A Top Trainer Shared 10 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Doing Crunches
In a new video on the Athlean-X channel, strength coach Jeff Cavaliere breaks down the most common mistakes, myths and misconceptions surrounding crunches, and how you should be doing them to train your abs safely and effectively.
The first error, Cavaliere explains, is believing that crunches are inherently bad for your back. This isn't necessarily true as long as you're observing proper technique and allowing for sufficient recovery. "Lumbar flexion is one of the main functions of the abdominal muscles, and you can do it safely," he says.
If you're experiencing lower back pain after doing crunches, it's possible that you're anchoring your feet the wrong way. This is mistake number 2. Putting your feet under something to secure your lower body will activate the hip flexors while doing crunches, which can lead to pain in the lower back due to their attachment to the lumbar spine. A simple way to correct this is to secure your feet over something.
Neck pain is something else that can occur if you're not careful about your crunch technique. Pulling on your neck in the upward motion is a big no-no. "You're focusing on the wrong point here," says Cavaliere. "You've got to focus on your shoulder blades. You want to make sure you're clearing your shoulder blades off the ground in every repetition. Then and only then have you completed one rep."
This leads into the fourth mistake: being more concerned with getting into the upward position that with how you're getting there. "When doing crunches, people should focus less on the height they get, and more on the quality of the contraction," he says.
Another huge mistake, Cavaliere says, is counting your reps instead of making each rep count: "When you're doing this, you're not even worrying about the quality, you're only worried about the numbers... You want to make sure every single rep is executed properly and the only way you're going to do that is by forgetting about how high you can count to, and instead focusing on how much you can make it hurt in those muscles on every single rep you do."
The sixth mistake people make is pushing outwards with their diaphragm while breathing out mid-crunch. "You don't want to distend your belly and push out as you're coming up into a crunch," says Cavaliere, adding that you should be aiming to pull the stomach down instead. He recommends placing an object like a tennis ball on your stomach to train yourself out of pushing the belly outwards in your reps.
A common misconception is that crunches have to be performed lying in a face-up position, but Cavaliere explains that you can recreate that same pattern of movement in different configurations. "Lumbar flexion is the main driver of abdominal activation through a crunch, and we can do that so many ways," he says, demonstrating some face-down variations.
He also recommends the side crunch as a useful variation to ensure you're including in your workouts, as it will help to develop your obliques. That said, however, Cavaliere isn't a fan of every alternate position crunch, and advises against trying the crunch pulldown, or at least making sure that you are aiming for lumbar flexion, not hip flexion.
Finally, another big mistake is relying on crunches to train your abs, instead of incorporating them into a wider range of ab exercises which will target rotation and side-bending motions as well as flexion.
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