The crunch is often thought of as the quintessential core move to snatch your waistline into shape but, spoiler alert, it’s probably not doing as much as you’d hope. Keep reading to learn three moves to replace crunches that you can do at home with no equipment. And no, we won’t have you doing any rabbit dancing, V-ups or sit-ups but we will teach you where your core is and how to activate it. Before we break down the three moves, let’s talk a bit about why we are asking you to just say no to crunches.
Answer truthfully. When you picture someone with a strong core, you probably visualize that TickTock #fitfluencer who has a six pack don’t you? The truth is those muscles are part of your core, but only a small part of your core. Those six pack muscles, the rectus abdominis, are the part of your core you should be the least worried about. It’s a superficial muscle that sits on top of some deep core muscles. If you want to maximize core strength and achieve a slim waistline, you need to be working deeper.
For example, would you try and build a skyscraper on the sand? Probably not. You know you need a strong foundation to support such a tall structure. The same is true with your core. It does not matter how chiseled your outer core is, if your deep core is weak it’s like trying to build a skyscraper on the sand. Crunches are not the best move for helping find and strengthen your deep core muscles and really only targets the more superficial core muscles on the front of your body.
In Pilates, we usually say powerhouse instead of core. I personally like that word better because I find it helps people expand their mind to understand we are talking about a larger grouping of muscles when we refer to your core, not just the ones on the front of your body between your hips and ribs. You will never see many of your powerhouse muscles because many of them sit right next to your organs, are on your back and under other muscles that you can see and are more familiar with. You certainly don’t need to know all of their names or where they are in your body to learn how to use them properly, but it is important that you start to realize you have to work all of these powerhouse muscles to really start to see and feel a change in your body.
To help find your powerhouse muscles, imagine you have a cumberbund wrapped around your entire body from your lowest rib to the top of your hips. Every time you exhale, the cumberbund contracts evenly all the way around you. We call that pulling into midline, or centering, and you want to use every exhale to help find that engagement no matter what the rest of our body is doing moving. Start practicing that breath by itself and then try using it with the three moves below.
Move 1: Femur Arcs
- Laying down on your back with knees bent up into table top imprint every vertebra of your your spine to your mat on the floor
- Inhale to prepare and on an exhale lower one leg down from the thigh, not the knee, only as far as you can stay imprinted with the spine to the floor
- Inhale to return to start
- Repeat other leg
*very important to keep exhaling to midline like mentioned above and to keep your spine pressing down into the mat to get the results you are looking for.
Move 2: Dead Bug Holds
- Laying down on your back with knees bent up into table top and arms reaching up to the sky above your shoulders, imprint your spine to the floor
- Inhale to prepare and exhale as you reach one arm and the opposite leg away from each other
*very important to keep exhaling to midline as mentioned above and to keep your spine pressing down into the mat to get the results you are looking for.
Inhale bring them back to start and repeat on the other side.
Move 3: Bird Dogs
- In a kneeling quadruped position find a nice long back with hips above knees and shoulders above wrists, imagine you are balancing a broom stick from the back of your head down your spine to the tip of your tailbone
- Inhale to prepare and as you exhale, reach opposite arm and leg away from center and to opposite sides of the room without dropping your lower back down or twisting your hips or shoulders and keep your imaginary broom stick in place
- Inhale and come back to start and repeat other side
*very important to keep exhaling to midline as mentioned above and to keep your spine pressing down into the mat to get the results you are looking for.
Inhale while you bring them back to start and repeat on the other side.