The ab move quietly grinding down your lower back

Swap crunches for a floor move that trains the same muscles without bending your spine.

Crunches curl your spine forward, over and over, under load. Your discs handle a single bend fine. Repeating that bend fifty times a set is the part that catches up with you. The dead bug trains the same muscles while your spine stays still.

⚡ 10-Second Pulse

First, when does your lower back ache?

💪 After exercise 🖥 After sitting 😢 Both

A standard crunch bends your lower spine forward, then asks you to repeat that bend for every rep in the set. Repeated bending under load is one of the mechanisms researchers have linked to disc irritation over time, especially if your lower back is already sensitive. The dead bug skips the bend entirely.

You lie on your back, brace your stomach, and move your arms and legs while your spine holds still against the floor. Small trials on stability drills like this have linked them to less low back pain than flexion-based ab work, in one study of people who already had back trouble.

Cut every flexion move for two weeks, not just crunches. Sit-ups, toe touches, and the seated ab rowing machine all bend your spine the same way a crunch does. Swap the whole category, not one exercise.

✅ The 90-Second Fix

Do one set right now. Lie on your back, arms pointed at the ceiling, knees bent at 90 degrees like a tabletop. Slowly lower your right arm behind your head and your left leg toward the floor, without letting your lower back arch off the ground. Bring them back, switch sides. Eight per side is one set.

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More Back Wins

●	Brace before you bend. Before picking anything off the floor, tighten your stomach like you are about to take a punch, then hinge at the hips instead of rounding your spine.
●	Plank instead of sit-ups. A 20-second front plank works the same muscles a crunch targets, with zero degrees of spinal bend. Try three today.
●	Check your chair. A seat that lets your lower back round forward all day adds up to more bending than any ab workout. Slide a small cushion behind your lower back.

Quick Vote

Crunches or planks, which one do you do?

🔄 Crunches

💪 Planks

From the Mailbag

“I’ve done sit-ups every morning for 20 years. Should I stop?”

Gary, 61

If your back feels fine and stays fine, Gary, twenty years of sit-ups clearly haven’t hurt you, and I wouldn’t panic. But if you’ve started noticing stiffness or ache after your set, that’s the signal to switch, not push through. Swap in dead bugs and planks for two weeks and see if the ache settles.

Got an ache question? I read every one.

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Keep moving,

The Ache Report

P.S. Exhale on the hard part of any core move, the reach in a dead bug, the hold in a plank. Holding your breath instead spikes your blood pressure for no reason.

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The ab move quietly grinding down your lower back

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