ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Core Workout - Bicycle Ab Crunch with a Pause

Updated on May 13, 2016

Ab Crunch with a Pause

Ab Crunch Outline

Although I feel like there is already ton’s of information out there on different ways to work your abs. Some good, some just awful. I feel like it is my job to give you more information that may help you be successful in your training. This abdominal workout is one of my favorites and is ranked by many sites which claim bicycle twist as one of the best for core muscle activation. If you wondering what muscles constitute “Core” then you will have to do your own reading and make your own judgments. Reason is the medical community and many other professionals have not agreed on to what muscles make up the core. When I’m training my clients or giving information to the average person in public, the core is:

(1) Rectus Abdominis ( good for looks)

(2) Transverse Abdominis (deep and brings belly button to spine)

(3) Internal & External obliques (Beside your Abdomen)

(4) Erector Spinae & Multifidus (Back and Spine)

(5) Quadratus lumborum (QL)

(6) Glute Family (3 Bum Muscles)

Source

How To Perform A Bicycle Ab Crunch

So now you have a brief outline as to what constitutes core without going all science-geek on you. There is plenty of research and in-depth article debates on core. Now to the workout steps: (video coming soon)

1) Begin lying with your back on a mat

2) Have one leg bent and one leg fully extended

3) Place hands on the side of your head and not behind. Keep elbows in.

4) With feet elevated approximately 10 inches rotate your body and touch elbow to opposite knee. (Try to get as close and tight as you can)

5) So right elbow comes up & across and touches left knee while your right leg is fully extended out.

6) Pause and hold for 2 – 5 seconds

7) While moving you right elbow back and pulling in your right leg, simultaneously move and extend your left leg out and left elbow to which is now the right leg that is bend.

8) So it is kind of a crisscross movement.

9) Be sure to always keep legs and arms elevated and move slowly from throughout the movements, and extend only as far as you comfortably can.

10) Lastly don’t pull on your head

This is great exercise for your core, and really targets a lot of those deep muscles. The pause at different lengths of time will also help to further increase endurance. This is all good however lets take it one step further.

Advance Bicycle Ab Crunch Workout Version

This is a more advance version of the exercise and one that I do personally. As always make sure you’re comfortable with the basic exercise before increasing.

While performing the bicycle crunch exercise above now we are going to add steps with pauses as follows:

1) Begin in start position

2) Switch to other side and hold for 2 seconds

3) Switch again and hold for 2 seconds

4) Switch again this time hold for 4 seconds

5) Back again and hold this position for 4 seconds ( Keep your arms and feet up)

6) Switch again for 6 second hold

7) Back to other side hold for 6 seconds (See a pattern?)

8) Then 8 seconds

9) Again for 8 seconds

10) Now both sides hold for 10 seconds

11) Now finish off with a 20 count. Where side to side counts as 1 rep. So left, right, 1. Left, right, 2, etc, etc, till left, right, 20.

Let me know what you think and how it went for you. Also be sure to keep an eye out for more great abdominal or core exercises in the future.

Bicycle Ab Crunch - Best video out there

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)