Exercise of the Week: Stop Doing Crunches!

You may be reading this and saying to yourself, “This makes absolutely no sense.” How can someone post an exercise of the week and it actually is the removal of a well-known exercise, the abdominal crunch? With all the research that is out there, it unanimously shows in the long-term, abdominal crunches are detrimental to the spine and disks. Stuart McGill has more than enough scientific evidence to show the damage crunches have on the back, but still it is probably the top core exercise in gyms across the country. Even with this evidence we have machines like the resisted abdominal crunch and torso twist at many gyms as well. I know the facility I work at is a victim of this even know the facts are there. I was recently reading on Mike Boyle’s forum and there was a post and several great comments about crunches, and substitute exercises. The point isn’t to not work your abdominals, but to realize we can engage the abdominals and rest of the core with other less dangerous and more beneficial exercises. The point is to stop doing lumbar flexion/extension movements, which can significantly increase your risk of injury. Here is a great video I got from that same forum on strengthcoach.com that shows many exercises that are explained from Stuart McGill’s book, Low Back Disorders. If you are a fitness professional it will be a challenge to promote this ‘no-crunch’ mentality, but after educating clients and other professionals on the facts, the message will get out there. Check out the video below: