Our core muscles are essential to everyday movement; we need them to walk, sit, and to lift and carry things. Crunches are the first thing that comes to mind when people think about , since they are a part of most sports training and workouts, from to bootcamp to . However, doing crunches with bad form may do more harm than good — and people often perform them incorrectly.
If you don’t do them right, you will likely feel tension in your neck, so be sure to use proper form to prevent injury and to get the best workout. Our core is made up of four muscle groups, and crunches target just one of those groups, so use crunches as part of a that works all abdominal muscles. But if you’re looking to , crunches are the perfect move to master.
They cause hypertrophy, or growth in muscle size, of the rectus abdominis muscle. Further, crunches can strengthen overall core muscle function, and this can promote better posture, balance and stabilization in other exercises and sports you perform. When I’m asked if crunches or situps are better, I recommend people start with a crunch and work up to a situp.
A situp works more of the core than a crunch, but it’s harder to do a situp correctly. It’s important to know how to perform a crunch without any neck pain first. After you build your core strength, you can move on to a modified situp and then a situp, which is a more advanced exercise that people often do incorrectly as well.
Many people overuse the low back or shoulders becaus.
