is there any benefit on doing crunches while hanging by the legs from a pullup bar? or any particular range of motion that would be best?(ie: from perpendicular to parallel to the floor, or something like that)
I used to do these. I stopped up when somebody told me a story about somebody cracking his head open doing them. They're obviously going to be harder than normal crunches.
I too used to do them. I didn't stop because of a fear I could slip and crack my head but because I changed gyms. Most gyms, unless they have a room where you can close a door (read power lifting area), freak out when you start to do these because they fear lawsuits. Any way, I think the only advantake is maybe an increase range of motion and maybe a bit more constant tension in the abs, obliques. If you do theses hanging from a bar, make sure to put a pad/towel under your knees. You will thank me later for that piece of advice.
actually i was already considering the towel, since i hang from my pullup bar quite often, it's fun .
why dont you just do some leg raises and knee ups? they are obviously safer. If you want to make them more challenging just put on some ankle weights.
because i already do exercises which do the same thing as those, and because they're not the same? besides, i freaking live hanging from that bar, i know the risks.
1-so do you just want to do them for fun? or 2-do you want to do them to strengthen your abs? if you choose no.2 I think that you know that there are tons of exercises other than this that will really strengthen your stomach.
Remember you have gravity severely working against you and the blood rushing to your upper body while hanging upside down El-Guapo.
OK – everybody should get a good chuckle out of this one. I have a slipped disc in my back so I had to close my dojo (broke my heart). I embarked on a vigorous physical therapy regimen. I do kata, jumping jacks & running in place for cardio, all light impact. I do crunches and cat stretches as well as other exercises for my back. One of the things I do is pull-ups. I have a pull-up bar between the door jams and I do as many pull-ups as I can do, then I hang for as long as I can for traction. Now the bar I have has brackets but one side is shaped like a ‘U’. Well the side that is shaped like a ‘U’ turned upside down and down I went like a bag of potatoes. I landed, flat on my back with the bar still in my hands. I thought I broke my teeth because they came together hard when I fell. I thought I bit my tongue off because I bit my tongue. After checking the rest of me and having found nothing broken I resumed my pull-ups. I was lucky. I fell on the side where the tatami mat was. Had I fallen on the other side I would have hit cement. Anyway, it did not hurt my back and I should be able to reopen in September. OK you can laugh now. Thanks, Tom
Those work the lower abs while crunches/sit ups mostly work the upper abs. When hanging you have to fight gravity more so it's like doing crunches with a weight plate but you don't need the plate plus you work core muscles to stabilize yourself when hanging that you don't need doing crunches on the floor or a slant board.
That's funny. The owner of my gym designed a machine specifically to let us hang upside down and do situps. It's something he's known for. http://www.allamericanfitnessvt.com/Vermont-Fitness-ABblaster.htm
Be glad that your owner allows such a thing. Some really hardcore BB'ing gyms, like the one I attend, will allow members to do most "old school" exercises like hanging ab crunches. Those Metro-sexual gyms that outlaw grunting, I am willing to be they won't allow it. I know the old gym I went to, even though they had the Gravity boots, would not allow people to use them because too many members were getting stuck!
I love doing these.. I don't feel like I've done my abs workout until I've done them. Funny story, in my gym they have a sort of incline bench you hang from. I hadn't done my laces up properly on my trainers, and managed to fall out of my shoes mid situp. I managed to roll nicely and prevent any injury other than a bruised ego though
The vertical ab blaster, as Rick calls it, is actually pretty neat. It is basically an incline situp bench that sits flat (horizontal) between steel supports about 5' off the ground. You climb up on it and thread your legs through the rests at the end, just like a standard incline situp bench. You then grab the handles, and the entire contraption rotates into a vertical position, so you're at a complete incline. It's a neat device, since it means that you can't really slip out, and you can work to fatigue, since you just grab the handles to rotate back to horizontal. There are some things that I don't like about the gym, and the owner can be kindof a dick sometimes, but I do like that he allows old school exercises and what have you. It's really set up to be a bodybuilding/powerlifting gym more than a pretty, feel good, cosmetic gym. It's nice to be doing squats, and see that the guy in the next squat cage over is doing 495 for reps. It's inspiring in it's own way. That might be worth the meathead attitude.
