Crunch Knee- Abdominal Excercises

This is not an excercise which you'll find in Cardio Karaticise, but we do use a knee motion which will excercise the abdominals in much the same way. It is common in most martial arts aerobics so we will cover it here.

The motion is derived from Muay Tai. It is a trapping motion. The hands are held high so that the forearms can be used to block or soften the blows. Since they are held tight the strategy is to get the hands inside those of the opponents, grab the head and then smash their head down on their knee.

This evolved into the crunching kneeing motion that is seen in some of the more popular martial arts aeobics programs. It is one of the better abdominal excercises, but is poses some problems. It puts a lot of pressure on the back. Each crunch moves the back in a manner that is potentially dangerous.

It is an easy fix though. Just takes a little concentration. Instead of pulling your opponent down to your knee, think about using the imaginary opponent to push your knee up. In this manner you can keep your back straight. You will still work the abs but in a more core strength way than a crunch. You will also work the calf muscle as it is needed to explode the foot from the ground.

When the foot lands again, allow it to land softly by making your ankle act as a spring. You can use the downward energy to spring back up into the next strike.

Key points. Concentrate on keeping your back straight. Push from the ground. Pull your body to your opponent instead of your opponent to you.

Check back again for more Lessons