Crunch, Hands Overhead

Execution

1. Brace your core before starting the movement, keeping a fist-width gap between your chin and chest.
2. Exhale and curl your upper body off the floor, keeping your arms in line with your head and ears instead of letting them travel forward.
3. Squeeze the abs hardest when the shoulders are highest off the floor, holding for 1 beat.
4. Inhale and lower back down under control with the arms still extended overhead.
5. Do not let the head and arms rest fully on the floor between reps, to keep the abs under tension.

Quick cues

• A fist-width gap under the chin.
• Arms stay in line with your ears.
• Squeeze hardest at the top.
• No resting on the floor between reps.

Common faults

• Fault: Swinging the arms forward for momentum instead of using the abs

  Fix: Interlace the fingers, squeeze the upper arms lightly against the ears and slow down; if the arms still swing, cut the reps per set.

• Fault: Jutting the chin up toward the ceiling, overextending the neck

  Fix: Keep a fist-width gap between the chin and chest the whole time.

• Fault: Only lifting the head while the torso barely curls

  Fix: Focus on lifting both shoulder blades off the floor, not just the head.

• Fault: Resting completely on the floor between every rep

  Fix: Keep the shoulders hovering a few centimeters off the floor for the whole set.