Tuck Crunch
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Lie on your back with your hips and knees bent to a right angle, shins parallel to the floor.
- Cross your arms over your chest or rest your fingertips beside your ears.
- Press your lower back into the floor and hold it there.
- Curl your shoulders and upper back off the floor toward your knees.
- Stop where the lower back begins to lift, then hold briefly.
- Lower under control until the shoulder blades touch down.
Common mistakes
- Letting the legs drop or drift as you curl. The tucked position is held throughout; legs falling means the hip flexors have started working against them.
- Pulling on the head with the hands. Fingertips rest beside the ears and the neck stays in line with the spine; hands laced behind the head become a lever on the neck as the set gets hard.
- Trying to sit all the way up. Once the lower back leaves the floor it has become a sit-up and the hip flexors take over; a crunch is deliberately short.
- Counting range as progress. The distance available is a few inches, and doing more of them slowly is the way this gets harder rather than reaching further.