Bicycle Exercise

Hit All of the Ab Muscles With This One Exercise

The Bicycle Exercise is the best ab exercise you can do.  It works all of the ab muscles.  You work the rectis abdominis (the six pack abs) and the internal and external obliques.  There aren’t many abdominal exercises that can do that.

This is a challenging exercise that requires a certain amount of core and back strength to do correctly.  It also requires attention to detail.  If you have trouble with the technique outlined below, scroll down and check out the modifiers section to see a version that is a little less taxing.  Start with that and graduate to the regular technique when you are ready.

Technique

  • Lie on your back on the mat with your hands behind your head.  Do not interlock your fingers.  Keep your fingers spread out and support your head like it’s a ball.
  • Press your lower back into the floor.
  • Contract the abs.
  • Bring the knees up toward the chest.
  • Raise your head and shoulders off the ground using your abs.  Do not pull the back of your head.
  • Rotate to the left touching your right elbow to your left knee.
  • At the same time, extend your right leg out straight.  Keep the right leg off the ground.
  • Do the next three things at the same time.
  • Pull the right leg back to the starting position.
  • Rotate to the right and touch your left elbow to your right knee.
  • Extend your left leg out straight.  Again, keep the left leg off the ground.
  • That's one. 

Keep In Mind...

  • Do not pull your head.  Keep your hands comfortably on the sides of your head. 
  • Keep your elbows wide and twist the trunk to touch your elbow to the opposite knee.  Don’t just collapse your elbow in to do that.
  • Focus on keeping the lower back pressed to the floor.
  • Breathe evenly throughout the exercise.

Modifiers

Having Trouble?  Slide your heels on the floor?

If you are having trouble maintaining proper technique, try this modification to make the bicycle exercise a little less challenging.

Basically you are going to keep your heels on the ground and slide them back and forth.  Put sliders or paper plates under your heels to help them slide easily.

  • Start with both knees bent and your heels on the sliders.
  • Raise your head and shoulders off the ground like before.
  • Rotate left and put your elbow on a spot where your knee would be if you were doing the normal technique.
  • At the same time, slide the right heel out until the right leg is almost straight.
  • Bring the right leg back, extend the left leg out, and rotate your torso to the right so that your left elbow is at a spot where it would be touching your right knee.

 

A nice afterburn:

If you want to add an extra burn at the end of your bicycle exercise set, extend your arms over your head and keep peddling the legs.  Just keep the arms up and alternate extending the legs like you did before.

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