Crunch Knee- Abdominal Excercises
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.
