Cocoons
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Mechanic
- Compound
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Lie flat on your back with your arms extended overhead and your legs straight.
- Brace your stomach and press your lower back toward the floor.
- Pull your knees toward your chest while curling your shoulders off the floor and swinging the arms forward.
- Meet in a tight tucked position, hands reaching past the knees.
- Extend back out under control until the arms are overhead and the legs are straight.
- Stop just before the hands and heels touch down, then go again.
Common mistakes
- Letting the lower back arch as the limbs extend. That is the point where the abdominal wall stopped holding, and the range below it is held by the spine.
- Throwing the arms to generate the tuck. The body folds because the trunk flexed; an arm swing is momentum standing in for that.
- Resting at the extended end. Hovering just above the floor is what keeps the tension; touching down turns a set into a series of separate efforts.
- Expecting it to be a crunch. It folds at the hip as well as the spine, so the hip flexors do a large share — which makes it harder than a crunch and less isolated.