# Toe-Touch Crunch: how to do it

- Main muscles: abs
- Equipment: bodyweight
- Level: beginner
- 3D demo (side view): https://media.trainaq.com/exercises/toe_touch_crunch/e08d4cac40/side-m-720.mp4

## Steps

1. Lie on your back and lift your legs straight up over your hips.
2. Reach both arms up towards your feet.
3. Breathe out and curl your shoulders off the floor, reaching towards your toes.
4. 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.

## 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

- 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.

## Sources

1. [ACE, "Vertical Toe Touches"](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/243/vertical-toe-touches/)
2. [ACE, "Crunch"](https://www.acefitness.org/resources/everyone/exercise-library/52/crunch/)

Source: https://trainaq.com/exercises/toe-touch-crunch