Does the order that you do things in matter?

I've just sent my newsletter for March out - Spring into Action! In there I talk about the fact that I've sorted out some fitness goals for myself and I'm now going out walking and running regularly. I also said that I'm not very good at doing strength exercises afterwards because I'm not clear for what reason I'm doing them (although I know they are a good idea).

When I was doing my reverse stomach crunches last week I had a flash of inspiration. I haven't found doing this exercise very easy even though this exercise is listed as one of the most effective stomach exercise. My flash of inspiration was that I worked out why!!

When I was lying on back I would bend my legs and then lift them so my knees were over my stomach. From there I would then straighten my legs straight into the air and then using my stomach muscles pull my pelvis up towards my belly button. But I always felt discomfort when I did it this way. I then wondered if I should just try putting my legs straight up in the air before doing the crunches. When I did this and then did the reverse crunch movement it was so much easier. I could work my stomach muscles rather then other parts of my legs/back/bum!

Now in theory my legs ended up in the same place but using the first way I used a more complex route to get my legs in the air (i.e. an A->B->C approach) where as in the second way I used a simpler route (just A-> C route) because I had reasoned out that I would use the most appropriate muscles with least effort if I didn't use unnecessary ones by going via B. I've kept doing this and it has been working well.

If you are interested you could try this out at home and let me know if you noticed a difference between the two methods! (N.B. only try it if you are fit enough or injury/problem free to do it.)