Though we developed nuclear reactors and sent people to the moon decades ago, the science of biomechanics is in its infancy (my spell check doesn't even recognize the word). Stuart McGill and others are taking a look at ordinary movements and with the help of computers measuring whether or not these ordinary movements are "good" to do. In the article, The Man Who Wants To Kill Crunches, we take a look at the damage that excessive bending of the spine can (McGill says inevitably) produce.

Something pops out to me when reading the article. There is no mention of the function of the brain in movement and how one uses awareness to influence the quality of movement and therefore reduce fatigue on the system. Moshe Feldenkrais spent his entire career as an educator of movement, ridiculing any exercise program that had at its center mindless repetition of any movement, spine-bending or other. The question is: Can one do a mindful sit-up without injuring the spine? I think so.

We know that the fundamental health of any organism is dependent upon the proper balance of stress and recovery. Without stress there is no growth and without recovery we cannot regain our energy supply. Feldenkrais demonstrated in many ways that the more the stress is transmitted through the length of the skeleton rather than shearing across the skeleton, the healthier and more efficient any movement will be.

So, how do you do a healthy crunch? By flexing all of the 24 joints in the spine simultaneously and distributing the effort to all of the flexor muscles rather than just the abdominal muscles. Which means that all of the muscles from the knees to the throat contract while you allow all of the muscles along the backside from the hamstrings to the skull to let go and lengthen. How do you know you're doing it right? You move slowly and smoothly with the awareness that what you are doing feels good and your breathing gets fuller as you move.

So the question is, Can I do a healthy crunch? The answer is, Yes! But, with so many thousands of movements to be done, explored and invented, why would any healthy brain want to do the same thing over and over and over...

by Bob Etherington
Guild Certified FELDENKRAIS Practitioner