Muscles Worked: Upper and Middle Abdominals
Spotter Required: No
Minimum Equipment required: A soft surface, such as a carpet or gym mat
The Best Equipment to Use: Abdominal Crunch machine
Warming up: Warmup’s are generally not required when performing abdominal crunches, however if you wish to warmup then perform 5-10 reps at medium pace
How often should I perform this exercise: Abdominal crunches are great for working your upper abdominals and can be performed with every abdominal workout, they are relatively easy so pretty much anyone can do them, which is great news for beginners.
When should I perform this exercise: I personally start my abdominal workouts with crunches as they are one of the easiest abdominal exercise to perform, however it doesn’t really matter if you perform them at the start, middle or end of your abdominal workout.
How to do the exercise: Lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor in front of you, keeping you feet inline with your hips. Hold your hands behind your head and so that your thumbs are tucked behind your ears. Now curl up and forward using your stomach muscles keeping your head and neck straight, remember you do not sit up with crunches, your back will pretty much remain on the floor.
When you get to the top position (contraction) hold for about 1 to 2 seconds then slowly lower your body to the start position. With crunches I personally perform 3 sets of 15 – 20 repetitions but you can do as many reps as you want.
Mentality: The key to this exercise is to tense when your abdominals contract (at the top) and hold for about 2 seconds. Secondly make sure you keep the movement slow as this will work your abdominal muscles harder.
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Hi,mr John.My ab is bigger,im trying hard to get back my six packs but it just wouldn’t come.i work during the day and train only in the evening.after which I took my protain filled food B4 going to bed.I always consume oatmeal with milk B4 going to the gym. a friend told me to stop taking milk and stop eating in the evening.what do you say?
Hi Isshaq
Firstly, dont be fooled into thinking you can do 1000 abdominal crunches a day for a month and see a sixpack, it doesnt work like that. everyone has sixpack muscles, they are just hidden under fat, to see your sixpack I would estimate your bodyfat percentage would have to be between 12-20%, and that’s a task that can takes months of hard work and dedication.
The key to seeing your sixpack is keeping track of how many calories you are consuming every day, write this down for 7 days and weigh yourself (using accurate digital scales). If your weight stayed the same that means you are eating the exact number of calories to stay at your caloric maintenance level. If this happens you need to then reduce your caloric intake by 500 calories per day, which will result in a 1lb fat loss in 7 days (500 x 7 days = 3,500 calories. There are 3,500 calories in 1lb of body fat) read my section on weight loss for more info.
You also need to add cardiovascular into your weight training routines so you can burn more calories, for example when I am trying to lose weight my days off weight training consist of light cardio work, such as walking on the treadmill for 30 minutes or riding my bike for an hour.
DO NOT stop eating in the evening, especially if you are lifting weights 3-4 times per week, just keep your meal light, as in high in protein, average on carbohydrates.
Finally, a lot of bodybuilders dont drink milk, which is stupid, for your bones and teeth to stay health you need “calcium” and the best way to get calcium is through dairy products such as milk, cheese, cottage cheese etc. So don’t cut out milk but maybe drink a little less of the stuff.
Hope this helps