Standing Side Crunch | Illustrated Exercise Guide

Primary muscles: Obliques
Secondary muscles: Abs, hips
Equipment: No equipment
Exercise for the opposite muscles: Alternating superman

STANDING SIDE CRUNCH INSTRUCTIONS

1. Stand with your knees slightly bent, your feet hip-width apart and your hands behind your head.
2. Shift your weight to the left leg, crunch to the right side and bring your right knee up toward your elbow.
3. Lower your right leg and return to the starting position.
4. Switch legs and repeat until set is complete.

PROPER FORM AND BREATHING PATTERN

Keep your spine and neck neutral, your chest up and your core engaged. Breathe out as you crunch and try not to bend your spine forward or swing your hips back and forth.

EXERCISE BENEFITS

Adding standing side crunches to your workout routine helps to target the oblique muscles and tightens the entire side ab wall more effectively. It also improves your balance, increases strength and stability, and burns more calories than side crunches done on a mat.

DEMONSTRATION

SETS AND REPS

Start with 30 second to 1 minute sets and, to lose your muffin top in no time, pair the standing side crunches with cardio moves like plank jacks and jumping lunges.

CALORIES BURNED

To calculate the number of calories burned doing the standing side crunch, enter your weight and the duration of the exercise:

RELATED CORE EXERCISES

Try these other core exercises to tighten, sculpt and strengthen your abs, obliques, lats and lower back:
Dead bug
Seated knee tucks
Side plank hip lifts
V ups