Who knew sit-ups and crunches could be so controversial? I've done plenty of both during my workouts but apparently, they are both bad for your back. I remember reading years ago that doing the full sit-up was bad for the back so I started doing crunches. I've also heard opinion from a personal trainer that crunches are terrible for the back so how are we supposed to work our abs?
Why Crunches and Sit-ups are Bad for the Back
First, let's go over why crunches are getting such a bad rap. Plenty of people are dealing with back pain. A friend of mine had to have back surgery in order to replace a bad disk and I witnessed her pain before her surgery. She couldn't step off a sidewalk without feeling terrible pain. There is no telling what caused her damaged disk, but the point is, back pain is quite an ordeal.
Protecting our back is important in daily activity. Have you ever been told to lift with your legs and not your back when attempting to pick something up? Our spinal disks can be damaged when under an unhealthy strain. When strain is placed on the back of our spines there is risk of disk bulge or herniation which can cause constant back pain and leg pain.
Performing crunches or sit-ups causes bends at the weakest point of your back. What makes it even more dangerous is that this movement is typically done repeatedly, sometimes for hundreds of reps.
Then How the Heck are We Supposed to Work Our Abs?
Whether or not you are after six-pack abs, having a strong core is important. Your core muscles help to support your spine and provides stability as well as balance. We can still work out our abs without crunches. Rather than doing isolation movements like crunches or sit-ups, we can do exercises that cause our muscles to work the way they were meant to perform.
Find exercises that challenge your core muscles such as:
- Push-up
- The plank
- Squats
- Leg drops
Resource: www.newsweek.com
Do you think crunches are useless? Do you do them as part of your regular exercise routine?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
“Performing crunches or sit-ups causes bends at the weakest point of your back. ”
This is pretty false information. The only way crunches and situps can cause back pain (or even injury for that matter) if you perform them, like you mentioned, hundreds of times, with improper form.
The problem with crunches and situps is that they’re incredibly popular and mainstream. They’re often hyped as being able to give you that flat stomach everyone wants (which can also be misleading, but that’s a different matter), so people just up and do them by themselves over and over and over again without proper supervision.
More often than not, people get used to performing them with improper form (and fitted improperly within a program as well), which will eventually cause back pain and even injury.
But the exercises themselves do no harm.
I can see where injury could set in if someone is doing a lot of crunches with poor form. Do you think doing crunches on a stability ball is better/safer?
Hi, Eartha! I think crunches on a stability ball don’t matter as far as safety is concerned. You still have to keep proper form in mind, and doing it on a stability ball won’t help you improve poor form.
As far it being more effective, it should be if used on rotation in a training program so that the body can have something new to adapt to from time to time (eg: one month, you do crunches on floor, then another month on the stability ball, then another month try another variation, etc).
Otherwise, studies have shown that the standard floor situp is more than enough to stimulate your entire abdominal region, so the stability ball variation can’t really improve much on that. It’s just a great, new way to do an old exercise (it’s my personal choice when doing ab work, btw).
I agree with Noel that it all depends on form.
When my clients perform crunches or any other abs exercise, I always check their form, and make sure they don’t arch their back.
If I see any arching, I make sure they change leg position, e.g. raise their legs to support the back more.
And yes, there are lots of other exercises that will challenge the core, but not everyone can do pushups.
I even encourage my clients to pull their abs in while they brush their teeth, and make sure they’re still in at the end of the brushing period.
However, I don’t see any reason why having crunches as part of your core routine should be bad if performed properly.
I’m not a fan of crunches at all. They might be useful to build up abdominal strength in beginners but I find exercises like planks and renegade rows to be more effective overall. I consider the function of abs to be to keep the spine straight and crunches do the exact opposite. Regardless, people who want better abs should probably focus more on fat loss than trying to spot reduce with crunches anyway.
According to research done by Stuart McGill, Professor of Spine Biomechanics, University of Waterloo, A leading expert in the mechanics of the spine, he says that doing any type of sit-ups or crunches is bad for your back, whether performed with good form or not. You can read the science of it here:
http://www.backfitpro.com/pdf/selecting_back_exercises.pdf
Or here is a quick video in which he demonstrates a few safe exercises you can do for building your core:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kukmaW9CmSU&feature=player_embedded
I agree with Dave, the function of core strength is to keep the spine straight and the best way of achieving this is by doing exercises in which the spine is well supported and straight at all times.