How To Do Reverse Crunches- Steps, Benefits And Mistakes

During this pandemic situation, everyone is stuck at home, and every outdoor activity is suspended for a time period. It is a very frustrating situation for all of us and especially for the fitness freaks, right? You can do a home workout in this tough situation, including exercises like reverse sit-ups, leg crunches, high crunches and reverse crunches. These exercises do not need any special equipment or do not need to go to the gym. For abdominal exercises, you might prefer doing reverse crunches at home. Whenever you think of abdominal exercises, the first thing that should come to your mind should be reverse crunches. Now you might think crunches are also helpful for abs, then why to do reverse crunches or how to do reverse crunches. Do not worry about this article; we tried to cover all of these answers. 

What Are Reverse Crunches?

The reverse crunch is a medium level exercise which is mainly originated from basic abdominal training crunches. The reverse crunch is helpful for improving the stability of the lower back, hips, and spine. It is also considered as the basic core strengthening exercise that makes our body more stable. By doing reverse crunches, your hips and spine get stronger and create a greater range of motion. This exercise is beneficial for removing more tension from your abdominal muscles. 

Benefits Of Reverse Crunches? 

It was seen in various people that they have a little bit of difficulty e with neck discomfort while doing normal crunches. So one can choose reverse crunches over normal crunches to get rid of that problem. This exercise’s affecting area is your abdominal area, so your abdominal muscles will activate by doing reverse crunches. People who love to have six-pack abs will definitely love this exercise as it makes abs stronger and more functional. Other than that, the reverse crunches are helpful for improving core strength, maintaining balance, good posture, and stability. Reverse crunches can help you to perform vigorously in sports activities as it improves your core health. Fitness experts appreciate if you include more abs exercise with reverse crunches.

How To Do Reverse Crunches? 

Reverse crunches are very easy to practice as any beginner can start with this simple exercise. You just need to simply lay on the mat turning your face up; keep your arms at your sides. You can also keep your arms closer, or you can extend them comfortably so that you can balance your body. 

Step 1 – Bend your legs at the knee and raise your legs slowly with abdominal force. The knees and hips should be in a parallel line. The legs should be at a 90-degree angle with the spine. In starting, you might get discomfort in your back but keep your spine firmly against the floor. You need to brace your abdominal muscles in this starting position, and holding a normal spine position is most important. 

Step 2- In this step, we will try to bend the knees towards your chest. While curling your hips and knees towards the chest, you need to exhale and contract your abs muscle. You can only lift off your hips from the mat, and your knees and hips should be at a parallel angle. Keep your head straight and relax your neck and shoulder as you do this step. If you put pressure on the neck, then you might have discomfort, so it is better not to do that. 

Step 3- In this step, you need to inhale and slowly return to the basic starting position of step 1, where your knees and hips are in the same parallel line and still bent at 90 degrees.

Step 4- You can try this exercise in 10 repetitions for three sets. Do not try to push yourself for a higher number of sets. You can make the number higher if you feel stronger. 

Common Mistake 

We all make very common mistakes while exercising reverse crunches. Sometimes these mistakes can injure you seriously or cause body pain. So to make your journey more fun, please avoid these common mistakes- 

Using Momentum 

Sometimes when you see the results of reverse crunches, you start doing them a lot or start doing them very fast. So you need to understand that workout requires accuracy and patience. If you will do a lot of workout at once or do the reverse crunches very fast, it will not positively affect. Reverse crunches are meant to be a very slow and controlled exercise. If you are still unable to do it without using momentum, you can choose some another ab exercise. One thing that everyone must remember is that in exercise or workout, it is good that you are pushing your limits but do this too much as it might be fatal for you. 

Rolling Too Far 

While doing reverse crunches, you must keep this in mind that only your tailbone and hips should rise from the mat. While doing the first and second steps, you should not lose contact with the mat. This usually happens when you are doing the reverse crunch with momentum. So, to avoid this mistake, you can do reverse crunches very slowly, and it will definitely help you. 

Unrolling Too Far

When making a downward return, do not touch the legs to the ground. Your knees and hips should be in a parallel. If you are doing it with the momentum, you might not feel this as you are making a mistake. But when you do it properly, you will find that it is very hard to do the downward return position. To get rid of this problem, you can include some extra ab strengthening exercises. 

Modification And Variations 

The workout is all about experimenting. There are many ways to do this exercise. You can change the format of crutches if you are a beginner. Beginners will never be able to do this exercise as it takes too much strength. After the experience, you will get more strength then you can add more difficult exercise. 

Need A Modification

If you are not able to this exercise, then it is because of that you do not have the ab strength. You can not do reverse crutches without the momentum and do not have control while returning back to normal position; then, you can try a shorter range of motion. When you are going upwards, try not to push yourself; start with a very shorter range. In the starting phase, you may think that it is just a tiny motion, but you will see a good strength in you with the time you will see a good strength. 

Toe-tapping is also a helpful practice for building strength. For toe-tapping, you can lower one leg with a pointed toe until it laps the ground. Now you can start with another leg also. Try to aim fifteen toe taps per side. 

Up For A Challenge

If you think that you are good enough at doing reverse crunches, then I have a challenge for you. Your challenge is to do a combined crunch or full crunch. The full crunch is a very strength taking exercise where you need to start with your legs in the air and then bent it at 90 degrees. This exercise is very helpful for the abdomen and external obliques. It also helps to improve the strength of the side muscle of the abdomen and allows you to improve your stamina. 

Safety And Precautions

There are no such precautions or safety measurements for reverse crunches. But one who is having some serious neck injury or conditions should consult with the doctor or therapist before doing this exercise. One can feel stress and burning sensation in the abdomen, which is very common, but you must consult your doctor if you feel extreme pain. In the starting time period, you can feel pain in the neck, stomach, or back that is very common. This pain will reduce after regular practice. Any sort of crunches should be avoided during pregnancy. 

Final Words

Sitting at home and just looking at your screens or scrolling your social media feed will not help you in any way. One must do some sort of physical exercise or activity; these exercises will benefit you in every way. You will start feeling more better after adopting a daily. Reverse crunch exercise is considered as the calisthenic exercise, which is very helpful for improving stamina.

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