Stop Doing Sit-Ups Or Crunches And Do Planks Instead

Stop Doing Sit-Ups Or Crunches And Do Planks Instead

Sit-ups and crunches might be routine exercises recommended over the years to strengthen your core, but maybe it’s time to ditch these moves for the sake of the rest of your body.

Photo by The U.S. Army.

As Big Think reports, both Harvard University and the US Navy are calling for sit-ups and crunches to be replaced by the plank, because it “more accurately measures core strength and because it’s done by holding the body arrow straight while resting only on the toes and forearms it does not subject muscles to strain by motion”.

Crunches are terrible for your back.

Planks target more of your muscle groups without straining your back or lower spine. Big Think says that planks mimic your natural movement and alignment (ears above shoulders and hips above ankles), whereas sit-ups and crunches force you into postures you don’t want to be conditioned into every day.

If your core is strong enough to do push-ups, do those instead of planks for additional strength conditioning, but, either way, feel free to ditch the crunches, because your back is on the line.

Why Are We Still Doing Crunches? [Big Think]


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