The crunch is an effective body-weight exercise that you can add to any fitness regimen to build your abdominal muscles. Although this exercise can be challenging in its own right, you can struggle if you have difficulty keeping your feet on the floor. Many people weigh down their feet to maintain the correct posture during their crunches; if you have access to a set of ankle weights, see if they're heavy enough to make a difference.
Crunches are a simple, effective exercise to help you work toward your goal of building a six-pack set of abs. To perform the exercise correctly, lie on your back, bend your legs and place your feet flat on the floor. Place your fingertips at each side of your head, tuck your elbows in and contract your abs. Slowly lift your head, neck, shoulders and upper back off the floor, keep your upper body elevated for one second and then slowly return to the starting position.
Holding Feet Down
For some people, keeping their feet planted during a set of crunches can be a challenge. As they lift their upper body, their heels or entire feet can lift off the floor, ruining the correct form of the exercise. To overcome this issue, people use a variety of means of weighing down their feet. If you perform your crunches at a gym, tuck your feet under a barbell or see if the gym has a two-holed cinder block for this purpose. At home, slide your toes under the edge of the couch. If you have access to a set of ankle weights, slide one over each foot. If the weights are adjustable, increase their weight as much as you can. A pair of 1-pound ankle weights are unlikely to help hold you down, but heavier weights might help if you're not overly heavy.
Because ankle weights might be ineffective at holding your feet down during a set of crunches, think outside the box and use them to increase the challenge of your exercise. People often perform weighted crunches with weights such as dumbbells, weight plates and medicine balls. Hold your ankle weights in each hand or strap them to your wrists and perform your crunches to give yourself even more of a challenge.
Ankle Weight Use
Although it might be possible to use ankle weights to help you with your crunches, they're more conducive to cardio exercises such as walking and aerobics. The American Council on Exercise notes using ankle weights during cardio can boost your heart rate between three and five beats per minute and also increase your oxygen consumption up to 10 percent. The ACE warns against using ankle weights that weigh more than 3 pounds and advises discontinuing the use of ankle weights if they affect your walking mechanics.
Toronto-based journalist William McCoy has been writing since 1997, specializing in topics such as sports, nutrition and health. He serves as the Studio's sports and recreation section expert. McCoy is a journalism graduate of Ryerson University.