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As many of you may know, I’m not a huge fan of crunches because of the repeated spinal flexion that occurs every time you contract your abs and lift your head and shoulders towards the ceiling. Which in my opinion, can contribute to upper cross syndrome or forward posture (hunch back of Notre Dame) and also additional wear and tear on the spinal discs. We do enough every day stuff that tightens all of muscles in front of our bodies and brings us crouching forward. This repeated forward crunching can also add to or cause chronic low back issues which about 80% of us have.
So instead of crunching until the cows come home, i think it’s better to try many of the other ab exercise substitutions that are safer and more effective than a crunch. Although an occasional crunch won’t kill you, try this one (One of my fav’s) “Mountain Climbers”
And also check out this little core routine demonstrated in the second video by Dr. Stuart McGill. Back Guru of the century. These core exercises are much safer on the spine and more effective for strengthening the core than the millions of crunches Americans do every day.
“Magic 4 for Core”
1.) Pot Stir or Stability Ball Circles
2.) Side Planks
3.) McGill Ab Isometrics
4.) Bird Dogs