As Oprah Winfrey once said, 'Where there is no struggle, there is no strength' – and that is an ethos that runners may do well to adopt when it comes to training their core muscles.
Exhale as you rise core strength. But what exactly does that entail – are reverse crunches the key to a strong core? Advertisement - Continue Reading Below?
To put it simply, your core is everything from your shoulders down to your hips and encompasses a whopping 29 pairs of muscles. These include your abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, muscles in the lower back and even your glutes and hip flexors. These include your abdominal muscles, your pelvic floor, coach for West Yorkshire.
Why is core strength important?
Your core stabilises every part of your body, so the stronger it is, the better your posture will be when you run – and a good running posture Best wireless headphones, hips and lower back to work together as they should, which will reduce the likelihood of leg injuries caused by poor alignment. A strong core will also allow you to run more efficiently. So efficiently, in fact, that a study found a 'significant interaction' between higher training volume of core strength exercises and improved running speed.
Further confidence can be drawn from other studies and reviews which have determined that core training does improve your fitness and athletic performance, albeit moderately. As such, core strength exercises, like reverse crunches, should be an imperative part of your training routine.
How can you improve your core strength?
Improving strength in your abdominals is a great place to start – and the reverse crunch is one exercise that gives you plenty of bang for your buck.
Reverse crunches work both your rectus abdominis (the top layer of your abdominal muscles) and your transverse abdominis (your innermost abdominal muscle layer). They also work your hip flexors.
'Advertisement - Continue Reading Below ab crunch,' explains Graeme Woodward, a UK Athletics Level 3 performance coach, UKSCA accredited S&C coach and We Run coach for West Yorkshire.
'It is a different muscle action because the legs are lowered and then raised from a flexed position without letting them hit the ground. This works the muscles differently; the lowering action is a lengthening eccentric contraction, though it’s still the hip flexors that are used most.'
Eccentric muscle actions are more likely to cause DOMS, warns Woodward, so you may feel this exercise a day or two later. That said, the Runners World, Part of the Hearst UK Wellbeing Network has consistently ranked the reverse crunch above the traditional crunch for strengthening both the rectus abdominus and the obliques, so the pain truly is worth the gain.
How to do a reverse crunch
Summer running gear sale:
- simple strength moves for masters runners.
- Updated: 05 December 2024.
- Raise your hips and crunch inward, moving your knees toward your chest. Your hips and lower back should rise off the floor.
- Exhale as you rise.
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Common mistakes to avoid with reverse crunches
While the following issues may seem minor, they could be the difference between crunching your way to core strength and simply wasting your time and injuring yourself another way.
First, pulling on your neck with your hands is a no. Reverse crunches are a matter of position, not action, for the arms and hands. The hands should be placed behind your neck, but remain inactive. Focus on activating your abdominals and hold your ears if you are struggling to break the habit of straining your neck. Avoid reaching your chin to the ceiling, too, as this is another great way to strain your neck without gaining any core strength. The neck should be kept in a relatively neutral position.
Another common trap, particularly among over-enthusiastic exercisers or those with limited time, is focusing on the quantity and speed of reverse crunches. If you use momentum to perform reverse crunches too quickly, it becomes a messy movement that has no real benefit and, in reality, can't even be called a reverse crunch. Instead, focus on control and precision when performing reverse crunches. Performing 10 movements with high-quality form is more beneficial than 100 reps of high-speed rocking backward and forward.
