It’s crunch time people!

No seriously it’s time for crunches.  Based on this weekend’s declaration of all things summer; bathing suit season is a lot closer than originally expected.  If you’re looking to do a little waist-widdling before slipping on that swimsuit but your ab routine has made little effect, here are some tips to make sure you’re crunching correctly…

1) Lay with your knees up, feet touching the floor.  Yeah, that’s the easy part.

2) Now, here comes the proper form that people tend to forget: contract your ab muscles slightly before your crunch even begins, lining up your spine completely with the floor below you.  There should be no room for air to pass between your lower back and the floor.

3) Now, here’s the most important part: Exhale.  Big exhale on the way up in your crunch.  Forcing all that air out will cause a deeper contraction within your abdominal wall and really get to the core of your core so to speak.

4) Inhale on the way back down, making sure to maintain proper form and not arch your lower spine.

5) Oh, and you all know not to pull on your neck right?  Right?  Your arms should be out so that you can hardly see the points of your elbows.  If they start sneaking back into your eyeline your form is off.

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How many reps you do depends on your fitness level. Start with 20, see how you feel, do another twenty, see how you feel again and so on… But,  when you feel like you can’t do anymore, do five more, then stretch.

Yeah, crunches are hard if you do them correctly, but that’s when they actually work.  Let’s just say I’ve never met anyone that actually got rockhard abs with an ab-roller.