Hello: Newbie to the group but an oldie as far as fitness goes. I used to run Marathons but my left knee told me it was time to quit. Now, I'm a gym rat. I'm 67 y/o 6'1" tall and 178#. I'm in the gym 5 days a week on average and lift, as well as cardio and aerobics. 

My issue is with doing crunches/situps on the reverse incline station. It seems if I do more than 100 reps, I get a blister at my tailbone (coccyx) area from abrasion against the padded bench. I've used extra padding such as a towel but it doesn't help much. Today, I did 220 reps and am now suffering from an open blister. I can do more, but the blister/spore gets worse. I do other ab/core stuff to compensate (usually 4 different exercises per workout) but I don't like not being able to do the crunches without the blister. I've asked a few people at the gym but no one can offer anything but(t) sympathy. Any clues or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. David

Obviously, this group is rarely followed or no one responds. Time to go elsewhere. Thanks.

Hi David, welcome! Really impressive that you’re keeping such a solid routine.

I haven’t run into the tailbone blister issue myself, but a couple of things come to mind that might help:

• A towel usually flattens out too much - maybe a small foam pad, folded exercise mat, or even padded shorts (like cyclists wear) could cut down the friction.

• Adjusting the bench angle might reduce pressure on the tailbone.

• Instead of super high reps, you could try fewer, slower crunches with weight across your chest - that way you still get the intensity without so much time grinding against the pad.

• And of course, there are plenty of core moves (planks, cable crunches, ab wheel rollouts, hanging leg raises) that hit the abs hard without putting pressure on that spot.

Hopefully one of those gives you some relief so you can keep doing what you enjoy.

-Lex

Hey Lex! Great ideas about the foam pad or biking shorts. I think I'll try the pad thing. I also just started trying to slow the reps down to put more stress on the core. I do alter the angle on the bench which cuts the reps down, which leads to less soreness.

I'm also doing Leg lifts, cable crunches, planks, and another one but I can't put a name to it. I usually do 3 different core/ab exercises for each workout so I do alternate. I guess hitting the high numbers on the sit-ups is more of mental thing. I also do alternate using a 25 lb/11kg weight plate on my chest periodically. 

I guess I'm going to have to get out of my rut and try different things as you suggest. Thanks for the input! It is appreciated. 

Sure, glad to help!