Like I said, this is a very short movement, and to others it might look like you're just dogging it and doing incomplete reps. Screw them - when summer comes and you'll be able to show off a powerful sixpack, created by effective training, I can assure you that nobody will be laughing.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the basic, correct crunch. It might look boring, but once you've mastered it in all its simplicity, you'll find it a great aid in your quest for excellence. As you grow stronger, you might want to hold a plate against your chest with your arms crossed over it in order to increase resistance.
Another good ab-killer that actually works is kneeling crunches in front of a pulley. It's pretty simple: Attach a thick rope to the top-pulley, grasp it with a comfortable grip and kneel in front of the machine. Personally, I prefer to use a rather long rope and hold my hands 1-2 inches below my armpits in front of my chest and having my upper body in a 30-45 degree as starting position, so that the rope is against my front delts. This takes some of the weight off your hands and puts it as pressure onto your front delts, as I've found the hands to be the weak link when I start going into heavy poundages. I've done crunches with 180 lbs, and even with gloves the skin on the lower part of your hand can get pretty burned.
From that 30-45 degree starting position, you simply contract your abs as much as possible. You will not get your forehead all the way down to the ground, and have no reason to do it either as your abs has such a short range of motion. I'd like to raise a finger of warning though: when you go back up you probably want to stretch the abs out a little before crunching again. This is no problem, as long as you make sure not to overdo it. Better safe than sorry, so avoid any major archings of the back that might put unnecessary strain on your spine. If you're light but have strong abs, you might want to wedge a 45-lb plate behind your knees to weight you down. Have your training partner put it so that it rests comfortably on your calves as you work out.
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