Vertical Leg Crunch
oec:vertical-leg-crunch
A supine bodyweight abdominal exercise where the legs are held extended vertically while flexing the spine to lift the shoulder blades off the floor.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Crunches With Legs Up, Toe Touch Crunch, Legs-Up Crunch, Toe Reach
How to do it
Setup
- Lie flat on your back on a mat.
- Raise your legs straight up toward the ceiling so your hips are flexed at approximately ninety degrees.
- Extend your arms upward toward your feet or place your fingertips lightly behind your ears without pulling on your neck.
Movement
- Contract your abdominals to curl your upper torso upward, lifting your shoulder blades off the floor.
- Reach your hands toward your toes or ankles at the peak of the contraction.
- Pause briefly at the top to fully squeeze the abdominals.
- Lower your upper back smoothly toward the floor under control without letting your lower back arch or legs drop.
Breathing
Exhale as you curl up and reach toward your feet; inhale as you lower back down.
Cues
- Ribs to hips.
- Reach up, not forward.
- Keep legs steady over hips.
Common faults
- Swinging the legs back and forth to generate momentum.
- Keep the hips stacked at ninety degrees and hold the legs motionless throughout the movement.
- Pulling on the head and yanking the cervical spine.
- Keep the neck neutral with the chin slightly tucked, focusing on lifting the chest with the abdominals.
Safety
- Maintain a slight bend in the knees if tight hamstrings prevent holding the legs perpendicular to the floor.
Muscles
Joints
- Thoracic spine: Flexion
- Lumbar spine: Flexion
- Hip: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Spinal flexion
- Modality
- Calisthenics, Hypertrophy
- Mechanics
- isolation
- Force
- pull
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- open
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- None
- Record
- Repetitions
- Load
- bodyweight, not applicable
Related
- variation of Crunch
- progression of Crunch
- substitute for Crunch
- substitute for Reach-Up Crunch
Sources
- wger: Crunches With Legs Up, by krisbbb (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.