maratoolStability Ball Abdominal Crunch
How to do the stability ball abdominal crunch
- This crunch uses a Stability Ball. The ball allows you a better range of movement because it adapts better to your spine.
- Sit on top of an exercise or stability ball with your feet placed firmly on the floor for support.
- Position yourself so that your lower back is centered on the middle of the ball.
- Lie back and bring your hands across your chest, or on either side of your head (over your ears).
- Raise your head, chest and shoulders up crunching your abs as you sit upright.
- Pause for a moment and then lower yourself to the starting position.
- Note: For best results, use a full range of motion in this exercise.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rectus abdominis and the obliques, which flex the trunk forward and resist it being pulled into extension or twisted out of line.
Every exercise for:Abdominals
How this movement works
Everything happens at one joint. That gives you direct control over where the tension sits; the trade-off is that the muscle gets no help, so the load that feels hard here is a fraction of what a multi-joint version of the pattern would take. Slow, complete repetitions beat heavy ones.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
No equipment at all. The resistance is your own bodyweight, so you progress by changing leverage, range or tempo rather than by adding plates — and you can do it anywhere.
Every exercise using:Body only
These train the abdominals too, using equipment this one does not:
- Standing Cable Liftcable
- Supine One-Arm Overhead Throwmedicine ball
- Torso Rotationexercise ball
- Ab Crunch Machinemachine
- Ab Rollout on Knees with Barbellbarbell
Illustration: Everkinetic — CC BY-SA 4.0 — license. Modified versions are shared under the same license. Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.