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Exercise library · Abs

Bicycle crunch

Trunk rotation for the abs with your bodyweight.

How to do it

1 of 3

Hands behind your head, legs up

  1. Starting position

    Lie on your back with your hands lightly behind your head, legs raised and knees bent.

  2. The movement

    Bring one shoulder toward the opposite knee, extend the other leg and switch sides.

Most common mistake

Don't pull on your neck, keep your hands light and rotate your chest toward your knee.

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Muscle group
Abs
Equipment
Bodyweight
Where
Home or gym
Logged as
Reps

Muscles worked

The bicycle crunch combines a crunch, a twist and a leg raise. The rectus abdominis keeps your upper body lifted, and the obliques turn your ribcage from side to side, so the sides of your stomach get far more to do than in a regular crunch. Your hip flexors bring the knee in, while your abs keep your pelvis still as the other leg extends. The lower that straight leg sits, the harder your abs must work to hold it.

Common mistakes

  • You pedal as fast as you can. At high speed, momentum does the work and the twist is only half done. Count one second to each side and pause briefly when your shoulder is closest to your knee.
  • Your shoulder blades settle on the floor. If your upper body sinks between reps, your abs get a rest every time. Keep your shoulder blades lifted from the first rep to the last.
  • The straight leg is in the wrong place. Pointing at the ceiling, it makes the exercise easy; dropped too far, it arches your lower back. Extend it as low as you can while your lower back stays down.

Variations and alternatives

  • Crunches are simpler if the coordination feels fiddly.
  • The Russian twist trains the rotation sitting up and can be made heavier with a dumbbell.
  • The cable woodchopper works the obliques standing, with a weight you can raise in small steps.

Sets and reps

Two to three sets of 10 to 20 reps per side are usually enough, or 30 to 45 seconds per set. Decide whether you count per side or both sides together, and stick to it so sessions stay comparable. Read about choosing a structure in the guide to sets and reps.

It is hard to add weight here, so the challenge comes from tempo and position: slower reps, a longer pause in the twist and a lower straight leg. That is progressive overload for a bodyweight exercise. Place it near the end of your session, after the heavy lifts. If your neck or back starts to hurt, beyond simple fatigue in your abs, stop and have a doctor or physiotherapist examine it.

Swap for

Taken, or missing the equipment? The same movement with something else.

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