Bottoms Up
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Lie on your back with your legs straight and your arms flat on the floor beside you.
- Press your lower back into the floor and brace your stomach.
- Raise your legs until they are vertical.
- Push your hips straight up off the floor so your feet travel toward the ceiling.
- Stop where the hips have lifted and hold briefly.
- Lower the hips under control, then the legs, keeping the back flat.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the legs back over the head to get the hips up. The feet go straight up, not backward — a swing turns it into a partial shoulder stand the trunk is not controlling.
- Pushing down hard with the hands to launch the hips. The arms are there for balance; if they are pressing, they are lifting.
- Letting the lower back arch as the legs come down. That is the point at which the abdominal wall stopped holding.
- Expecting a long range. The hips travel a few inches off the floor, and that short distance is the whole repetition.