Roman chair crunches. We study all the subtleties and secrets.
Greetings, my dear comrades! Despite the fact that 8 is a red day on the calendar, this still does not stop us from gossiping about a technical topic.
And today we’ll talk about crunches on a Roman chair. After reading, you will learn everything about the muscle atlas, the benefits and technique of performing the exercise, we will also find out the degree of its effectiveness and conduct some comparative analysis regarding its use in your training program.
So, make yourself comfortable, let's begin.
Legend of origin
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There is an opinion that twisting on a Roman chair appeared in the era of Marie's mules, legionnaires, so called after the reforms of Marie. Allegedly, soldiers of the Roman Empire trained on a bench in order to make their abdominal muscles steel, using a primitive form of sports equipment.
It is unknown whether this is true or fiction, but the cult of a beautiful body reigned among the Romans for a long time, while the legionnaires were forced to always maintain shape for combat readiness.
This interestingly conveys modern trends in the training of athletes, reflecting the desire to have beautiful abs for the sake of their own ideas or values. In any case, Roman chair crunches are an example of one of the oldest, most difficult and at the same time effective exercises.
Roman chair crunches. What, why and why?
Spring is the most active time of the year in the sense that everyone wakes up from winter hibernation, gets away from the gluttons and blows a joint into the hall for slender forms. It is in March-April that gyms are simply bursting with an influx of visitors, and trainers do not have time to prepare PTs for them. Our gym was no exception, and at the very beginning of March a new addition arrived, consisting of 10 girls and 1 boys :). Of course, all the ladies began to work hard on their abs, wanting to get rid of their belly in this way, and they chose to do this by doing crunches on a Roman chair. No, the chair was not brought to us specially from Rome, this is the so-called exercise machine for working out the abs - an inclined bench with clamps for the legs. Even the most mossy rocking chairs have it, and it’s what all beginners “go well with.” Therefore, today, in our best traditions, we decided to analyze this press exercise. Well, let's begin.
Note: For better assimilation of the material, all further narration will be divided into subchapters.
Muscle atlas
The exercise belongs to the class of isolating exercises with a pull type of force and is aimed at working out the muscles of the abdominal area.
The muscle ensemble includes the following units:
- targeted – rectus abdominis muscle;
- synergists – oblique abdominal muscles;
- stabilizers - tibialis anterior muscle.
A complete muscle atlas looks like this.
Advantages
By performing the crunch exercise on a Roman chair, you can expect to receive the following benefits:
- isolated impact on the abdominal region;
- development of strength of the rectus abdominis muscles;
- separation (division) of muscles and formation of 6 abs;
- prerequisites for narrowing the waist when performing a cross;
- possibility of execution in various variations, incl. with additional burden.
Execution technique
Roman chair crunches are an exercise of medium difficulty level. The step-by-step execution technique is as follows.
Step #0.
Go to the bench and adjust the desired incline angle. Sit on it, securing your legs under the bolsters. Lean back and lie completely on the bench, pressing your lower back. Without forming a lock, place your hands behind your head. This is your starting position.
Step #1.
Inhale and as you exhale, without lifting your back from the bench, begin to twist your body forward towards your legs. Stay in the top position for 1-2 counts, performing additional compression of the abdominal muscles. As you inhale, return to IP. Repeat the specified number of times.
In the picture version, all this disgrace looks like this.
Variations
In addition to the classic version, there are several variations of the exercise, in particular:
- with the back lifted off the bench (sit-up);
- with a pancake in hand;
- lying down with a barbell.
Secrets and subtleties
To get the most out of the exercise, follow these guidelines:
- during execution, twist your body forward, rather than lift your back and sit on your buttocks;
- watch the amplitude, it should not be large, and the technique should not resemble an “accordion”;
- do not clasp your hands behind your head;
- do not round your neck or raise your head too much forward;
- at the final (upper) point of the trajectory, hold for 1-2 counts and perform a peak contraction;
- do not pull yourself by the neck with your hands, but bring your upper body closer to your lower body by contracting your abdominal muscles;
- As you progress in times, use additional weights in the form of a plate or barbell;
- move slowly and under control, without jerking;
- breathing technique: exhale - twist forward, inhale - lower onto the bench;
- numerical training parameters: number of approaches 3-4 , repetitions 20-25 .
We're done with the theoretical side, now let's look at some practical points.
Roman Chair Crunches an Effective Ab Exercise?
Electrical activity data from the Biomechanics Laboratory at San Diego State University (USA, 2016 ) regarding the best exercises for the rectus abdominis muscle indicate the following distribution of places:
- exercise bike – 240;
- crunches on a fitball - 210;
- crunches on a Roman chair - 150;
- crunches lying on the floor - 120.
Thus, we can say that Roman crunches are a fairly effective exercise for the abdominal area.
Will Ab Crunches Make My Stomach Flat?
Many people believe that narrowing the waist and trimming the stomach should begin with pumping the press 100-500 times per approach. In fact, training in this way will not only not remove fat centimeters, but on the contrary, it will enlarge the stomach, because the abdominal muscles become dense and begin to put pressure on the surface layer of fat. Result - your waist starts to float freely :). Therefore, “animal” questions need to start with diet and cardio, and only then gradually include special exercises.
It is also worth keeping in mind that crunches on a Roman chair can become a traumatic exercise for the lower back if you have excess weight (at least 10 kg) and protrusions/hernias of the lumbosacral region. Therefore, overweight people with back problems should avoid them.
Actually, we’re done with the substantive part, let’s move on to...
Afterword
One of the most popular abdominal exercises, Roman chair crunches, has been broken down. Surely, you already use it in your training. Well, if not, then there is a reason to update your software scheme.
PS: friends, what is your favorite abdominal exercise?
PPS: did the project help? Then leave a link to it in your social network status - plus 100 points to karma guaranteed
