According to a personal trainer, this exercise is 100 times more effective than crunches. I tried it and was humbled

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When you think about ab workouts, chances are your brain will immediately think of endless sit-ups and crunches, lying prone on your exercise mat. While both exercises do a great job of working the six-pack muscles along the front of your core, they aren’t the best at building functional fitness, as you probably don’t find yourself lying on your back and crunching much in your day-to-day life.This is why strength and run coach Melissa Kendter wants you to swap the exercise for the bear plank pull-through. “Reminding women this exercise is 100x more effective than crunches,” she writes on Instagram.“Crunches train your abs in isolation. Bear plank pull-throughs train your core the way we actually use it,” she adds. As a female runner myself, I added this powerhouse ab exercise to my strength training routine for a month — read on to find out what happened next.As a reminder, if you’re a complete beginner, you’re recovering from an injury, or you’re pregnant or postpartum, it’s always best to seek personalized advice from a qualified professional. How to do a bear plank pull-through All you’ll need for this exercise is a weight of some kind. You can check out the best adjustable dumbbells for your home workouts here, or you can use anything heavy, like a book or a milk carton.In her video demonstration, Kendter is using a kettlebell. Remember, the right weight for you will feel challenging, but not impossible, by the final few reps.Here’s how to do the bear plank pull-through with good form: Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.Place a heavy dumbbell or kettlebell to one side of you, and start on all fours. Make sure your wrists are stacked underneath your shoulders, and your knees are in line with your hips.Squeeze your core, thinking about sucking your belly button into your spine, and push through your hands to raise into a bear plank, hovering your knees a few inches from the floor.Check your form: your hips should be completely still, and your back should be straight. Imagine you have a drink balanced on the small of your back — it shouldn’t spill.Reach under and across your body with the opposite hand to grab the weight and drag it underneath your body while staying lifted in the bear plank. Repeat on the opposite side.Keep switching sides until you have completed the same number of reps on each side.What are the benefits? You’re getting a lot of bang for your buck with this move. “As a runner (and honestly for women in general), this move is 100x more functional because it builds deep core stability, hip and shoulder strength, anti-rotation control, balance and coordination, better posture when fatigued, and pelvic/core connection without endless crunches,” says Kendter.I’ve run six marathons, and I do Pilates a few times a week, so I thought this move would be easy. I was wrong. If you think about your posture as you run and walk, you aren’t in a crunch. Instead, your core has to work to stabilize your pelvis and resist rotation as you move, helping you stay balanced and run more efficiently.This is an elite anti-rotation exercise that challenges your core by firing up your obliques and deep transverse abdominis to keep your body stable as you move. You’ll also be challenging your glutes and shoulders, as well as your quads, to keep you stable in the isometric hold.