Abs exercise
Toe-Touch CrunchHow to do it, with form in numbers
- Main muscles
- Abs
- Equipment
- Bodyweight
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
How do you do the Toe-Touch Crunch?
- Lie on your back and lift your legs straight up over your hips.
- Reach both arms up towards your feet.
- Breathe out and curl your shoulders off the floor, reaching towards your toes.
- Pause briefly, then lower slowly with control.
Cues
- Legs straight up, not over your face.
- Reach up, not forward.
- Lower back stays on the floor.
Common mistakes
- Legs tipping towards your face: keep them stacked over your hips.
- Jerking up: curl slowly with your stomach muscles.
- Pushing the head forward: keep a fist's space under your chin.
Form in detail
What does good form look like?
The version in our demo
Lying on the back with the legs pointing straight up, arms reaching up towards the feet, curling the shoulder blades off the floor. ACE's "vertical toe touches" slide the hands up the thighs instead; arms reaching towards the toes is the more common form of this exercise and reads more clearly in a side view.
Starting position
Lying on the back on a mat. Hips flexed to 90° so the legs point straight up, thighs vertical (not tipped towards the face), knees straight or softly bent, feet together and relaxed. Arms straight, reaching up towards the feet, shoulder width apart. Head, shoulder blades and lower back on the mat; shoulders drawn back and down.
The movement
Breathe out and curl the head, shoulders and upper back off the mat, reaching the fingertips up towards the toes in a straight vertical line. Hold briefly at the top, then roll back down slowly. The legs stay still and vertical, the lower back stays pressed to the mat, and the chin stays off the chest.
Breathing
Breathe out as you curl up, in as you lower.
Tempo
1.5 s up, 1 s hold, 1.5 s down (4 s).
Form in numbers
What are the angles and distances?
- Hip flexion 90° throughout (source: thighs vertical, never past vertical); knee flexion 0–15°.
- Start: shoulder flexion about 90° (arms vertical), elbows straight.
- Chin 8–10 cm from the chest; legs move under 5 cm.
The targets our 3D demo was built to, from the references below. Bodies differ, so treat the ranges as a guide for your own build.
For coaches
Use this demo in your clients’ programs
The Toe-Touch Crunch is in Trainaq’s exercise library. Add it to a workout, and your client sees this demo in the free Trainaq app above the sets they log.
Sources
