cheers, man. thank you. i figured i might be thinking the right things but just executing them improperly. i mainly do crunches with my legs straight up and bent at a 90 degree angle at the knees. like i said i'm pretty new to working out, outside of the basic training i did playing sports. this forum has been really helpful just passing through and reading through various threads. i'd like to definitely become more knowledgeable on the subject without being an obvious noob and asking dumb questions.