Reverse Crunch
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- Body only
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Lie on your back with your arms at your sides, palms down, and your knees bent to roughly ninety degrees.
- Lift your feet so your thighs are vertical and your shins are parallel to the floor.
- Press your lower back gently into the floor and brace your stomach.
- Curl your pelvis upward toward your ribs, lifting your hips off the floor. The knees travel toward your chest as a result, not as the movement itself.
- Pause briefly at the top, then lower under control until your hips return to the floor without letting the lower back arch.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the legs to generate momentum. If the knees whip toward the chest and the hips barely move, the hip flexors are doing it. The hips leaving the floor is the repetition.
- Letting the lower back arch on the way down. Lower only as far as the back stays flat.
- Doing it fast for high repetitions. Slow is what makes the pelvic curl deliberate rather than a swing.
- Believing it targets the lower abs specifically. The rectus abdominis is one muscle from ribs to pubic bone; a reverse crunch moves the pelvis toward the ribs rather than the ribs toward the pelvis, which is the same muscle working from the other end.