Mastering the correct form not only will prevent you from straining your neck and causing pain and injury, but it will ensure you get the best workout from your crunches. If you finish a round of crunches and feel a tension or ache in your neck, it's a good sign you aren't performing the move properly. In reality, they’re one of the exercises that I see performed incorrectly most often. Alternate sides or do equal reps on each side so that you work both sides equally.But the moves popularity also gives many people a false sense of confidence when doing them.

As you lift your upper body off the floor, rotate your torso to one side so that the elbow reaches toward the opposite knee. You can also engage the obliques with more intensity during a sit-up by adding torso rotation. But even with your feet unrestrained, you need to keep your feet anchored to the floor as you lift the torso off the ground. Don’t tuck your toes under a bar or bench and don’t have someone hold them down. Variations: To take some of the workload off the hip flexors and shift it to the abdominal muscles make sure your feet aren’t restrained. Reverse the process and slowly bring your torso back to the ground.Continue lifting, folding at the hips, until your torso is upright and close to your knees.Curl your torso up until your chest lifts off the floor.Gently rest the tips of your fingers on your head behind your ears, elbows flaring out to the side.Bend your knees so that your feet are resting flat on the floor.Start lying on your back on the floor or a mat.Hip flexors (iliopsoas and rectus femoris).Some exercise physiologists also include your back, chest, glutes, and hip flexors in the core. In addition to abdominal muscles, primary core muscles include the pelvic floor, the erector spinae and multifidus (which run along your spine), and your diaphragm. Your core muscles help stabilize and balance your body during daily activities and athletic events, like running. In addition to the abdominal wall, there are other muscles in your torso commonly referred to as your core. This corset-like muscle supports your organs and is active when you brace your core (think: you’re about to get punched in the stomach).

The transverse abdominis makes up the deepest layer of your abdominal wall. Together with the external oblique muscles, they make up the middle layer of your abdominal wall and are active during spinal lateral flexion and rotation.

The internal oblique muscle is deeper than the external oblique and is another broad, thin muscle that extends along your torso. The external oblique muscles are responsible for lateral flexion and rotation of the spine. The external obliques are large muscles that run from the outer surface of your ribcage to the midline of your torso in a slight V-shape. Its main functions include flexion (bending forward), lateral flexion (leaning to the side), and rotation of the spine. The rectus abdominis runs vertically down the middle of your torso from the lower half of your rib cage to your pelvis. There are four primary muscles that make up the abdominal wall: Before identifying the muscles used in different abdominal exercises, it can be helpful to understand basic abdominal anatomy.

Abs bicycle crunch