Partner-Resisted Crunches The Crunch can be made much more effective through partner resistance.

This exercise is a variation of the regular Crunch movement.

• It allows you to work the eccentric or negative (lowering) range of motion that is not often worked with standard abdominal exercises.

• Lie down in regular crunch position with your hands behind or beside your head and your elbow pointed up. Your partner will be standing so that they are straddling your head.

• Crunch up to the top position. At this point, your partner will pull back on your elbows while you resist the pull and try to stay crunched. This will give you a negative crunch movement.

• Be careful if you have high blood pressure or begin to get dizzy and be sure to not hold your breath during the movement.

• Your partner can also assist on the way up to get you to a higher crunched position, thereby increasing the contraction at the top of the movement.