Bicycle Crunch

A dynamic crunch variation targeting both the rectus abdominis and obliques.

Core · Bodyweight · Beginner

Bicycle Crunch — start position, flat illustration — start

Bicycle Crunch — peak position, flat illustration — peak

Muscles worked by the Bicycle Crunch

Primary

ObliquesOblique Abdominals

AbsRectus Abdominis

Secondary

Hip FlexorsHip Flexor Muscles

Also called: oblique, obliques, side abs, external oblique, internal oblique, abs.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Bicycle Crunch

Lie on your back with hands behind your head and legs raised.
Bring one knee toward your chest while rotating your torso to meet it with the opposite elbow.
Extend that leg while bringing the other knee in.
Continue alternating in a pedaling motion.
Repeat.

Form tips

Avoid pulling on your neck with your hands.
Lead the rotation with your shoulder, not your elbow.
Move slowly and deliberately rather than racing through reps.

At a glance

Body part	Core
Category	Strength
Force type	Pull
Mechanic	Compound
Difficulty	Beginner
Equipment	Bodyweight
Goals	Hypertrophy
Tags	Core, Knee safe, Shoulder safe, No axial load, Lower back safe
MET	5.0 (metabolic equivalent, for calorie estimates)
Unilateral	No
Bodyweight	Yes
Dataset id	bicycle-crunch

Bicycle Crunch in German & Spanish

German	Fahrrad-Crunch
Spanish	Crunch de Bicicleta

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "bicycle-crunch",
  "name_en": "Bicycle Crunch",
  "name_de": "Fahrrad-Crunch",
  "name_es": "Crunch de Bicicleta",
  "description_en": "A dynamic crunch variation targeting both the rectus abdominis and obliques.",
  "description_de": "Eine dynamische Crunch-Variante, die sowohl den geraden Bauchmuskel als auch die schrägen Bauchmuskeln beansprucht.",
  "description_es": "Una variación dinámica del crunch que trabaja tanto el recto abdominal como los oblicuos.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "compound",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "core",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "obliques",
    "rectus_abdominis"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "hip_flexors"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "core",
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "crunch",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Lie on your back with hands behind your head and legs raised.",
    "Bring one knee toward your chest while rotating your torso to meet it with the opposite elbow.",
    "Extend that leg while bringing the other knee in.",
    "Continue alternating in a pedaling motion.",
    "Repeat."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Lege dich auf den Rücken mit den Händen hinter dem Kopf und angehobenen Beinen.",
    "Bringe ein Knie zur Brust und drehe den Oberkörper, um es mit dem gegenüberliegenden Ellbogen zu treffen.",
    "Strecke dieses Bein aus, während du das andere Knie heranziehst.",
    "Wechsle abwechselnd in einer Tretbewegung.",
    "Wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Acuéstate boca arriba con las manos detrás de la cabeza y las piernas elevadas.",
    "Acerca una rodilla al pecho mientras rotas el torso para encontrarla con el codo opuesto.",
    "Extiende esa pierna mientras traes la otra rodilla hacia adentro.",
    "Continúa alternando en un movimiento de pedaleo.",
    "Repite."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Avoid pulling on your neck with your hands.",
    "Lead the rotation with your shoulder, not your elbow.",
    "Move slowly and deliberately rather than racing through reps."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Zieh nicht am Kopf; die Hände stützen ihn nur leicht.",
    "Rotiere aus dem Rumpf, nicht aus den Ellbogen.",
    "Halte den unteren Rücken am Boden, während die Beine arbeiten."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "No tires del cuello con las manos.",
    "Lleva el hombro hacia la rodilla, no solo el codo.",
    "Mantén la zona lumbar apoyada en el suelo."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/bicycle-crunch-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/bicycle-crunch-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "bicycle-crunch");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.