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Start Position
Sit on the ball and slowly walk your feet forward while you slowly lean back
until you are comfortably lying back on the ball with your feet shoulder width
apart. Place your hands at the sides of your head.
The Movement
Curl your chest up, bringing your sternum (chest bone) toward your bellybutton.
Keep your chin tucked in to your chest to avoid "jerking" your head up. At the
top, focus on contracting the abs. Then slowly lower your torso, rounding
your back and lightly touching your shoulder blades to the Swiss ball. Repeat.
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This is truly a super-charged version of the classic ab crunch. I've been doing
ab crunches for a lot of years and was reluctant to try the Swiss ball when it
first came onto the market. I thought it looked a bit, well, "fun," but I can
tell you, these are excruciating, not fun! In fact, if I could have only one
piece of equipment for my ab training, it would be the Swiss ball.
Once you've mastered the basic ab crunch, this is the exercise to step up to.
This is "the" movement for the upper abdominals. It allows a deep, full pre-stretch and a
significantly greater contraction range than the basic ab crunch. In addition,
on the Swiss ball, you're much less "stable" because the ball naturally rolls
around. This means you'll need to recruit the core stabilizer muscles that may
be neglected during floor crunches.
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Allow your body to round back with the shape of the ball as you begin each
rep. This increases the range of motion and tension on your abs.
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At the peak of the contraction, your abs should be under tension. So do not sit
up to in a full upright position, which would relax the muscles.
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Keep your eyes closed. This will help you with your balance.
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On the way down, try to increase the distance between your rib cage and your
pelvis, and on the way up, try bringing them toward each other.
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