That’s why it’s so useful to know plenty of alternative exercises. However, like any exercise, even cable crunches can lose their potency if you do them too often. The main advantage of cable crunches is that they allow you to increase the weight so you can fatigue your muscles without having to resort to high reps. Working not unlike a weightlifting belt, TVA helps support and stabilize your spine from within. Its primary function is compressing your abdominal contents, which it does to increase intra-abdominal pressure to increase the stiffness of your lumbar spine. Transverse abdominus – where the rectus abdominis is positioned vertically on the front of your abdomen, the transverse abdominus (TVA) encircles your waistline horizontally. This is only visible when body fat levels are low enough. The rectus abdominis is divided into sections by bands of ligamentous connective tissue called the linea alba, which gives this muscle its distinctive segmented appearance. In addition, the abs play a part in compressing your abdominal contents.

Rectus abdominis – located on the front of your abdomen, the rectus abdominus or abs for short is responsible for flexion and lateral flexion of your spine. The primary muscles involved in cable crunches are: Done correctly, only your spine should move.īecause they are an isolation exercise, cable crunches don’t involve many muscles. This takes tension off your abs and places it on your hip flexors instead. You will see a lot of people doing this exercise by moving their hips too, but that’s a mistake. That means they only involve movement at one joint – your spine. Cable Crunches 101 Cable CrunchesĬable crunches are an isolation exercise for your abs. In this article, we reveal the 10 best cable crunch alternatives for more muscular, better-defined abs. In most cases, for the sake of workout efficiency, you should try and stick to 20 reps or less per set.īut what if you don’t have a cable machine or are just bored of doing the same old cable crunches? What do you do then? Adding weight will save you from doing high reps sets to fatigue your abs. If you do a set of 50 reps, you are wasting even more time, as it will just take longer to fatigue your muscles.īecause of this, weighted exercises like cable crunches should be staples of your abs training. If you do 12 reps, the first eight or so are just there to get you to where your muscles begin to fatigue, and that’s your set becomes productive. When it comes to effective strength training, only the last few reps of each set are intense enough to trigger increases in muscle strength and size.

This approach to abs training is a colossal waste of time! So why is it that so many people do much higher reps for their abs? It’s not uncommon to see exercisers banging out dozens if not hundreds of reps using next to no resistance. What about leg training? It’s likely to be the same answer, but you may go as high as 20 reps for some exercises.Įxercisers use these rep ranges because they provide the ideal balance between mechanical and metabolic stress, both of which are critical for muscle growth.

How many reps do you do per set for your arm workouts? The answer is probably something like 6-12 reps.

Cable crunch