holding crunches

[Maddwraph]

i got that balance ball and put my feet on top of it. i then did crunches, but would hold each one for 5 seconds. i did 3 sets of 10. my neck hurt a little but wasnt too bad. when i woke up however the next morning and for a long period of the day, my back was very sore and hurting. im trying to get my abs visible by doing cardio, eating healthier and i had hopes of doing these crunches where you hold them them each for a while because i was told they are good. my gazelle machine is currently broken and im waiting for the parts to come in so for now cardio is just capoiera. im not much of an eater so i dont think thats too bad. i thought this ab exercise would be good becasue i felt my abs burning when doing it. maybe i have to hold for 3 seconds. will my back get used to it? my family has a history of bad back problems and i when i would do a lot of exercises my back would hurt. im hoping to find a way with this ab exercise. someway my back wont hurt. thanks for any suggestions.

[Hudson]

Firstly and MOST IMPORTANTLY! Check with a doctor to make sure your back pain isn't coming from something else - you don't want to compound an injury. If your family has a history make sure that isn't interfering.

 

With that said, theres back pain can come from improper exercise form when doing crunches. When you get fatigued (Easy to do with crunches), you might tend to let your back do the work and not exercise your abs at all. Focus on the contraction of your abdominals. Remember, when doing standard crunches, at the start the shoulder blades are on the ground, when you crunch, they come off the ground, lower back touches.

 

As far as exposing your abdominals from eating (In your case, as you mentioned "less" or not being a big eater), proper nutrition relies on QUALITY - not the QUANTITY of food.

[The Saint]

Try to strenghten your back too, not just your abs, they are related. There is some basic yoga stretches out there that will help you out, I'm just not sure where to go to find them.

[Nick_UKWC]

I do the abs section from the scrapper gym workout 1 every other day and my abs are visable (though not ripped ) after just a few weeks.

 

I do have pretty much no body fat though.

[Hudson]

Good point - spinal erectors are just as important - you can work these by doing deadlifts or good mornings.

[Maddwraph]

i dont really know what good mornings and stuff are, but i do know some good back stretches.

[Hudson]

Good mornings get a bad rap especially in the MA community because they're the ones that Bruce Lee severely injured himself with. But doing them without weight (Like abdominal crunches) is perfectly fine. Besides, they say that Bruce was doing them with 135 on the bar with no warm up sets.

[kalashnikov]

What is the quickest way to produce muscle bulk on your abs with using weights?