To Crunch or not to Crunch?!?

[chownrus]

Exerpt From Alwyn Cosgrove's Blog:
Alwyn Cosgrove's blog: July 2008

Never Do Crunches Again - The ANTI-Crunch Workout
Guest Blog from Craig Ballantyne



I urge you to discard crunches, and hack them from your program because they are unessential. Frankly, if you want to have a flat stomach or 6-pack abs, you never have to do another crunch or sit-up ever again.

In fact, the truth about abdominal crunches is that they are useless, ineffective, and even damaging to your spine.

...

For beginners, the 3 exercises you must master are called, "The Plank", "The Side Plank", and "The Bird Dog". Now I'll be honest, these aren't the most exciting moves in the world, but they will put you on the track to flatter abs and a healthier low back.

For intermediate clients, I start using total body ab exercises such as Mountain Climbers, Stability Ball Rollouts, Spiderman Climbs, Plank with your Forearms on the Ball, and Stability Ball Jackknives. There are also at least a half-dozen advanced pushup exercises that will work your abs as well as crunches ever could!

Finally, if you are advanced, some of my favorite abdominal exercises include, X-Body Mountain Climbers (including variations with the hands or feet on the ball), classic Hanging Leg Raises or Hanging Knee Raises, Chin-ups and Pull-ups with Knee-Ups, and Spiderman Pullups.

So are Swiss-ball crunches (and variants) still recommended? Or substitute some of the above exercises.

To be honest, I've never been a big crunch fan anyway.

[Lisa~]

I would substitute all crunch variations with some of the moves listed in that blog post (or with other similar anti-rotator moves, like Pallof presses and elbow touches).

[teiresias]

I've pretty much not done any substitution on actual lifting days and always done the program as listed. On my non-lifting days where I do only cardio I add in planks afterwards.

[maxattack]

I would go with Lisa~ and sub in another ab/stability exercise. Pallof Presses are great!...I really love doing them. Reverse crunches done properly with little hip flexor involvement are pretty good too.

[WalkingDysfunction]

I thought I remembered reading that he put crunches into his workout programs to build up the RA to handle heavier loads during squatting....I don't think they mentioned crunches with weighted resistance tho.