Proper way to crunch

[angel22]

Some people say puttin hands behind your head will cause injury.
And other say it will support your neck.

So what is the truth? How do you do crunch?

[cursor]

It's only a problem if you are pulling your head/neck forward with your hands—the simple fact that your hands are behind your neck is not a problem. You should focus on moving your shoulders forward using the strength of your abdominal muscles.

[angel22]

Ohhh, I see.
Thanks for the info. cursor!

[Merrida]

I think it depends on how adept you are at isolating and identifying your muscles kinesthetically.

If you know what you're doing and trust yourself to stay true, putting your hands behind your neck/head can provide support and the winged elbows will act as added resistance making the crunch harder. But, the temptation is there to retract your elbows to assist and that in and of itself can pull your head down/in and forward as a form of momentum to help. And as you fatigue, the temptation increases.

If you're good, and if you can truly isolate and flex your abs through your crunch, you can do a lot of different things with your arms & hands, with or without weights, to affect your crunch technique.

It's all about your skill.

[angel22]

Thanks Merrida!

[sac1973]

the trick that i learned that has helped me is put your hand next to your side, as you crunch slide your hands along the floor and reach for your feet. as for the head and neck..i relax my neck and let it "loll" back as i raise up. it keeps from straining my neck.

[angel22]

Nice. thanks for the tip, sac!