1st step: Once you are ready, place the dumbbells on the floor so that you they are within arm’s reach when you sit down between and near them. Remember to keep your head off of the ground the entire time you perform this exercise, and not to violently bounce, jerk, or swing your body to perform the crunches with the weights.
2nd step: Next, after sitting between the dumbbells, place your feet about shoulder width apart while your legs, at the knee joint, are bent at an angle that is less than 90 degrees. After finding the angle that you feel most comfortable with, gently rest your back on the ground.
3rd step: Now reach out your hands and grab the dumbbells and pull them next to your body near your sides and hips. Then firmly grip the dumbbells, and in a very controlled fashion, smoothly, gently, and slowly pick them up off of the ground, using your elbow as a fulcrum, pivot point, and lower the nearest end of each dumbbell that is nearest to your thumb to or near your shoulders and upper chest so that one end of each dumbbell is resting on or near your shoulder-upper chest with the other end pointing towards the ceiling or sky. If you feel that you need to change the angle of your knees, go ahead and adjust them. This is the starting position. This is the beginning of the repetition.
4th step: In a very controlled fashion, smoothly, gently, and slowly do a crunch, as you breathe out, by lifting your shoulders off of the ground as far as possible without doing a full sit-up. Squeeze your abs as you breathe out to contract them. The only part of your back that may be touching the ground at this point is your lower back which is the part just above your butt. Remember, the weights should be touching or very near to your shoulders-upper chest the entire time you are performing this exercise. This is the positive movement of the repetition. This is the middle of the repetition.
5th step: In a very controlled fashion, while keeping the weights touching or very near to your shoulders-upper chest, smoothly, gently, and slowly lower yourself back down to the starting position as you breathe in, but do not let your head touch the floor. This is the end of the repetition.
Repeat steps 4 and 5 as many times as you need to do in order to achieve the set amount of repetitions for this exercise for the day.
6th step: Once you have completed the required repetitions, in a very controlled fashion while continuing to firmly hold the dumbbells, smoothly, gently, and slowly lower the weights back to the floor by using your elbow as a fulcrum. Now you can stand up and move to the next exercise.