It primarily targets the abdominal muscles, including the rectus abdominis, obliques, and transverse abdominis.Īdditionally, it involves the quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, and lower back muscles, making it a highly efficient full-body exercise. The squat crunch is a compound exercise that combines the movements of a squat and a crunch to engage multiple muscle groups simultaneously. Understanding the Benefits of Squat Crunch So, let’s dive in and learn how to do a squat crunch correctly. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced fitness enthusiast, this exercise can help you strengthen your core and enhance overall body stability. In this comprehensive guide, we will walk you through the steps of performing a squat crunch with proper form and technique. If you’re in search of some weights to do these from the comfort of your home, you can check out these great dumbbells here, and a good value for money ab roller, here.Looking for an effective exercise that targets your whole body, especially abdominal muscles while also engaging your lower body? There is nothing better than the squat crunch. I hope you will attempt all the exercises in this article! The results will speak for themselves.Īn added benefit is that all these exercises can be done anywhere, anytime, and all you need is a pair of dumbbells and an ab roller! There is so much more involved in training your core than doing those two exercises. So now you know of 10 exercises are great substitutes for crunches and sit ups. Alternatives to crunches and sit ups: Conclusion Start with mastering 1 or 2 repetitions and build up from there. So, make sure you don’t roll out further than you can manage to return from, safely. The hardest part of the exercise is rolling yourself back in, which you should be doing 100% with your core. The further you roll out, the more tension you will feel on your core. From here, maintaining this position, roll the roller or barbell away from your knees. You should be in a contracted semi-crunch position to begin with. Start kneeling, with your hands on the roller. You do need an ab roller to do this exercise, or a barbell and weight plates.

This is an advanced exercise and is not suitable for the beginning of someone’s fitness journey. You shouldn’t be attempting it unless you have mastered the others in this article. Roll outs are an alternative to crunches and sit ups that requires expertise. The renegade row makes for a great finisher exercise at the end of your workout. You could do this exercise for a small amount of heavy reps or a greater amount of lighter weight reps.

Do these in alternating reps – one row on the right, one row on the left. Try to not to rotate through the hips as you lift the dumbbell off the ground. Your arms should be straight, your back strong and neutrally positioned, and your feet shoulder width apart.īrace your core, and row one of the dumbbells up to your ribs. Grab two dumbbells of an appropriate weight and go into standard push up position with a hand on each dumbbell. This exercise is especially effective for developing core stability.

The renegade row, as the name suggests, mimics the row movement, but in plank position. For this reason, this is not a beginner exercise. Renegade rows require a substantial amount of core strength to perform safely. The renegade row is a weighted exercise alternative to crunches and sit ups. Each exercise has a link to a video clip showing you how to do it because It’s important to get your technique right to avoid injury. The good news is, you can read on to learn about 10 exercises that will do the trick! Alternatives to crunches and sit upsīelow is a list of 10 exercises that are alternatives to crunches and sit ups that you should consider doing. The bad news is, developing an active, strong core takes more than a few crunches. You can read more about these muscles, here. The sections of your abdominals responsible for uniting your body in movement, and acting as your body’s number one stabilizer, lie way deeper under the surface! To develop true core strength, you need to be targeting your transverse abdominis, as well as your internal and external obliques. You know, the ones you feel burning when you do crunches and sit ups? Those squares are the very tip of the iceberg.

Alternatives to crunches and sit ups: ConclusionĬore strength is the culmination of energy from over 6 squares of artistically placed muscle down the middle of your stomach.

Squat with bicycle crunch