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| Exercise Addition—Sit Ups with Leg Extended (photo by LivligaHome). |
There is a great camaraderie at a gym, or should I say the
“Y”? I am hardly in the league of most
of the other regulars you see there, especially using the free weights. What I
have found though, is it is not an exclusive club. In fact, the hard-core jocks
are eager to share and challenge everyone to achieving the next level of
ability.
This happened to me recently. I was doing my regular sit up
routine on the exercise ball when I observed one of the regular “jocks” lifting
one of his legs up straight on a bosu ball while lifting his weights. I uttered
appreciation for his ability and he smiled back. The next thing I knew he came
over and started telling me that it was a great exercise for muscle toning as
well as balance. Then he proceeded to show me how I could do the same sort of
thing with my sit-ups by keeping one leg raised while doing my usual number of
crunches.
I was a complete klutz for the first few times I tried to
keep my leg raised. It is actually pretty challenging to keep your balance on a
ball with one leg raised while doing crunches. The goal, of course, is to
alternate legs with each cycle of crunches. What I found was that it was easier
on one side to keep my leg raised compared to the other. Something else to work
on!
After a few weeks of working on my crunches with alternating
legs raised I have become better and better at it. I have also increased the
number of crunches I do per cycle. I start with doing my regular crunches. Then
I raise my right leg and keep it up through the next cycle of crunches. Next I
raise the left leg and do the same number of crunches. Sometimes I lose my
balance and have to steady myself before continuing. I never stop until I
achieve the current number of crunches per rotation. Currently I do 40 crunches
each cycle.
It feels good and has added a level of challenge that
requires me to pay attention. My stomach muscles have definitely felt the
change. This is a good thing. Now to keep on increasing the number of crunches
until the next challenge!
Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!
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