It’s No-Crunch Abs Time!
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Minimize Ab Exercises and Core Work that Require Lifting your Head or Bending your Neck
Want a stronger set of abs without having to do crunches or flex the spine at the neck?
Challenge yourself to try abs exercises that involve no crunching. While the traditional crunch has its place and value, the last thing we baby boomers need is more forward rounding of the spine. A 6-pack is nice and I would not say “no” to it. However, my guess (based on years of teaching experience and your questions) is that you have other, more important abdominal goals. Happy news: lots of great options exist to strengthen your core while keeping your head on the mat. Other abs exercises abound where you have very little need to forward flex the neck.
Use Abs Anatomy to Your Advantage
Work with, not against the anatomical reality of your abs: the Rectus Abdominis, Transversus, and Obliques are endurance, compression, and posture muscles. They are not designed for power (in contrast with the glutes and quads, which are power muscles, for example). Emphasize the postural, endurance and compression aspects of the abs. You may especially appreciate improving posture as you strengthen your core and abs.
Abs are endurance, compression, and posture muscles, not powermongers Get exercise examples here
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How many of you already have forward head thrust, tight necks, rounded shoulders? Odds are high you suffer from at least one, if not all these conditions if you are over 50. Heck, even 20, 30, and 40 year olds exhibit the above issues . When selecting abs exercises to try, simply ask yourself whether a given move exacerbates the above problems, is neutral, or counteracts them. The last option is ideal.
No Crunch Examples
A few primary examples of suitable compression abs moves for boomers are planks and the reverse curl or reverse curl with an oblique rotation (bringing the right hip towards the left ribcage, for instance).
Watch the Reverse Curl with Oblique Twist exercise below. Just 1 minute and 15 seconds stand between you and adding this move to your groove.
Marching No-Crunch Abs
Another great option is the “Marching Abs” move where your upper body gets to stay on the mat throughout. Bend your knees to 90 degrees; Keep your hips fairly open with feet close to the ground. March your feet, holding the knee angle constant, alternating right and left foot marches. Depending on core strength and back issues, you may decide to march your feet from the ground to about a foot from the ground — the most challenging version. If you feel back strain have or challenges maintaining alignment, march in space. Draw your knees closer to your chest, close down some of the hip angle, and march with your feet anywhere from one to two feet from the ground.
For more great, no-crunch abs exercises, check out our “Ultimate Abs Workout Collection for Women Over 50.” You may particularly like the Bug series.
Counteract Decades of Living in Front of Yourself
Years of sitting, driving — of living life in front of our bodies — produce forward head misalignment, rounded shoulders, hunched posture, overly stretched or weak backs. Why lock in these problems by performing more forward, hunching, rounding abs moves? Gaaah! Go for moves that keep your spine long (we love you planks). Or that remind you to keep your head in neutral spinal alignment as is the case with the Rotating Abs/ Core Move. This video is also under 2 minutes plus it offers right and wrong way tips. Yes, it’s included in the Ultimate Abs Collection.
Here’s what to crunch: numbers. And baby carrots.
ACTION: We and your abs would love you to check out the “Ultimate Abs Workout Collection.” Do a double down and subscribe to our blog for twice a week cutting edge fitness advice tailored to women over 50.
Kymberly Williams-Evans, MA
PS Next week look out for news on a super successful stretching program created by one of our favorite and most accomplished fitness colleagues, Aileen Sheron. If you are interested to become more flexible and comfortable within your own body, this program may be for you. It’s called Flexibility Fast, but that’s all we’re telling you for now.
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