Reverse Crunch

How to perform the Reverse Crunch

1. Lie on your back with hands flat beside your hips, knees bent, and thighs raised so the hips are flexed to about ninety degrees.
2. The working direction is opposite a normal crunch: you curl the pelvis up toward the ribcage rather than the shoulders toward the hips.
3. Contract the lower abs to lift the hips off the floor, rolling the pelvis toward your chest and drawing the knees up and in.
4. Keep the movement small and ab-driven — the goal is to peel the tailbone off the floor, not to kick the legs with momentum.
5. Squeeze at the top where the pelvis is tucked and the knees are closest to the chest.
6. Lower the hips back down slowly, resisting gravity so the pelvis returns under control rather than dropping the legs.

Suggested working range: 12–20 reps. Default progression: double progression.

Common mistakes

• •Kicking the legs up with momentum instead of curling the pelvis with the lower abs.
• •Using such a large leg swing that the hips barely leave the floor and the abs stay slack.
• •Letting the hips crash back down rather than lowering the pelvis under control.
• •Pushing hard through the hands to lever the hips up instead of contracting the abs.

Variations & alternatives

Swap in a related movement if equipment, recovery, or progression demands it.