abdominals
Long Arm Crunch
A crunch with your arms held straight back past your head, which makes the stomach work harder to lift the extra length.
beginnermat
BEFORE YOU START1
- Find a flat spot.
HOW TO DO IT
Get into position
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart.
- Stretch your arms straight back past your head, resting them on the floor.
- Press your lower back gently into the floor.
Check: Your arms are straight past your head on the floor and your lower back is down.
Curl up
- Keeping your arms straight by your ears, curl your head and shoulders up off the floor.
- Hold for a second with your shoulder blades off the floor.
Check: Your shoulder blades are off the floor, your arms are still straight and next to your ears, and your lower back is down.
Lower slowly
- Lower slowly back to the floor.
Check: Your shoulders and arms are back on the floor.
That is one rep. Repeat for your set.
Breathe out as you curl up in about 1 second; pause; breathe in as you lower over 2 seconds.
MUSCLES WORKED
abs
Red marks the muscles doing the work; amber the assisting ones. Same body for every exercise, so guides compare at a glance.
COMMON MISTAKES2
- Swinging the arms forward to help. Momentum, not the stomach, does the work. Fix: Keep the arms by your ears for the whole rep.
- Arching the lower back. Fix: Press it into the floor before every rep.
SAFETY1
- Stop if your neck hurts.
© 2026 Essomio LLC. The illustrations, muscle charts and guide text on this page are works of Essomio LLC, all rights reserved. They are for your personal use and may not be copied, redistributed or used to train models without written permission — see Licensing.