Crunches Are Making You Worse [Ep 68]

Learn the truth about health and performance from Bill Hartman at http://uhp.network

Episode Overview
Bill and Chris unpack the widespread misuse of “core training” — especially crunches — as a solution for back pain or a shortcut to aesthetics. They challenge the isolative logic behind ab-focused exercises, arguing that these strategies often reinforce compression, reduce movement options, and degrade systemic adaptability. Drawing from UHPC principles, they reframe the core not as a region to be strengthened, but as a dynamic interface for managing pressure, guiding shape change, and enabling forward propulsion. Crunches may feel productive, but they often compromise what the system truly needs: coherence. #coreworkout #fitness #physicaltherapy #movement #absworkout

Key Topics & Chapter Highlights
00:00 – Crunches Reinforce the Problem
Chris explains why clients with back or hip issues often gravitate toward crunches — and why that instinct is counterproductive. Crunching magnifies existing compression and removes options for movement.
01:20 – Segmental Training Misses the System
Bill critiques bodybuilding’s part-by-part training mentality. Targeting the “six-pack” promotes aesthetic shapes at the expense of dynamic function, especially when it becomes the default movement strategy.
04:00 – Compression Restricts Access
They discuss how repeated emphasis on rectus abdominis compresses the thorax, limits rotational capacity, and eventually leads to structural compromise.
06:00 – Creating Space vs. Forcing Downforce
Bill explains how pushing down without making space leads to compensatory shapes like spinal rounding. These strategies feel helpful in the short term but trade away joint integrity over time.
10:00 – What the “Core” Actually Does
Chris introduces the common canister model, and Bill reframes it: these muscles don’t need to be braced — they need to behave. The goal is not stiffness, but regulated pressure and guided movement.
13:00 – Pressure ≠ Strength
High-pressure strategies can create stability, but they also reduce motion. That trade-off may benefit performance in short bursts, but it often undermines movement health.
16:00 – Breath and Base Before Load
Chris explains how true “core training” begins with pressure organization — not reps. Ground contact, breath, and position shape how the system behaves under load.
20:00 – Trade-offs of Aesthetic Focus
They share examples of extreme body prep — dehydration, restrictive diets, and rigid bracing — that achieve visual goals while silently degrading system adaptability.
27:00 – A Coherent Core Sequence
Chris offers a functional approach: breathing on the ground, squats on wedges, and suitcase carries. The core is trained through integration — not isolation.

Key Takeaways
Crunches constrain, they don’t liberate

Core muscles organize pressure, not aesthetics

True training integrates breath, position, and propulsion

Movement freedom is the ultimate measure of “core strength”

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