# Alternating Heel Taps: how to do it

- Main muscles: obliques
- Also works: abs
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/heel_taps/f68ffbcaab/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Lie on your back with knees bent, feet flat and a little wider than your hips.
2. Lift your head and shoulders off the floor with your arms by your sides.
3. Bend sideways to touch your right hand to your right heel.
4. Come back to the middle, then touch your left heel; keep alternating.

## Cues

- Shoulders stay up the whole set.
- Bend sideways, ribs towards hip.
- Keep your knees still.

## Common mistakes

- Dropping your head between taps: keep your shoulders lifted.
- Twisting instead of side-bending: slide your hand straight down to the heel.
- Rushing: pause briefly at each heel.

## The version in our demo

Lying oblique heel taps (also called alternate heel touches): knees bent, feet flat, head and shoulder blades held off the mat, reaching sideways to each heel. This is the oblique version the primary muscle implies; the leg-lowering "supine heel taps" in physiotherapy libraries is a different exercise and is not shown.

## Starting position

Lying on the back on a mat, knees bent and feet flat about shoulder-width apart (35–40 cm), heels about 35–40 cm from the tailbone. Arms straight by the sides, palms facing in, hands hovering just off the mat. Curl the head and shoulder blades off the floor and hold them there; lower back and pelvis stay on the mat.

## The movement

Bend sideways at the waist to slide the right hand down towards the right heel until the fingertips touch it (ribs move towards the right hip), pause, return to centre, then repeat to the left. It is a small side crunch: the shoulders stay lifted at the same height the whole time, the trunk does not twist or curl further up, and the legs and pelvis stay still. The hand travels in a short arc close to the floor beside the body.

## Breathing

Breathe out as you reach to a heel, in as you come back to centre.

## Form in numbers

- Head stays in line with the trunk, chin a fist's width from the chest.
- Knees and feet do not move.

## Sources

1. [Healthline, "30 Oblique Exercises to Add to Your Workout" (heel tap)](https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/oblique-workout)
2. [WorkoutLabs, "Alternate Heel Touches / Lying Oblique Reach"](https://workoutlabs.com/exercise-guide/alternate-heel-touchers/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/heel-taps