Bicycle Crunches

Lie on your back, hands lightly behind head, legs lifted. Rotate and crunch: opposite elbow to knee while the other leg extends; switch smoothly. Keep lower back pressed to the floor and neck relaxed to target abs and obliques.

Muscles worked

Equipment

Bicycle Crunches exercise demonstration

How to do it

  1. Lie on your back with the low back pressed to the floor and hands lightly behind the head.
  2. Lift the legs so the knees stack over the hips.
  3. Brace the core and rotate the right shoulder toward the left knee while the right leg extends.
  4. Switch sides smoothly: left shoulder toward right knee while the left leg extends.
  5. Keep alternating without letting the low back lift off the floor.
  6. Stop the set when the rotation collapses into a neck pull.

Watch for

  • Yanking the neck instead of rotating from the rib cage.
  • Letting the low back arch as the leg extends.
  • Shrinking the rotation to a quick wiggle.

Breathing

Exhale into each rotation, inhale briefly between sides.

Tip

Slow the cycle down. One clean rotation per second loads the obliques harder than fast scissoring.

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