How To: Twisting Crunches

Women are attracted to abs on guys.

And because guys like women (and are pretty fucking desperate), they spend a crazy amount of time and effort on developing abs, which are all that’s needed to make the ladies swoon.

But other than serving as a babe magnet, are you aware that the abs serve other functions?

Yup, they sure do!

Strong ab muscles help improve balance and stability, as well as posture, and prevent lower back pain and injury.

So yeah, other than to make up for the shortcomings of your personality, focus on developing your abdominals for those reasons too!

So what’s an exercise you can do to develop your abdominals?, you ask.

There are plenty of exercises out there for the abs, most of which are just variations of the simple but effective stomach crunch. One such variation is the twisting crunch that you’re now about to learn how to do properly!

INSTRUCTIONS

1). Lie on your back on the floor or on a bench with your knees bent, feet flat, and legs hip-width apart.

2). Bring your hands up by your ears and place them behind your head so your fingers are loosely cradling it while your elbows are flared out so your arms are spread out to the side of your head.¹If you experience excessive neck strain, then you may be tucking your chin too much. Your chin shouldn’t touch your chest. Instead, you should imagine there’s a tennis ball between your chin and chest and you need to tuck your chin to hold it in place. If you still feel discomfort or the pain isn’t associated with the position of your chin, then instead of having your hands behind your head, place them near your head with your fingertips on your temples. Another trick is to keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth.²For added resistance, perform the movement by holding a weight plate or small dumbbell behind your neck or on your chest. This is the starting position.

3). Tuck your chin to your chest and draw your belly button down to your spine.

4). Take a breath out and contract your abs as you press your lower back into the floor or bench and raise your head, neck, and shoulders off the surface.

5). While lifting your upper body from the floor or bench, use your obliques to rotate your waist so your right shoulder and elbow, for example, come across toward the direction of your left knee.

6). Pause and squeeze the abs.

7). Breathe in as you slowly lower yourself to the floor and return to the starting position.

8). Repeat by alternating sides with each rep.³Sticking with the provided example in the 5th step, the next rep would have you bringing your left shoulder and elbow toward your right knee. If you’d rather not alternate sides with each rep, you have the option of performing all your reps on the same side of the body before switching to the opposite side.

For a workout routine that possibly includes twisting crunches, as well as other exercises geared specifically to your goals, training experience, injury history, and available equipment, then find out more HERE

Glossary: abdominals, abs, bench, chest, crunches, dumbbell, exercise, exercise equipment, goal, muscle, routine

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Monster Longe

Monster Longe is a personal trainer in San Diego. He has been lifting weights for +25 years and training clients in the gym and online for about half of that time. When not working with clients or making content that's easy to read, understand, and apply to everyday life, he enjoys long walks and leaving buildings crushed and entire city blocks decimated in his wake.

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