Dr. Ted's exercise regime as of January 2004:

I do the following exercise immediately upon arising in the morning(5:30-6:30am.) The exercise takes 30 minutes to complete. I do no other type of exercise.  I am wearing headphones because I am practicing listening to French (Digital Cable: TV5, Channel 555), besides it is a pleasant distraction from the "pain" of doing the exercise. I do 10 minutes lying on my back and then 10 minutes to each side. I am now habituated to doing it 7 days/week and when I am unable to do it in the morning I do it in the evening. I do about 45 crunches/minutes. I have found that during the first 4-7 minutes the exercise is very difficult then the pain melts away and a more pleasant feeling settles in. I vary the exercise to avoid becoming bored, for example I may devote the entire 30 minutes just to doing the exercise on my back. Or, I may divide the 30 minute exercise into two 15 segments: 15 minutes on my right side and 15 minutes on my left side. Sometimes because of circumstance I skip a day. I use to have some neck, upper an lower back pain/soreness. These days I have no back pain/soreness at all. I find I tend to walk and stand straight and tall with my shoulders slightly back and my head centered on my shoulders.  I attribute my present ability to stand easily erect solely to the abdominal crunches I do daily.

Each time I bring my legs toward my chest I exhale though my mouth and at the same time I contract my abdominal muscles.

Some reflections on exercising:

Make sure you have no pre-existing bone or muscle problems that will be made worse by your exercise regime.

Train don't strain...increase your repetitions gradually.

If you are experiencing more than the normal pain/soreness in your neck and back after doing your exercises for "some time" stop for 2-3 days and then resume the exercise.

If when you are doing your planned number of repetitions you feel you can't go on...fight the urge to stop for as long as you can then stop and rest for 15 seconds and resume the exercise until you finished the reps you set out to do.

If you are unable to left your neck-back off the ground completely then lift them only part of the way, and believe firmly that as long  as you are doing the exercise (any exercise) your muscles, and determination will grow as well. SO DO WHAT YOUR BODY ALLOWS YOU TO DO...TRAIN DON'T STRAIN AND GRADUALLY YOU WILL SEE YOUR ENDURANCE WILL INCREASE. The same is true when you are flexing and extending your legs: If your legs muscles have no strength to allow you full extension and flexion just do what you can and gradually you will see that you will be able to do them completely correct in time so that your elbows will eventually touch your knees easily.

Remember that abdominal crunches build abdominal muscle strength, but even more than that they build strength in your back muscles.

Remember the journey of 10,000 miles begins with the first step, so:
Consider begin your regime and work to build to increase the time and the repetitions  When you can do the reps easily you will see that you will want to challenge yourself and gradually reach new levels, anyway that's how it works with me.

Finally, for beginner, I advise begin humbly: do three sets of 30 reps with 30 seconds of rest between each set.  Do it each day until it is as easy as eating apple pie. Then increase each set by adding 3 more reps. By the end of the year you will be doing a total of about 550 crunches in your exercise session:

Call it the "Dr. Ted 3030-3" exercise.  "It is better to light one candle than curse the darkness. "