverse crunch, to stabilize your lower body as it raises slightly into the air.

Hip Flexors

The hip flexors are a series of muscles responsible for bringing the leg up towards the body. These relatively small but powerful muscles are involved in the reverse crunch because of the leg movement. They are particularly activated as your legs are lowered to the ground and raised from it.

If you fail to lift your pelvis towards your torso in the top part of each repetition, the hip flexors (and not the abdominals) will be the primary muscles worked during the reverse crunch.

Who Should Do the Reverse Crunch

Ab exercises can be useful to virtually anyone, so you should likely include some direct ab exercises in your training. Here’s when the reverse crunch, specifically, is most beneficial.

People Who Want to Look Good

If you want to sport an aesthetic physique, then you need to do some direct ab work. One psychology study even revealed that well-developed abdominals are the most desirable body part for men, and in the top three for women. (9)

If you want your upper body to be pleasing to the eye, then including reverse crunches as part of your training will go a long way, especially when paired with a specific fat loss diet and an overall well-muscled physique.

Strength Athletes

Many strength lifts such as squats, deadlifts, or presses require a strong core to support moving the heaviest weights possible. The reverse crunch can help by developing the muscles responsible for increasing intra-abdominal pressure, improving spinal control and stability, and increasing bracing abilities. A stronger core is shown to help make you stronger as a whole. (10)

Sports Athletes

In the same fashion, core strength will help you develop more speed and power if you’re a general sports athlete. (11) We rarely think of it, but running, jumping, and throwing all require core strength and total-body coordination. Moreover, the reverse crunch strengthens the hip flexors, which will are heavily involved in running, jumping, and agility.

People with Back Issues

If you’ve experienced back pain, or want to prevent it, strengthening your abs is just as important as strengthening your lower back. The body needs balance in order to perform optimally. Unfortunately, modern life often leads to muscular imbalances, poor posture, and a lack of general physical condition. The reverse crunch can help you combat these potential lower back issues by improving core strength. (12)

How to Program the Reverse Crunch

As a basic bodyweight exercise, the reverse crunch is quite straightforward to program. You can also add some resistance to spice things up a bit. Adopt these repetition schemes if you want maximal benefit, instead of doing countless low-effort reps.

Unweighted, Moderate to High Reps

This is a common range for ab exercises. Three to four sets of 10 to 20 repetitions with 30 to 60 seconds of rest will do the trick, provided you use perfect form. If you can bang out an ultra-high number of reps, it’s an indicator that you’re using improper form or you’re a beast that needs to add some resistance.

Weighted, Moderate Reps

You can either secure a small weight plate on your ankles and shins or hold a dumbbell or medicine ball between your feet. A load that’s difficult for three to four sets of six to 12 repetitions will provide an increased challenge to build strength or stimulate new growth. It’s essential to keep your form the same or it will defeat the purpose of the exercise.

Reverse Crunch Variations

Perhaps you’ve had enough of lying on the ground or you want to stimulate your abs and hip flexors in a new fashion. Here are some kickass variations that will share the same benefits as the reverse crunch and focus on your lower abs.

Hanging Leg Raise

Hang from a pull-up bar, hanging knee raise station, or Roman chair. To really recruit your abs and not focus on your hip flexors, be sure to curl your pelvis up toward your chest at the top of the movement.

This is an efficient movement because it can easily be scaled down, by bending the legs, or scaled up by aiming to touch your feet to the bar over your head. Moreover, the hanging version will also “decompress” your spine, providing comfortable relief after an intense pulling workout or leg day.

V-Up

This is a relatively advanced bodyweight exercise, but if you’ve mastered the reverse crunch, this can be a progression instead of adding resistance. The v-up is one of the most powerful movements to improve core bracing because it requires a high level of abdominal tension combined with leg and arm movement.

The exercise will teach you to transfer energy efficiently between your limbs, as well as provide a serious workout for the abs, hip flexors, and even the serratus — a key muscle for shoulder stability and performance.

Lying Leg Raise

This is the reverse crunch’s almost-identical twin brother. It appears similar, but subtle differences offer unique benefits. The lying leg raise only involves leg movement without raising the pelvis or hips, so it will focus more on recruiting the hip flexors.

However, as long as you prevent any lower back arching, your abs will get a serious workout as well. The overall technique is less complicated, making it is relatively simpler than the reverse crunch.

Reverse Crunch Alternatives

What if you want to train your abs while emphasizing the upper part? Don’t worry, you’re covered with these alternatives.

Crunch

The direct opposite of the reverse crunch. The good ol’ crunch is often butchered because the range of motion is so short, but when done correctly, it can be a fantastic ab exercise.

Because it only involves upper trunk flexion, this exercise will torch your upper abs. The basic crunch is possibly one of the most simple and effective ways to train the abs.

Cable Crunch

This exercise is favored for its simplicity and for how convenient it is to add potentially heavy resistance. The cable crunch is the bread and butter for any lifter who wants to build a powerful core.

The cable crunch is one of the best ways to develop stronger, bigger abs through progressive overload. A properly done cable crunch will result in superior upper abs recruitment with little to no hip flexor involvement.

Sit-up

The sit-up is the quintessential ab exercise found in many professional and athletic physical fitness tests. It’s highly efficient for building, and assessing, total core strength and development.

Like all crunch variations, you can easily add external resistance with a weight plate or weighted vest, but many lifters find the properly performed sit-up to be relatively challenging due to the long range of motion.

FAQs

Should I do the reverse crunch at the start or at the end of a workout?

Both can be valid tactics. Training abs at the end of a workout is the traditional way to go, and for good reason. By finishing with ab work, your core won’t be as fatigued during the session when you want to be fresh for heavier exercises, like squats.

But if you’re someone that loathes training abs, doing them first will ensure that you don’t skip them because you’re “too tired” after an exhausting workout. You probably won’t be as strong during the first few  sessions, but you’ll likely adapt and benefit in the long-run.

Will the reverse crunch shred my abs?

Unfortunately, no. This exercise will strengthen your abs and stimulate muscle growth, so they can look better, but you have to be able to see them first. The only thing that will reveal your abs is to achieve a low enough body fat percentage.

For that, you need to check your energy expenditure and be in a caloric deficit long enough so that you melt your belly and reveal your six-pack. You can consume less calories, and/or burn more calories through physical activities or cardio.

Reverse Engineer Your Way to a Great Set of Abs

Incorporating the reverse crunch in your training regimen doesn’t just deliver a better looking six-pack. It’s an overlooked way to build a stronger and healthier core. It’s time to stop avoiding ab work, get on the floor, and get those knees up.

References

1. Avrahami, D., & Potvin, J. R. (2014). The clinical and biomechanical effects of fascial-muscular lengthening therapy on tight hip flexor patients with and without low back pain. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association, 58(4), 444–455.
2. Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, Little JP, Cochran AJ, Hector AJ, Cashaback JG, Gibala MJ, Potvin JR, Baker SK, Phillips SM. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012 Jan 15;590(2):351-62. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200. Epub 2011 Nov 21. PMID: 22106173; PMCID: PMC3285070.
3. Baz-Valle E, Schoenfeld BJ, Torres-Unda J, Santos-Concejero J, Balsalobre-Fernández C. The effects of exercise variation in muscle thickness, maximal strength and motivation in resistance trained men. PLoS One. 2019 Dec 27;14(12):e0226989. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226989. PMID: 31881066; PMCID: PMC6934277.
4. Huxel Bliven KC, Anderson BE. Core stability training for injury prevention. Sports Health. 2013 Nov;5(6):514-22. doi: 10.1177/1941738113481200. PMID: 24427426; PMCID: PMC3806175.
5. Stokes IA, Gardner-Morse MG, Henry SM. Abdominal muscle activation increases lumbar spinal stability: analysis of contributions of different muscle groups. Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon). 2011 Oct;26(8):797-803. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2011.04.006. Epub 2011 May 14. PMID: 21571410; PMCID: PMC3157598.
6. Lehman GJ, McGill SM. Quantification of the differences in electromyographic activity magnitude between the upper and lower portions of the rectus abdominis muscle during selected trunk exercises. Phys Ther. 2001 May;81(5):1096-101. PMID: 11319934.
7. Sarti MA, Monfort M, Fuster MA, Villaplana LA. Muscle activity in upper and lower rectus abdominus during abdominal exercises. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1996 Dec;77(12):1293-7. doi: 10.1016/s0003-9993(96)90195-1. PMID: 8976314.
8. Duncan M. (2009). Muscle activity of the upper and lower rectus abdominis during exercises performed on and off a Swiss ball. Journal of bodywork and movement therapies, 13(4), 364–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2008.11.008
9. Durkee PK, Polo P, Muñoz-Reyes JA, et al. Men’s Bodily Attractiveness: Muscles as Fitness Indicators. Evolutionary Psychology. April 2019. doi:10.1177/1474704919852918 
10. Kocahan T, Akınoğlu B. Determination of the relationship between core endurance and isokinetic muscle strength of elite athletes. J Exerc Rehabil. 2018 Jun 30;14(3):413-418. doi: 10.12965/jer.1836148.074. PMID: 30018927; PMCID: PMC6028208.
11. Shinkle J, Nesser TW, Demchak TJ, McMannus DM. Effect of core strength on the measure of power in the extremities. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Feb;26(2):373-80. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e31822600e5. PMID: 22228111.
12. Kumar T, Kumar S, Nezamuddin M, Sharma VP. Efficacy of core muscle strengthening exercise in chronic low back pain patients. J Back Musculoskelet Rehabil. 2015;28(4):699-707. doi: 10.3233/BMR-140572. PMID: 25467999.

Featured Image: MDV Edwards / Shutterstock

The post How to Do the Reverse Crunch for Strong, Well-Developed Abs appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Once you start training them effectively, you can end up looking better, moving better, and feeling better. These workouts may look simple, but don’t be fooled because simple does not mean easy. Get ready to build a midsection that will help you crush any workout and, if needed, anyone.

Best Dumbbell Ab Workouts

• For Strength
• For Muscle
• For Fat Loss

Best Dumbbell Ab Workout for Strength

If you want to get stronger, training your abs is extremely underrated. You might be more focused on heavy squats and deadlifts. While these types of big movements do require abdominal engagement, you’re limited to the amount of direct exposure to properly train those muscles with progressive overload through longer ranges of motion. (1)

To really build serious core and total-body strength, expose your abdominal muscles to a variety of challenges and stimuli when both creating and resisting movement. During compound movements, that happens through the sagittal plane when you are resisting flexion and extension (abdominal bending and straightening) using isometric contractions to create tension.

The Core Strength Workout 

This workout exposes your abdominal muscles to unique stresses that aren’t already addressed in your training program. It will challenge your abs to resist and redirect force, as well as overcome direct resistance in different directions. Perform this workout two to three times per week at the end of your other sessions.

Dumbbell Plank Pull-Through 

• How to Do it: Place one dumbbell on the ground and position yourself at arm’s length to the side. Begin with your hands, knees, and toes on the floor. Set shoulders directly over your wrists and your knees directly under your hips. Keep your arms straight and actively push your hands into the ground while reaching your shoulders down to engage your serratus anterior. With the hand farthest from the weight, reach across your body and then drag the dumbbell across the floor underneath you. Take three to four seconds to move the weight, which should allow you to feel your abdominal muscles working. Continue dragging the weight until your arm is fully extended. Don’t allow your body to tilt or rotate. Switch hands and return the weight to the starting position.

• Sets and Reps: 3 x 16 total reps, alternating sides each rep for 8 reps per side/per set.
• Rest time: 60 seconds between sets.

Dumbbell Sit-Up

• How to Do it: Lie on the ground and hold one dumbbell by the ends, horizontally, under your chin and resting on your chest. The key is to keep the weight touching your body, which will make the initial part of the sit-up much harder (in a beneficial way). It also ensures that your abdominals, not your hip flexors, are performing the movement. (2) Dig your heels into the floor and pull them back statically to engage your hamstrings. Curl your torso toward your knees. When you successfully get to the top, slowly lower yourself down back to the start position. Keep your head and shoulders away from the floor so you don’t fully relax in between each rep.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10
• Rest time: 60 seconds between sets.

Dumbbell Side Bend 

• How to Do it: Stand up straight with one dumbbell in the suitcase position (in one hand, at hip-level as if carrying a suitcase). Without rotating or twisting, lean your upper body down towards the weight and feel a stretch along the other side of your body. Maintain a stable base and don’t shift your entire weight over to the side. Your individual range of motion will be different based on overall mobility and strength. When you’ve reached the maximum comfortable stretch, pull yourself back to an upright position using the stretch your obliques and core. Avoid “over-correcting” or leaning too far over to the opposite side. Perform all reps on one side before switching hands.
• Sets and Reps: 3 x 10 reps per side.
• Rest time: No rest between sides. 60 seconds between sets.

Best Dumbbell Ab Workout for Muscle Gain

Many people think abs are closely associated with fat loss, and that’s a fair connection. However, the abdominal muscles are, in fact, muscles just like any other. They can be trained for growth which, just like your biceps, calves, or any other muscle group, can help them stand out and look even better.

How to Build More Muscular Abs

These three moves will make your abs look and feel like they have been carved out of rich mahogany. To really build muscle, challenge the abdominals with both more load and more volume than they’re used to. Perform this workout three to four times per week.

Dumbbell Double Crunch

• How to Do it: Lie on the ground with your legs bent and your heels elevated on a bench, box, or stability ball. Hold a dumbbell from the sides with both hands and straighten your arms above your chest. Crunch your upper body while reaching the weight straight up towards the ceiling, not forward towards your feet. While you’re reaching up, simultaneously push your heels down into the bench and lift your hips up a few inches away from the floor. Hold the double-contracted position for a second and then slowly return yourself to the start position. This exercise gets nasty pretty quickly so get ready to embrace the burn. 
• Sets and Reps: 4 x 8-10
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Leg Raise

• How to Do it: Lie on a flat bench, with your body positioned towards one end, and place the dumbbell handle between your thighs. Hold the bench behind your head and extend your parallel with the floor. Bend your legs as you pull your knees towards you with control. Squeeze your legs tightly to control the weight. Focus on covering your stomach with your thighs instead of trying to bring your knees to your elbows.
• Sets and Reps: 4 x 8-10
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Dumbbell Side Bend 

• How to Do it: Stand up straight with one dumbbell in the suitcase position (in one hand, at hip-level as if carrying a suitcase). Without rotating or twisting, lean your upper body down towards the weight and feel a stretch along the other side of your body. Maintain a stable base and don’t shift your entire weight over to the side. Your individual range of motion will be different based on overall mobility and strength. When you’ve reached the maximum comfortable stretch, pull yourself back to an upright position using the stretch your obliques and core. Avoid “over-correcting” or leaning too far over to the opposite side. Perform all reps on one side before switching hands.
• Sets and Reps: 4 x 10 per side.
• Rest time: No rest between sides. 45 seconds rest before returning to the first exercise.

Best Dumbbell Ab Workout for Fat Loss

Unfortunately, there are no specific ab workouts or special ab exercises that will increase the rate of fat loss or weight loss. To improve body composition, you need to maintain or increase overall activity throughout the week while adjusting your nutrition, to support a calorie deficit.

The Program to Reveal Abs

Here’s a simple and effective ab routine to increase your weekly training load, increase calorie-burning, and maintain strength and muscle as you drop body fat. Perform this workout two to three times per week at the end of your other strength training sessions.

Dumbbell Renegade Row

• How to Do it: Start in a plank position (top of push-up) with legs straight and your toes on the ground. Begin with both arms straight, with one hand on the ground and the other holding a dumbbell directly under your shoulder. Row the dumbbell towards your ribs while actively pressing the other arm into the ground. Resist any twisting at your hips or shoulders. Perform all reps with one side before switching arms.

• Sets and Reps: 3 x 8 reps per side.
• Rest time: No rest between sides, no rest before moving to the next exercise.

Chest Press in a Hollow Hold

• How to Do it: Lie on the ground in the “hollow rock” position — both legs extended and your heels and shoulders lifted off the ground. Raise your feet slightly higher than your hips, and press your lower back into the floor to engage your core and stabilize your body. Maintain this static position throughout the exercise. Hold one dumbbell at chest-level horizontally, grabbing it at each end. Perform a repetition by pressing the weight towards the ceiling. Reach as far as possible to really engage the serratus anterior and oblique muscles.

• Sets and Reps: 3 x 8-10
• Rest time: No rest before moving to the next exercise.

Half-Kneeling Wood Chop

• How to Do it: Start in a half-kneeling position, holding a dumbbell with both hands near the hip of your “down” leg. Bring the weight up towards the opposite shoulder while rotating at the waist and straightening your arms. Return to the starting position. Perform all reps on one side before switching legs.

• Sets and Reps: 3 x 16 reps on each side. 
• Rest time: No rest between sides. 30 seconds rest between sets before returning to the first exercise.

The Ab Muscles

To some peoples’ surprise, “the abs” aren’t one single muscle. A group of several muscles —some visible on the surface and some deeper but just as important — work in coordination to control your torso position, provide stability, and offer postural support and strength.

Rectus Abdominis

This muscle gets the glory and is recognized as the main ab muscle. The rectus abdominis is divided into several “sections” depending on your unique genetic structure and tendon arrangement. This is why some people may “only” ever develop four-pack abs while others can be capable of building an eight-pack — it’s not about specific exercises or dieting, the end result is entirely genetic.

The rectus abdominis controls torso flexion (bending your upper body) and it plays a role in resisting extension (bending backwards) and resisting lateral flexion (bending sideways). 

Transverse Abdominis

The deep and powerful core muscle, your transverse abdominis is essential for serious core strength. It is heavily involved in creating intra-abdominal pressure, which stabilizes the lower back. The transverse abs are also significantly activated to resist flexion and extension, and helps to create a stable pillar throughout your upper body.

Internal and External Obliques

The obliques, found on either side of the abs, are most recognized for their rotational power and strength. Any movement which involves twisting at the hips, or which prevents the waist from rotating, will rely on well-developed oblique muscles. They are also responsible for lateral bending as well as resisting movement to the sides.

Ab and Core Warm-Up

Like any body part, a thorough warm-up is critical for optimal performance with a reduced chance of injury. When it comes to weighted ab exercises, one very efficient way to warm-up is to perform the exercises without weight before grabbing the dumbbells.

Especially since ab training is typically performed at the end of a training session, you shouldn’t need a general, total-body warm-up. Simply run through your intended exercises, without added weight, for several reps to prime the specific movement pattern and directly prepare the muscles and joints.

For example, you may prepare for the strength workout by holding a basic plank position, performing several sit-ups, and performing unweighted side bends before beginning the weight-bearing versions of the exercises.

Ab Training is Essential

Your abs play an important role in many different activities and exercises, yet including specific exercises to really challenge them is treated as less-than-important. The standard bodyweight-only ab training will only take your results so far. Just like any other muscle, the abs need be loaded and progressed overtime with either more reps, more weight or both. Make intense ab training a higher priority, and watch your performance and physique grow.

References

1. van den Tillaar, R., & Saeterbakken, A. H. (2018). Comparison of Core Muscle Activation between a Prone Bridge and 6-RM Back Squats. Journal of human kinetics, 62, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1515/hukin-2017-0176
2. Workman, J. C., Docherty, D., Parfrey, K. C., & Behm, D. G. (2008). Influence of pelvis position on the activation of abdominal and hip flexor muscles. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 22(5), 1563–1569. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181739981

Featured Image: Maridav / Shutterstock

The post The Best Dumbbell Ab Workouts for a Stronger, Better-Looking Core appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The first comes by way of a calculated diet for fat loss (mostly). Strength and muscle are forged in the gym, by selecting the right exercises and executing them with picture-perfect form. We can’t train for you, but we can point you in the right direction. And your journey to a stronger, leaner core should start with the cable crunch.

Arnold Schwarzenegger was a staunch supporter of the cable crunch, and though we could rest our case there, we’d be remiss if we failed to touch on its benefits: Optimal core tension from the cable pulley, a longer range of motion for a greater muscle-building stimulus, and did we mention Arnold loves the move?

Here’s everything you need to know to start doing cable crunches today.

• How to Do the Cable Crunch
• Cable Crunch Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Cable Crunch
• Muscles Worked by the Cable Crunch
• Who Should Do the Cable Crunch
• How to Program the Cable Crunch
• Cable Crunch Variations
• Cable Crunch Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Cable Crunch

The cable crunch uses added resistance to train the abs, with a focus on their most contracted position. The movement is strict abdominal flexion with the aim of bringing your sternum and pelvis towards each other. During this exercise, your hips should remain stable and in a fixed position.

Step 1 — Get Into the Starting Position

Attach a rope to the high cable pulley and set the pulley at eye level. Take hold of the rope in each hand as you take about three steps back before kneeling on the ground. Kneel “tall” with your shins on the ground and your thighs vertical. Lean your torso slightly forward.

Pull the rope down until your elbows are roughly at a 90-degree angle to your torso and your hands are in front of your forehead. Hold the weight in this static position throughout the entire set.

Form Tip: Muscles in a static position are always stronger than when movement is involved, so maintaining a stable arm position should not be excessively fatiguing. If your arm, shoulder, or back muscles fatigue before your abs, reduce the weight. Performing the exercise consistently will build strength in the supporting muscles.

Step 2 — Perform the Crunch

Breathe in as you brace your core. Breathe out as you start to flex at the trunk and engage your rectus abdominis (ab muscles) to crunch your upper body forward and down. Your hips and arms should remain in a fixed position and stable as you fully contract the abs.

Don’t allow your hips or glutes to move backwards while crunching because it will reduce the exercise’s effectiveness.

Form Tip: Think about getting your face closer to your knees or your elbows to your thighs. Focus on curling your torso, not keeping your torso straight while bending at the hips.

Step 3 — Return to the Starting Position

 

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As you begin to rise back up after reaching the bottom position, breathe in slowly and actively contract your spinal erectors (lower back) to “un-curl” and pull yourself up. Being mindful of this will assist in controlling the eccentric (lowering of the weight) and will allow you to lengthen the abdominals while keeping your hips stable. When your torso is upright again, repeat another rep.

Form Tip: Perform this phase of the exercise at a slower speed than the crunching phase, taking two or three seconds to reach the top position. The slower rep speed allows you to focus on maintaining technique and ensures strict form.

Cable Crunch Mistakes to Avoid

There are a few common mistakes that you will want to avoid to maximize the effectiveness of the cable crunch.

Most problems stem from recruiting the wrong muscles to move the weight or not putting your body in an optimal position to recruit the abs effectively.

Setting Your Hips Too Low

If your hips are too low when performing the cable crunch, you will rely on using your own body as a counterweight to move the resistance. Your hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors will also be significantly involved in an exercise which should be primarily targeting your abdominals.

When you shift your hips back, you’re unable to achieve a full range of motion because your torso cannot fully contract and your torso cannot flex forward far enough.

Avoid It: Ensure movement comes from the spine, not the tailbone. Keep your hips high and locked in place in order to flex only from the trunk. Your glutes should not move closer to your feet during the exercise.

Taking the Wrong Grip

This may seem too simple, but your hand positioning plays an important role in leveraging your body from an effective position. Your hands and arms can also be a visual guide to make sure your hips are high enough.

Most people will pull the rope attachment down, resting their hands on their shoulders or upper chest. Pulling the weight “in” to your body can encourage you to sit back onto your heels rather than keeping your thighs up straight.

Avoid it: Keep the rope in front of your body with your arms bent. This encourages your shoulders, core, and entire upper body to be more engaged. Have the knuckles on both hands touching each other with your hands roughly at the height of your forehead. Your hands should remain in front of your face throughout each rep.

Benefits of the Cable Crunch

Not too many exercises require you to use the abs to directly move a weight. However, there are few better ways to train a muscle than against progressively overloaded resistance. The cable crunch allows you to challenge your abs not only by doing more reps, but by gradually lifting heavier each week.

This is exactly the type of training that builds powerful, great-looking  muscles, whether it’s your abs, pecs, or legs.

More Core Strength

A strong set of abs can go a long way in improving your strength potential in many other lifts, such as your bench press, squat, and deadlift. The cable crunch directly trains the rectus abdominis which plays an important role in your ability to brace your core effectively. Stronger abs allow a more stable torso, which allows power to be transferred through to the working muscles.

Longer Range of Motion

The range of motion in any given exercise is an important factor in building muscle. The cable crunch provides a much longer range of motion in contrast to many other abdominal exercises like standard crunches or sit-ups. With a deep stretch in the top position and a full contraction at the bottom, the cable crunch works the abs through a significant range of motion.

Building Ab Muscle

You hopefully wouldn’t try to build arm size performing 50 reps of curls with no weight in your hand, but that’s how many people approach ab training. While the abs won’t grow inches thicker, they are made of muscle tissue which needs to be developed to look its best. The cable crunch trains your abs against resistance, which stimulates muscle growth and builds a good-looking set of abs.

Muscles Worked by the Cable Crunch

The cable crunch is an abdominal flexion exercise, with no twisting or rotating. This makes it an ideal exercise for zeroing in on the primary ab muscle — the rectus abdominis.

When done correctly, it produces a serious contraction along the entire ab muscle.

Rectus Abdominis

The rectus abdominis attaches the sternum, the connective tissue of the ribs, and the pelvis. Its primary function is flexion of the spine, or flexing the trunk forward. It also contributes to postural support for your entire upper body.

Hip Flexors

The hip flexors are a series of small muscles found at the top of the thigh around the hip bones, appropriately. They connect the pelvis to the lower back and are responsible for bringing the legs closer to the chest. During the cable crunch, the hip flexors should not be significantly activated unless the hips move improperly during the exercise.

Who Should Do the Cable Crunch

The cable crunch can help any lifter improve their ability to tense and contract their abs. This can only help to sculpt a nice-looking set of abs (once you remove some body fat to reveal the ab muscles), but it also provides a functional benefit improving your ability to perform a variety of exercises.

Training For Strength

Improving your abdominal strength builds a strong core, which is essential for moving big weights in any lift. If you’re losing your squats and deads by falling forwards or not bracing hard enough during presses, cable crunches are an useful assistance movement to support total-body strength.

Training For Muscle

If you are training purely for aesthetic purposes, the cable crunch is just as useful to you as lat pulldowns, triceps pressdowns, or any other targeted cable exercise. The cable pulley is ideal for constant tension, slightly higher reps, and extended time under tension which can provide your abs with a greater stimulation of muscle growth. (1)

How to Program the Cable Crunch

The cable crunch can be programmed in a number of different ways to benefit your specific training objective.

Moderate Weight, Moderate Reps

Performing the cable crunch for three to four sets of eight to 12 reps will provide the most bang for your muscle-building buck. Focus on the strength of your contractions and progressively overload the exercise just like you would for your primary strength lifts.

A steady and controlled tempo will be best-suited, taking your time to feel every inch of your abdominal muscles contracting and lengthening throughout each rep.

Low Weight, High Reps

Performing the cable crunch for two to three sets of 13 reps or more will allow you to add a greater amount of volume to your ab training and will be most useful at the end of your workout to finish off your abs.

The emphasis is on maintaining tension on the abdominals and providing a continual contraction, which leads to the feeling of being “pumped.” Perform reps steadily without pausing at any point in the movement. Take two seconds when you return to the starting position, no pause at the top, take one second to contract the abs, and have no pause at the bottom. This will complete one rep at 2-0-1-0 tempo.

Cable Crunch Variations

Here are two effective variations which can be switched out in place of, or in addition to, the standard cable crunch depending on your specific needs and overall workout program.

Standing Cable Crunch

The standing cable crunch can improve your strength and stability throughout your core, while also allowing for a great range of motion. However, that also comes with an increase in the difficulty of achieving maximum contraction in the abs.

The movement is performed by closing the gap between your sternum and pelvis. Avoid thinking about bending straight down. To assist with good form, think about bringing your hips forward as you crunch and looking at your belt buckle.

Machine Crunch

The machine crunch can make it easier to target the abdominal muscles because the machine puts you in a good position. In this variation, you sit upright and the machine will assist in flexing your torso, with your chest and thighs meeting in the middle.

This exercise variation can assist you in developing a greater mind-muscle connection since you can focus on feeling the abs instead of coordinating movement during the exercise. An improved mind-muscle connection can then translate into feeling the muscle working even more effectively during more difficult exercises like the cable crunch.

Cable Crunch Alternatives

In order to be a successful exercise alternative, the primary muscle needs to be the rectus abdominis. The movement needs to involve flexing the spine with a full contraction of the abdominals, and without twisting or rotating the torso.

Floor Crunch

Floor crunches are the most simple alternative that can be used in place of the cable crunch. All you need is a floor and you are good to go.

It’s easy to perform and has an extremely short range of motion. This exercise is most often associated with lifters who are new to training and learning how to perform the fundamentals.

Sit-Up

Sit-ups are a very similar exercise to crunches, but provide a longer range of motion (similar to the cable crunch), which makes them relatively more challenging.

This exercise can be progressively overloaded with the use of a weight held to your chest or over your head throughout each rep.

Decline Bench Sit-Up

The closest exercise alternative to the cable crunch is the decline bench sit-up due to the significant range of motion and spinal flexion needed to perform the movement. All you need is a bench set to a declined angle.

You can make the exercise more challenging by raising the angle of the bench and/or by adding resistance using a dumbbell or weight plate.

FAQs

Are cable crunches effective at shredding abs?

Cable crunches are effective at building a strong set of abs and they provide a direct muscle growth stimulus.  However, doing cable crunches to get shredded won’t work. No ab exercise can help with that.

The only way to reveal a defined set of abs is to focus on your daily energy balance and make sure that you consistently stay within a caloric deficit. This is generally achieved by a reduction in total calories and/or an increase in your energy expenditure.

Can I injure myself when performing cable crunches?

Performing any exercise with incorrect technique can increase your risk of injury. The cable crunch isn’t as high-risk as the deadlift or back squat, but performing it with poor form can lead to some problems.

If you are not rounding your back properly and fully flexing your abs in the bottom position, you may prevent your rectus abdominis muscles from contracting effectively which can restrict you from training through a full range of motion and will interrupt progress. Involving your hip flexors by excessively sitting back or sitting down can aggravate lower back issues, because the hip flexors are connected to the lumbar spine.

Get Down and Crunch

The cable crunch is one of the few exercises requiring the abs to work against resistance instead of being performed with just your bodyweight. This makes the exercise a high priority for building stronger, better developed abs. It’s time to start practicing this powerful movement and fit it into your next ab workout.

References

1. Burd NA, Andrews RJ, West DW, et al. Muscle time under tension during resistance exercise stimulates differential muscle protein sub-fractional synthetic responses in men. J Physiol. 2012;590(2):351-362. doi:10.1113/jphysiol.2011.221200

Featured Image: Skydive Erick / Shutterstock

The post How to Do the Cable Crunch for Ab Strength and Size appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The sit-up remains a time-tested fitness evaluation and is an extremely simple and effective way to develop core strength. It’s also developed a debatable reputation for being “bad for your back”. Let’s learn how to perform it, safely and correctly for better abs, more strength, and less pain.

• How to Do the Sit-Up
• Sit-Up Mistakes to Avoid
• Benefits of the Sit-Up
• Muscles Worked by the Sit-Up
• Who Should Do the Sit-Up
• How to Program the Sit-Up
• Sit-Up Variations
• Sit-Up Alternatives
• Frequently Asked Questions

How to Do the Sit-Up

All you need to perform the sit-up is your body and a chunk of floor space. As simple as the exercise may appear, there are a few technique tips to make sure you’re getting results most efficiently.

Step 1 — Lie Down

Begin lying on the floor facing up. Your feet should be flat on the ground with your knees bent. Move your feet slightly forward, away from your glutes, and set them hip-width apart. Having your feet too close to your body, or too close together, reduces leverage and makes it difficult to achieve a full range of motion.

Some lifters choose to have the feet held down in place, either by a partner or an immovable object. This should be avoided because it can decrease abdominal focus, recruit alternative muscles (like the hip flexors), and may encourage poor technique.

As opposed to the classic “hands clasped together behind your head” position, keep your fingertips on either side of your head gently touching your ears or temples. This prevents you from pulling on your head and straining your neck. The back of your head and shoulders should be touching the ground before the first rep begins.

Form Tip: To make the exercise less challenging, begin the set with your torso sitting up, not lying on the ground. This helps to work the “stretch-shortening cycle”, which improves a muscle’s strength immediately following a stretched position. (1) Be sure to lower yourself under control without “bouncing” your body off the floor.

Step 2 — Sit Up

Keep your fingertips in contact with your ears and your feet in contact with the ground. Bring your torso towards your knees by contracting your abdominal muscles. Your head and neck should remain neutral, not pointed up or down, as you move. You should feel muscular tension throughout your entire upper body, particularly in your abs.

To maximally activate your ab muscles, your upper body should curl and “crunch” as you rise up, rather than keeping a straight line from your shoulders to your hips. In the top position, your upper body should be close to your knees and thighs.

Form Tip: If you feel lower back strain during a set, move your feet slightly farther from your body and slightly wider apart. Be sure to start the movement by flexing your torso and “crunching” your abs. Keeping your torso straight de-emphasizes ab muscle recruitment and shifts the muscular stress to the hip flexors, which can worsen back pain.

Step 3 — Lower to the Ground

Begin the descent by reversing direction and “un-curling” your upper body while lowering yourself to the ground. Resist the urge to rebound immediately off the floor, which increases injury risk and decreases muscle involvement. Quickly reset before transitioning smoothly into the next repetition.

Form Tip: In the bottom position, take a deep breath into your belly, not your chest (also known as diaphragmatic breathing). Beginning a rep with this deep breath and steadily releasing it while sitting up can help to increase muscular stress and power output.

Sit-Up Mistakes to Avoid

Many lifters underestimate seemingly simple bodyweight exercises like the sit-up and, as a result, end up performing them incorrectly which lessens any potential results and reduces the overall effectiveness. Here are the most common training mistakes to avoid.

Pulling Your Head Forward

Your torso should be moving up and down during each rep. Your chin shouldn’t be. One big reason for avoiding the popular hands-behind-your-head position is that, deliberately or accidentally, it can encourage you to pull your head with your hands as if you were lifting your entire body with your skull as a handle.

Not only does this not actually help anything, but it can put significant strain on the small muscles of your cervical spine and overall neck. If you feel any increasing strain on your neck during a rep, you’re likely pulling with your hands instead of flexing your abdominals.

Avoid It: Don’t put your hands in a position to help in the first place. Keep your fingertips touching, or nearly touching, your ears so they’re not in a position to pull on anything. Alternatively, you could cross your arms in front of your chest or clasp your hands in front of your chin. Both options remove the urge and ability to pull your body up.

Using Momentum, Not Muscle

Many lifters consider the sit-up to be ideal for performing high-rep sets, which it can be. However, some fall into the trap of using any method necessary to complete extra repetitions. The “easiest” way is to begin using momentum, not muscular force, to get moving.

By swinging the arms as if throwing an imaginary beach ball, kicking the legs, or incorporating hip movement by raising and lowering the glutes off the floor, it’s possible to “swing” the torso up to the finished position. This not only reduces muscle activation in the abs but also increases strain on the joints of the hips and lower back.

Avoid it: Very simply, don’t exchange technique for extra reps. Maintain a controlled crunch of the torso going upwards. Keep your glutes touching the floor throughout the entire set. Keep your fingers touching near your ears.

Benefits of the Sit-Up

For years, sit-ups were the quintessential “workout exercise.” Gotta get in shape? Start with sit-ups. Gotta get stronger? Do your sit-ups. Wanna lose weight? Sit-ups will burn that fat fight off.

Some of these were on the right track, others were a bit misguided. Here’s what the exercise really offers.

Core Strength

The sit-up is an extremely effective exercise for building total core strength. The abdominal muscles are worked through a significant range of motion while the lower back, glutes, and even the hamstrings are recruited as stabilizing muscles.

Ab Muscle Development

Training the abs is, unsurprisingly, a really effective way to build abs that look great. While a variety of ab exercises like crunch variations and twists can also be effective, the standard sit-up remains among a popular and effective choice for activating the ab muscles.

Muscles Worked by the Sit-Up

The sit-up may be one of the most well-known ab exercises. Its straightforward performance, long history, and wide-spread popularity have helped to cement it as one of the few exercises many lifters and non-lifters are familiar with. Here’s a deeper look at the muscles involved.

Rectus Abdominis

This is the main ab muscle running down the front of the torso which makes up the “six-pack” and it’s the primary muscle people are referring to when they talk about the abs.

It’s responsible for flexing the torso in a curling motion to bring your sternum (mid-chest) closer to your hips. This is why keeping your torso straight as you rise up decreases the abs’ ability to contract.

The rectus abdominis is sometimes referred to separately as the “upper abs” above the belly button near the lower chest and “lower abs” below the belly button near the belt-line. While it is one single muscle, research shows that two separate sections can be activated to varying degrees by certain exercises. (2)

Ab exercises with torso movement, like the sit-up, typically emphasize the upper abs while ab exercises with leg movement, like the hanging knee raise, emphasize the lower abs.

Hip Flexors

The hip flexors are a collection of several small muscles found near the top of each thigh connecting to the pelvis and lumbar spine (lower back). They serve to bring the upper leg closer to the chest, in a movement similar to bending at the waist.

The hip flexors are recruited during sit-ups, more so when the torso is kept straight or when the feet are weighted down and held in place during the movement. (3)

Because the hip flexors connect to the lumbar spine, they are heavily associated with contributing to, or relieving, back pain depending on the muscles’ strength, flexibility, and mobility. (4)

Who Should Do the Sit-Up

The sit-up remains a fundamental movement for building core strength and abdominal muscle. It can be incorporated into almost any type of training plan.

Training for Strength

Core strength and endurance have been shown to help improve strength and athletic performance. (5)(6) For this reason, sit-ups can play a key role in any training program designed to build total-body strength or power.

Training for Muscle

All muscles of the body can be stimulated for muscle growth, including the abdominals. The sit-ups are a simple and effective exercise for targeting the abs.

Some lifters mistakenly believe direct ab training may create a “blocky” or bulky-looking waistline, but this isn’t a valid concern because that appearance has more to do with excess body fat than muscle growth.

Similarly, some lifters avoid any direct ab exercise, believing that ab definition is simply the byproduct of a general fat loss plan combined with basic compound exercises. But getting good-looking abs requires some direct work, not just reduced calories, running, and squatting more.

Training for Performance

The sit-up is a popular fitness assessment with some law enforcement and military organizations, often tested for maximum reps in a set timeframe. For this reason, training the sit-up would be considered “sport-specific,” since the most direct way to improve performance is to practice the exercise itself.

How to Program the Sit-Up

The sit-up can be programmed in a number of different ways to accommodate the specific training goal. As with many bodyweight exercises, adding external load such as a weighted vest, weight plate, or dumbbell can increase resistance and allow more programming options.

Unweighted, Moderate to High Rep

Performing the sit-up with your own bodyweight for two to three sets of 10 to 20 reps with 30 seconds rest between sets can be a quick and effective addition to any training program. This approach could even be incorporated into a general warm-up, rather than a workout, for experienced lifters.

Light Weight, Moderate Rep

Add external resistance and perform three to four sets of six to 12 reps with one minute between sets. This would be an intense workout to build core strength. Exercise technique with and without weight should be identical. Adding weight should not compromise form.

For Time

As one part of a physical fitness test, typically in law enforcement or military organizations, sit-ups are required to be performed for maximum reps in one to two minutes. The key with this training approach is to maintain proper technique for the duration and not allow form to get sloppy in order to rush through low-quality reps.

Sit-Up Variations

Because the sit-up is a relatively straightforward exercise (literally and figuratively), simple adjustments to the basic movement can recruit or emphasize different muscles for a more diverse stimulus.

Twisting Sit-Up

Sometimes called knee-to-elbow sit-ups, incorporating a twisting motion recruits the oblique muscles running along either side of the rectus abdominis.

Rather than ending with your chest directly in front of your thighs and knees, end each repetition with your chest pointed toward one knee. Alternating sides on each rep is common, but reps may be performed all to one side followed by the same reps to the opposite side.

Janda Sit-Up

Created and popularized by physiotherapist Dr. Vladimir Janda, the Janda sit-up activates the hamstrings to deactivate the hip flexors. The result is a significantly increased abdominal contraction.

This works by a neurological and physical mechanism technically known as “reciprocal inhibition.” Essentially, it’s a phenomenon which prevents muscles on one side of the body from contracting if the muscles directly opposing it are already intensely contracting.

Straight-Leg Sit-Up

The straight-leg sit-up, like it sounds, is performed with your legs straight and heels on the ground instead of with your legs bent and feet flat on the ground.

This adjustment increases the overall range of motion and significantly increases recruitment of the hip flexors. The straight-leg sit-up is very similar to the Pilates exercise known as a “roll-up.”

Two-Arm Overhead Sit-Up

Keeping both arms raised perpendicular to the ground, rather than close to the body, alters leverage and significantly increases the difficulty. This variation is performed by keeping both arms straight and pointed towards the ceiling throughout the rep.

As an even more advanced variation, you can hold a light dumbbell in each hand or one weight plate with both hands. This will also increase shoulder recruitment, specifically in the smaller stabilizer muscles of the shoulder and upper back.

Sit-Up Alternatives

Some lifters are unable to perform sit-ups, typically because of pre-existing back problems or general difficulty achieving a full range of more. These are some of the most effective options.

Crunch

The crunch may have been the one exercise to bump the sit-up from its prominent spot as the go-to ab exercise. It’s been shown to be one of the most effective ways to specifically target the abs. (7)

The crunch does have a significantly shorter range of motion compared to the sit-up, but that’s one reason why it’s an effective ab exercise. The movement is deliberately restricted to avoid involvement of other muscle groups.

Hanging Knee Raise

Using either a pull-up bar or specialized knee raise station (sometimes called a captain’s chair or Roman chair), the hanging knee raise emphasizes the lower abs. Be sure to curl the entire hip region upwards, rather than only moving the legs, to recruit more ab muscles.

The hanging position also helps to “decompress” the spine by allowing a stretch and relieving tension. This exercise can be made more challenging by using straight legs or eventually progressing to the “toes to bar” position with a full range of motion.

V-Up

The v-up, sometimes called a jackknife sit-up, is a high-intensity total-body core exercise involving the ab muscles while incorporating the arms and legs together. By raising your legs while reaching upwards with your arms, significant stress is placed on the lower abs as well as the upper abs.

This is one of the most challenging bodyweight ab exercise alternatives because it requires high levels of strength, coordination, and mobility.

FAQs

Will doing sit-ups specifically burn belly fat?

Fat, regardless of where it’s stored on the body, is most efficiently burned with a specialized nutrition plan (including a calorie deficit) coordinated with an intense training program. Performing sit-ups and other ab exercises does not lead to any drastic “spot reduction” by significantly increasing abdominal fat loss. (8)

Several decades of research have investigated this persistent idea, as well as countless hopeful lifters over the same time period, and the results have been inconclusive at-best. Any results showing spot reduction to work have been measured in millimeters, not inches.

Time and effort are much better spent on a comprehensive fat loss plan rather than over-relying on spot reducing the abs.

Why does my back hurt during and after a set?

Lower back pain is the most common reason for avoiding sit-ups. This may be due to the hip flexors involvement during the exercise, which stresses the lumbar spine, or the pain may be due to the flexion (crunching) motion aggravating lower back strain. (9)

Modifying sit-up technique by widening the foot stance and shortening the range of motion may help. If pain persists, removing sit-ups from the workout program and incorporating an alternative may be the most effective solution.

References

1. Seiberl W, Hahn D, Power GA, Fletcher JR, Siebert T. Editorial: The Stretch-Shortening Cycle of Active Muscle and Muscle-Tendon Complex: What, Why and How It Increases Muscle Performance?. Front Physiol. 2021;12:693141. Published 2021 May 20. doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.693141
2. Duncan M. (2009). Muscle activity of the upper and lower rectus abdominis during exercises performed on and off a Swiss ball. Journal of bodywork and movement therapies, 13(4), 364–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbmt.2008.11.008
3. Burden, A. M., & Redmond, C. G. (2013). Abdominal and hip flexor muscle activity during 2 minutes of sit-ups and curl-ups. Journal of strength and conditioning research, 27(8), 2119–2128. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0b013e318278f0ac
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