Daily Fit Tip: Beat neck pain during ab work

Over the past two decades of teaching fitness, the most common gripe I hear about ab work is that my students experience neck pain while doing crunches. It's true that our heads are quite heavy, and if the little boy in Jerry McGuire was right they weigh about eight pounds.Sounds heavy to me. It's not a problem for our necks to hold these big melons up-right as we stand or sit, but our neck endures an unusual stress while we're in the horizontal position. There are two solutions to get you the firm, ripped abs you're wishing for.

With proper hand support and practice, our necks can earn the strength they need for crunches. Or.....we can just avoid that issue completely with the plank. If you're not familiar with the plank it's a fairly simple exercise that puts a terrific amount of stress on your abs and low back (in a good way), and takes all the strain off your neck.

The simplest form is easy. Get down on the ground and elevate your body on your elbows, forearms and toes. Hover with your back and legs as straight as possible. It looks easy, but once you staring doing it......you'll find it to be extremely challenging. As a beginner, aim to hold this pose for 10 seconds. Repeat the plank at 10 seconds a few times. Every time you do this exercise I suggest you progress by tacking five seconds on to your holding time.

The plank is truly a terrific exercise. It's uncomplicated, yet very challenging and extremely effective. So if the bowling ball that sits above your shoulders is just too much to make crunches a do...do the plank.

Fitzness Tip: Breath while your doing this. Sounds obvious, but remember that once you get going. Breath!