If you've mastered the basic ab crunch form, intermediate crunches will challenge your abdominal muscles even more. Learn how to do intermediate crunches to strengthen ab muscles with tips from a fitness trainer in this free core exercise video.
We're going to work with a medium level, middle level grade of a crunch. So articulating down, one vertebrae at a time, leaving your feet hip width apart, maintaining neutral pelvic posture with your back into the mat, just let it softly release. Make sure you've got that fist width between your chin and the chest. You can start out with your basic crunch by leaving your fists here and then when you're ready to control more momentum and more leverage, without pulling forward, but leaving the head in neutral, just rest your head in your hands. Make sure your feet are flat, take a big inhale and you're going to crunch, facilitating that accordion effect, rib to pelvis. Think of pulling everything in from origin to insertion, insertion to origin and release. Only try to release about half way back. Any further back and you're really going to involve more back flection and extension, and if you're goal is to work in the mid-section, leave that out of the picture until later. Inhale, neutral and exhale, crunch and you should be able to see those elbows out at a peripheral vision and release just halfway back where you've got a slight lift. If your neck gets tired then you can put it down in between and just make sure you keep breathing and you're maintaining quality control over the movement. The stronger you get, the longer you'll be able to hold the contraction, just don't hold your breath, and keep facilitating and think stronger and harder, not arching or moving your neck, and release. Working to about 10 reps at first, and then to fatigue beyond that.
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