Purpose Of Side Crunches
The side crunch is an exercise specifically designed to target the abs and obliques.
Equipment Needed To Perform Side Crunches
All that is needed to perform a side crunch is a floor – pretty much any flat surface will do, even a bench if you like (although it could be problematic if you aren’t completely centered).
Because no equipment is required, the oblique crunch is one of the most practical exercises there is.
Difficulty Of Side Crunches
On a scale of 1 to 5, side crunches would rank around a 2. Side crunches are fairly simple to do, but you must really concentrate on directing the stress onto the abs obliques, or it can be very easy to lose the connection with the muscles you are trying to stimulate most from doing this exercise in the first place.
How To Do Side Crunches
As stated above, side crunches are relatively easy to perform, the challenge comes from the concentration required to actually direct the stress onto the desired musculature – which in this case is the obliques (although the abs will be contributing a lot as well due to the nature of the exercise).
To perform an side crunch, begin by lying flat on your back, hands at the side of your head (but not holding your head), with a roughly 45 degree bend at the hips and the knees, feet resting shoulder-width apart.
Crunch your trunk towards your knees while simultaneously rotating your trunk towards one of your knees – think about shortening the distance between your sternum and one of your knees.
When you can no longer crunch any further, or you begin to lose stability, pause as best you can and really focus on contracting the muscles of the abdomen as best you can before slowly reversing the movement back to the starting position.
Repeat the exact same sequence for the opposite side.
Key Points When Performing Side Crunches
- Lie flat, hands at side of head, knees and hips bent roughly 45 degrees, feet shoulder-width apart
- Contract the midsection, bringing trunk towards knees, while simultaneously rotating towards one knee
- Squeeze hard at the end range before slowly lowering, and repeating for the opposite side
How Many Reps When Performing Side Crunches
The muscles of the midsection are generally not muscles you want to train “heavy,” as the risk of injury far outweighs any potential reward that would accompany doing so.
Therefore, the ideal amount of reps would be anywhere between 12-20.
The midsection, probably more so than any of the more popular muscles people wish to train when they go to the gym, requires a great deal of concentration to to ensure adequate stimulation of the involved muscles, so the weight must be light enough to facilitate that, but still heavy enough to require a strong contraction to take place to actually overcome the resistance of your torso in the first place.
Common Mistakes When Performing Side Crunches
Some of the more common mistakes when performing side crunches are:
- Swinging your body up – what happens for those who do not have the strength to actually crunch their midsection muscles hard against the resistance of their torso is they will try to “lunge” forward with their upper body towards their knees, just to get their torso off the floor. All this does is create the illusion that you did a rep, when really, if the purpose of the rep is to stimulate the muscles, you’ve not done that because of HOW you did the rep.
- Locking the hands behind the head – this is in line with point number 1, in that if one does not have the strength to perform the movement properly, they will use their arms to pull their head off the floor to create the illusion that they have performed a rep. This also defeats the purpose of doing this exercise.
- Going all the way down on each rep and allowing the abs to relax.
Modifications To Side Crunches
There aren’t really any major modifications you can make to the side crunch aside from eliminating the rotational element – which would simply turn the exercise into a crunch.
When To Do Side Crunches
Side crunches can be used at any point during a training session in which the goal is to target and develop the midsection. They can be used at the beginning, or the end, although if you are too fatigued it can be very difficult to deliberately keep the tension on the intended musculature.
Alternatives To Side Crunches
One of the more beneficial alternatives to the side crunch is the cable oblique crunch which requires a cable stack, and rope attachment.
Side Crunches vs. Cable Oblique Crunch
The biggest difference between these two movements is that a cable oblique crunch requires a cable stack, rope attachment, and the resistance can be varied to meet the strength of the individual, as well as the desired demand.
Click to view Cable Oblique Crunches
The side crunch requires nothing more than a flat surface, and the resistance cannot be altered – so if you don’t have a certain baseline level of strength, you may not be able to perform one, while nearly anyone can perform the other.