Are Ab Crunches Good For You?

To Ab Curl or Not To Ab Curl? Is that the question?   If you do ab curls or crunches I highly recommend that you spend some time pondering whether or not you should be doing ab curls and most importantly, how you are doing them. As first generation Pilates teacher Eve Gentry is quoted…

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Hello and welcome to the bless ful body podcast. I'm your host Chi Autumn Russell. And I'm here to share with you my best fitness and healthy living strategies and tips. And they are so good. Your body, mind and spirit will be thankful that you listened Well, Hey there bless full body folks. How is it going? I hope you are having a wonderful day. And I am so excited to have you join me today we're gonna be talking about abdominal curls and abdominal crunches. And the reason why I wanted to talk about this is because there's actually a lot of controversy in the fitness world and movement world about whether or not people should be doing ab curls. And we should be teaching ab curls. And I just wanted to set the record straight on ab curls. And as, ah, Pilates instructor for almost two decades Now, I can tell you that I have done my fair share of ab girls and I have taught my fair share of ab girls and I I actually really love thumb, but it is super important that there that one really does keep in mind that there's a right way and a wrong way to do ab girls. OK, so we're going to get all into that today and talk about AB curl technique. What? They're good for, what they're not good for, um, kind of their benefits, their pitfalls, and then whether or not you should be doing ab girls because they're not actually for everyone. So I am Chi Russell and I am a Pilates instructor, a kinesiology gist and a faculty member at San Jose State and kinesiology. And so I really do spend a lot of time thinking about movement and how to move our bodies and how to teach others how to move their bodies. And so I'm really excited to talk about this today. So the first thing I wanted to mention was just this quote that has really guided my approach to movement and teaching movement and Pallotti's for, um, almost the past 20 years now. And that quote is from the late Eve Gentry. She was a first generation Pilates instructor, so she work direct, you know, directly with Mr Pill eighties and then went on to teach Pilate's after working with him. And she was a modern dancer, just a phenomenal woman. I encourage you to read about her. She's very inspiring. She actually worked with Mr Pallotti's after having had a double mastectomy, which at the time there was no post rehabilitation procedures are work. And Mr Pilate has actually helped her regain the use of her arms and range of motion and strength, which was really phenomenal and way ahead of its time that work that they did. So she basically is quoted as saying that there is no bad movement, just movement, badly done. And I kind of like this because I like it a lot, actually, because it really does hold true. And you can also think about you know, how we're doing movement, our approach to movement and even maybe the reason why we're deciding to do. Ah, an exercise could be part of part of this is Well, um, as to why something might be badly done, but I really enjoy thinking about movement this way and then also thinking about who this movement is actually gonna benefit and who it isn't. So definitely that quote from Eve gentry is something that I kind of has inspired me all along. My teaching career and That is definitely going to be a major theme of this episode and what we think about ab girls and whether or not they you should be doing them. Okay. And so you could call this episode two ab curl or not, toe ab curl. That is the question. Okay, so let's get started and talk about why we would want to dio some abdominal curls or crunches. I'm gonna just basically talk about them interchangeably here and definitely they strengthen your abdominals. They're going to be strengthening, particularly the most superficial. The larger abdominal muscles, the muscles that are gonna be on the outside, more outside of the torso. So your rectus abdominal is which is your six pack muscle, your external obliques and your internal obliques will all be strengthened from doing ab curls or ab crunches. There really is no question about that. Those are the muscles that are gonna be doing the movement, right? And so that is a good thing. We definitely need some abdominal strengthening, right, most of us, however, that is not necessarily strengthening your core. So we will talk about that when we get to kind of the potential problems with AB girls, Because if you are not doing them correctly right, you will not be strengthening your core. Okay, so, um, you know, you will be strengthening your abdominals. And another thing that is really useful with abdominal curls is that they actually compress and then release your organs. Okay, So thinking about your stomach, your liver, your intestines, your uterus, Um and that is actually really beneficial for your organs. Your organs have movement to them, they move and they move to do, um, the work that they're going to do, right? So you're stomach is gonna be contracting and releasing as part of the digestive process. So as your intestines, certainly your uterus goes through that cycle, right? Um, if you are, ah, woman who's menstruating, certainly at least once a month. But also, there is other movement between, say, the liver and the stomach, and and there's it's very complicated and nothing that I'm going to try to explain here on the podcast, but definitely knowing that there is this movement that occurs through your organs. And when you're doing abdominal curls, you really are going to be, you know, compressing. You're gonna be squeezing all of those organs, and then you're gonna be releasing them. And so that can really aid in whatever functions the organs should be doing. So it can aid in digestion, and it can even help with cramps. And, um, those air good things, right? And so I definitely love that aspect of ab girls. And I do like to do them somewhere regularly for that, you know? Definitely for that. Now, if you are doing ab curls correctly, they can help to improve posture. Okay, So if your form is correct, that means that you are going to be utilizing your neck musculature in such a way, and then you're gonna be utilizing your abdominals, and then you're gonna be releasing and stretching afterwards. And now that can help improve posture, help us stand more upright, help our neck be properly positioned in our head, properly positioned, which kind of goes counter to what is happening with all of the technology usage that we have, where head is kind of tilting forward or thrusting forward so that ab girls can help with that. And, um, curls can also help you strengthen and work the relationship of the torso and the pelvis. So really kind of connecting the upper and lower bodies, right? So if we're paying attention to how we're doing the movement and really keeping our pelvis study, keeping our backs study, then doing an AB curl will help us gonna build that relationship and strengthen that relationship and refine it and just make it a much more kind of sophisticated and responsive system. Okay, so those were some of the big benefits of our abdominal work, okay? And so one of the things that I keep talking about is about, you know, saying basically, if you're doing abdominal curls the right way and it's not necessarily easy for me to explain how to do an AB curl on a podcast. So what I've done is I've actually written a blawg post that's on my website, and there's a video on my YouTube channel that you can see on my website. That is about how to do abdominal curls correctly. So if you have any questions about this, I highly encourage you to check that out. It is at chi autumn dot com slash how to do ab curls, Okay. And so just go to that post and you can watch a little video, and it kind of explains how to do an abdominal curl the right way. So you will be getting all of those benefits strengthening the abdominals, um, compressing and aiding and your organ function improving your posture and basically ah, challenging the relationship between the pelvis and the torso. Right. Okay. So what are so Those are all the benefits now, what are all of the potential kind of downsides to abdominal curls? Well, if you were not doing them what I like to call the right way, then they can actually cause quite a bit of problems. And one of the things that basically can happen is it's important to realize that adopt that abdominal curls and AB crunches do not inherently strengthen the core right there, only strengthening kind of the bigger abdominal musculature. And so to engage the core that needs to be a more conscious focus and decision while you're doing your abdominal curls. So if you're not focusing on engaging the core, then you won't necessarily be, but you will be strengthening your other abdominals. OK, so that's one thing. And then there are lots of options when you're doing abdominal crunches. and abdominal curls. To do them in an incorrect fashion toe have poor technique. And if that is happening, then you actually can be putting your neck in quite a bit of load. You can also be loading your lower back in such a way that is not helpful, and so it can actually lead to neck and back tension, strain or even injury. And so that is something that you really want to avoid, right? So I do really encourage you to check out that tutorial on how to do ab girls because and I will link to them in the show. Notes do. So If you go to this episode, um, Page, then I'll have a link to that block post a swell and yeah, so basically, you can do ABT girls, and you can exacerbate your posture, right? So you can basically emphasize the parts of your posture that would lead to being more rounded through the shoulders and having your head be forward. That can actually happen when you're doing and curls, you can kind of Brie. Um, you can basically keep strengthening that pattern that a lot of us already fall into because of kind of our daily life and everything being very forward. So ah, lot of the typing that we do the time on our phones driving all of those things really bring our shoulders and our posture forward. Kind of slouchy and AB girls, if done incorrectly, can actually perpetuate that and kind of keep that cycle going, OK? Also, if your head is not in the right position, you same thing can be basically exacerbating forward head syndrome, which is also kind of called text neck. These days, where the head is coming more forward, it's not in line with the spine, and that's not a very efficient or effective way. Toe Live then, can cause a whole bunch of problems and a lot of discomfort as well. So those are just two of the very classic things that abdominal curls can kind of exacerbate when done incorrectly. And they can also put a lot of stress on your lower back, particularly if you are not keeping your lower back stable while you're doing your abdominals. And if you're not engaging your core, then you're back. Your lower back can actually get quite a bit of pressure. It can get strain and it definitely can suffer the consequences. So a lot of times when people you know say that they went to a Pilates class and then they're low back hurt afterwards. Often that is because they were doing abdominal curls and most likely they were doing them with their legs lifted up in the air and maybe even out in front of them, like they were lowering their legs away from kind of the vertical position. And if you're are not able to stabilize the low back fully, then that can put a lot of strain on your low back muscles. You're so as can actually pull on your vertebra in your discs. And so that is kind of a worst case scenario of what can happen when ab girls or not being stabilized properly and we're not doing them properly. Okay, so that kind of just sums up the differences between the benefits of the abdominal girls and the pitfalls of abdominal curls. Right, And a lot of that has to do with technique, and that is basically for people that should be doing ab curls in the first place. But that isn't everyone. There are definitely folks that ab curls or contra indicated, and they're not going to serve them really well. And so for those people, it's really important to understand if you should be doing ab girls in the first place. And there are other ways to strengthen your abdominals and strengthen your core so it doesn't mean that you won't be able to strengthen that part of your body. But it means that you'll just approach it differently. Okay, so one of the major cases that should definitely ah it is stated that it is, contra indicated, is if someone has osteoporosis. So a diagnosis of osteoporosis, which is basically low bone density, where the your bones are losing mass and becoming basically less strong over time. Typically, this happens to folks later in life, but it doesn't have to. There can be younger folks that have osteoporosis, particularly if young women who perhaps were high level athlete during their teen years and did not maintain a regular menstrual cycle. That's actually a high warning sign that there could be some problems and just something to keep in mind. And you might even want to get checked earlier. Most the time people aren't really recommended that they get checked for a bone density scan until you know age 50 sixties seventies. And, um, if you definitely were very kind of low weight didn't maintain a regular menstrual cycle. And we're, ah, high level athlete, dancer gymnast, then it's a really good idea to get checked earlier, and it's actually a good idea for everybody to get checked earlier just to get a baseline to really see what the decrease might be over time. But, um, certainly if you fall into that category. So if you have had a bone density scan and you have a diagnosis of osteo process than doing abdominal curls and abdominal crunches is considered a new safe because when you are curling up through the spine, there is a lot of load the way that gravity is pulling on the spine, you're gonna be putting a lot of pressure on your vertebra, and particularly in the parts of the vertebra that are likely to be thinning, and you can actually suffer from a stress fracture. So osteoporosis is a big one. Um, if you have osteo process, probably it's really not necessary to do abdominal curls. There's many other ways to strengthen your abs and strengthen your core. And so then you really got a question like why you would want to do that and put yourself at risk. Okay, so the second case is also one that really should not be doing loaded flexion of this sort. So where you're lying on your back and curling up right? And that is basically someone who has a die. Asta sis wrecked I. So this typically happens around pregnancy, and people noticed that they have a dia assesses wrecked I after they have had their baby. But you can also have a dia assesses wrecked I without having had a baby. Men can have a D R as well, and that is basically where the abdominal wall is separating down the front of the torso. So where your it's the rectus abdominal sits the six pack muscles. There's one on either side of the midline, and the Linea Alba is the line of connective tissue that runs down the front of the torso. And basically the force of the abdominal curl will push kind of up and out into that muscle tissue that has already started to kind of separate. And so abdominal curls will exacerbate, a Di asked. ASUs wrecked I doesn't mean that you'll never be able to do them again. But it does mean that you need to heal that separation and close the gap and get that functional again before you would consider adding back in abdominal curls and abdominal crunches. Okay, and then that is really closely related to the other group of people that I don't recommend do ab curls and ab crunches. And that's basically pregnant women. So definitely in the third trimester and even through most of the second trimester and really even into the first trimester, there is no reason why one really needs to do abdominal curls, and so because you don't really need to be strengthening your abdominals in that way. And certainly once you have the uterus kind of coming up into the torso because the baby's getting bigger, like in the second and third trimester, then you're really putting yourself at risk for getting a Di asked. ASUs wrecked I because as you curl up, the fetus will actually push out a great it gets compressed, and so the force would actually be pushing up and out into the abdominal wall and can actually cause a day after I asked assists. So that isn't something that you want. And you don't really need that to be happening. For a lot of women, particularly women who have been active and have been exercising and doing, say, Pilatus, when you're in that second and third trimester of pregnancy, you actually really need to be focusing on stretching and releasing your abdominals. OK, because if they're too tight, that also can cause a die acidosis wreck dive. Okay, so I don't want to necessarily be doing ab girls during pregnancy and then, you know, depending on whether or not you have a d r. When you're postpartum, you can add AB girls back in if you don't have a Di asked ASUs, and then if you do, you wouldn't add them back in until that has healed. OK, and then, for some women who have endometriosis, abdominal curls can actually exacerbate that and be very uncomfortable. And so that's another situation where it just might be not necessarily useful or necessary to do ab curls. And this also can really depend on where one is in their cycle, and it could be really different for everyone. So it's something to just start to pay attention to yourself and really pay attention to how you're feeling. Um, and if you notice any kind of increase in symptoms from doing abdominal curls than you could omit that or at least omit them at certain times of your cycle, okay. And then another group of people who, um, it's not 100% Contra indicated like the other groups. But it's definitely something that you would just want to really think about if you already have a very chi thought IQ posture, and that basically means that you are kind of slumping or rounding forward the shoulders or rounding forward, maybe the shoulders a rounding up towards the ears and forward that the spine is kind of flexing forward, right? Um, and the head has come forwards. You have a little bit of forward head, that posture in particular. If you're already in kind of a cathartic posture, it's very challenging to do abdominal curls and such a way that they don't kind of exacerbate that right, even if you are approaching it with correct technique and so what you really want to keep in mind is that if you do have a cathartic posture, everyone actually needs to follow this protocol that if you're doing abdominal work and really strengthening the front of torso, then you want to be doing equal or perhaps even mawr. Focus and attention on strengthening the back and opening up the chest. And so you want to make sure that your AB girls and your AB crunches are not perpetuating that cycle and increasing any type of kind of kaif Codec slumping tendency. Okay. And it is important to keep in mind, though, that you know the type muscles that would be drawing the shoulders forward and kind of drawing the ribs down to the pelvis and shortening the front of the torso. Those muscles are most likely tight, but that doesn't mean that they're strong. So tight muscles or not strong muscles regularly. They're actually week, but they're also tight, so they're in a short position. Okay, so opening up in stretching and then eventually strengthening those can be really useful toe helping get back to proper posture. Okay, All right. So the other some other times when you want to be really careful and just make sure that you're exercising extra caution when you're approaching AB girls as if you have some kind of low back issues or you have particularly disc issues is a major one that you would wanna keep your pelvis in a more neutral position. And so that might mean that you need to omit abdominal curls or say, like something like the hundreds or other Pilates exercises, where the legs air up in the air and maybe coming out in front of you at least until you get strong enough and you get aware you gain the knowledge to keep your lower back study while that is happening without bracing into the muscles. Because if you're allowing your lower back to kind of roll while you're doing, um, an ab curl, which it's, you know, that's very easy to dio, right? Thin that can exacerbate those issues. Some say crow iliac joint dysfunction issues, too, as well. And so for those folks, you know, definitely staying in neutral spine can be really useful and important, and so you might even want to use ah, towel rolled up behind your lower back to help you stabilize and understand. And I explain that in the video tutorial. So if this is applying to you, make sure to check out that video and then also with neck issues. Right? So same kind of principle with the lower back. If you have ah, lot of neck tension or next discomfort or even some disk issues in your neck, then abdominal curls and abdominal crunches might not be the best idea. Or if you are going to do them, you definitely want to make sure that you are utilising proper head support and making sure to really engage those abdominals and keep the neck properly supported while you're doing your ab girls. And that might mean that you always do a variation with your hands holding onto your head or you're gonna use a towel or some other prop, which I also explain in the video. So if you have questions about that, definitely check that out. But, um, yeah, you just would definitely make sure that you're gonna be really focused and aware on the quality of the movement. Experience adds, You're doing your ab girls if any of those special situations applied to you. Okay, so I hope that this has been helpful in explaining why one might want to do an abdominal curl and why we might not and when they're going to be useful and when it's definitely, um, you know, deaf. If we're not practicing proper technique, the potential downfalls that can come from doing an AB curl. And so if you have any questions, definitely let me know in the comments below. And if you're enjoying this episode, I would really, really appreciate it if you would take the time to rate and review the podcast and just give me your thoughts. A five Star review. Always nice. Um, it really does help for me to just help more people know about the blissful body and all of the information that we're talking about here. So have a wonderful day. And definitely think about your app girls the next time you are doing a workout and think about you know what is Thea approach that you're taking to this movement? And what is how much are you thinking about your form and your technique? Okay, so take care. My friends and I will see you next week with another episode. I'm looking forward to it and have a beautiful Theo