lower back hurts when I do crunches

[the People's Champ]

this is one of the reasons why I hardly bust out some crunches. my lower back will tense up like it is doing a lot of the work. any suggestions on how to correct this? I do goodmornings, which has strengthened my lower back indefinitely, and I do deads, which is no prob for me. my weakest point in my torso is my abs. I just want to be able to get rid of my flab, without hurting myself while doing crunches.

 

[Bigsatan13]

Try putting a pad or thin pillow in the small of your back.

 

[b fold the truth]

Standing pull downs, vary your stances...wide, medium, close, closed.

B True

 

[bignate73]

you have now experienced a hypertonic situation in your back. ie you have too much tone in your back, it is tight!

you did what many on here said to do...strengthen your lower back with good mornings, deadlifts, etc but neglected to stretch it...so, now it is in a chronically tightened state. when you crunch up...it stretches it. i would venture to say that when you do reverse crunches it hurts or feels like its pulling.

now you have taken 2 steps forward, now time for 1 step back. you have to stretch your lower back extensively.

there should be no reason why you should fear doing crunches if you take the necessary steps to fix what you have created by misinformation. this board is notorious for one sided pieces of advice. this is a prime example.

stretch stretch stretch. before and after your workouts now. it will go away rather quickly but you have to put the time in or you will just make matters worse and end up pulling something by trying to work through and do abs. not saying dont do abs but keep the motions as far from fast and ballistic as possible for now until you get some flexibility back.

peace.

 

[sweets]

may i suggest getting a nice massage... i somehow find that to be my most popular choice of remedies... anyhow, have you tried doing crunches on a declined bench??? my lower back never tenses up that way... and remember to squeeze your cheeks... it helps keep your lower back pressed to the bench... just my suggestions good luck!