A proper crunch!

I've been wondering what the proper crunch is and I need some clarification of a crunch vs. a sit-up.

A crunch is when you raise your torso while holding your feet down, but not raising your back? So your just literally crunching the ad region.

Whereas a sit-up you lift your back and try to reach your knees?

Is this correct? Probably a stupid question but something I should really get clarified -_- :p

Also any tips on how to do them properly? I've found that raising your back and "leveraging" your torso, forcing your abs to work is much more difficult...but causes more aching, which is good...! right?

Aching has nothing to do with progress, hummer- It's something that a lot of people mistakenly believe though, with the whole "No pain, no gain" slogan. It's pretty catchy, it sounds right, and it even rhymes- But you can easily get gains without pain, the pain does nothing for your muscle development at all.
On to the crunch- Sounds like you've got it right. The ab muscles are used by the body to pull the front of the rib cage down towards the hips- And that's about it for the crunch motion, really. You'll get a full contraction of the abs themselves just by assuming the crunch position (Whether you cross your arms over your chest or link hands behind your head, more of a preference thing) and using your abs to lift your shoulders off the floor, concentrating on that rib cage motion I described earlier. You can place a hand on your abs to feel them contracting, and you'll see for yourself that they simply can't contract any more- Which is why I never ever bother with sit ups. Once you've done that first crunch motion, the abs are done- Pretty much the rest of the way up on a sit up, when you're lifting your lower back off the floor, it's a lot of hip flexor involvement- Not much abs beyond the first phase of the movement.
So you got it, it's pretty much crunching the ab region, hence the name I guess.
I'm not sure what you mean about leveraging the torso and raising the back though- Personally, I'd just do regular crunches, back nice and flat on whatever surface. Of course, add to that the possibilities of decline crunches, reverse crunches, weighted crunches and cable crunches, and you have quite a variety to choose from. My personal favorite is the cable crunch- Kneeling in front of a high pulley, with some rope attatched to the pulley if necessary, pull the weight down and hold the bar tightly in front of your forehead. While still in the kneeling position, start crunching. It's a little odd at first, doing crunches like that with weight and while your back is not flat on the ground, but it's a hell of an exercise.

Wow, I've always been told if it don't ache you aren't doing it right. Plus I've read documentation that say that you need to bring the muscle to...a level of absolute failure...which would eventually mean aching in a few hours or the next day. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you...stress the muscle and the ache is the muscle rebuilding and getting...stronger.

I don't know...it made sense to me. :-p I don't understand how it would not be the case.

I was under the same impression until cpl told me otherwise. It's important to know that especially if you don't want to over work your muscles. If you do a killer workout but don't feel any pain and do the same workout again the next day to feel the pain you actually are just using your broken down muscle fibers for energy and causing that very unwanted catabolic effect and making your muscles smaller.

Oh yeah and you'll find that a lot of bodybuilders don't actually work their abs more 2-3 times per week, there's no need.
 
If you want abs you have to adjust what's in the kitchen and hit the cardio!

What are some good ideas for ab exercises that excercise the area around the naval. I have decently strong upper abs put around my lower belly, not so much?

Leg lifts, decline crunches.

Blake
Age 19
Hieght ~5'10.5"
Weight ~196
Bench ~275
Squat ~390
Dead Lift ~375
MilitaryPress ~200
Hang Clean ~205
6-17-07
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