Cross Crunches is a fantastic beginner ab exercise that works more than your abdominal muscles.
In fact, it also targets your external obliques and internal obliques, helping you feel more “pulled in” at the waist.
While the crossover crunch is considered a beginner core move.
You can add it to an intense workout or use variations to make the exercise more challenging.
To properly perform a cross crunch, begin in the basic crunch position, lying on the floor on your back and with your knees bent.
Instead of lifting both shoulders off the floor at the same time, contract your abs and lift your left shoulder up while raising your right knee, but keeping the leg bent.
Pull your left shoulder and right knee toward each other, and then return to the starting position.
Perform another cross crunch with your right shoulder and left knee to complete one full rep of this exercise.
Cross Crunches: Instructions
Lay flat on the mat with your body positioned in a straight line from the top of your head, down your spine, and into your tailbone.
Place your hands behind your head, elbows out.
Inhale as you cross your left leg over your right resting your left ankle your right knee.
Exhale as you contract your abdominal muscles and slowly raise your upper body off the mat (similar to a basic crunch).
Slowly twist your torso to your left as you squeeze your abs, bringing your right elbow to your left knee until they touch.
Inhale as you slowly lower your upper body back down to the mat.
Benefits
The cross crunch both targets both the abs and the oblique muscles.
This exercise helps to strengthen the core, sculpts the waist and the tones the abdominal wall.
To challenge your muscles and get them to respond to exercise.
It’s important that you include modifying versions of the regular crunch into your core workouts.
