Crunches with an Exercise Ball

Video Transcript

"To create more of a balance challenge and leverage challenge, and to anchor yourself on that mat stability wise, now instead of having the ball underneath us, closer to our body, we're going to take it away, further from that center of gravity, that midline of the body. Now, if it bothers your neck or head to be up here, leave your head down. If you need support here, please do, but you want to make sure that you've got your back anchored to the mat. As soon as that back comes off the mat, exercise is over; you?re not relying on your core strength to hold you in place. I'm going to be down here, and I'm going to crunch, and I'm going to take it out to where I can keep my back flat. That might be forty-five for you; if you can lower it and keep it flat, go ahead. But as soon as you feel your back come off the mat, raise your feet, and then do your crunch position from there. And if you want to make it even a little progressive, elbows out to the side and just think "rib to pelvis... abs crunch, rib to pelvis." Make sure you leave a slight bend in your knees when you extend the ball out, and release. And again, you can be down here if your neck gets tired. Crunch and release. Make sure you get a good stretch in there to counteract all that contraction when you're done."