Cross-Body Crunch

Muscles worked by the Cross-Body Crunch

Primary

ObliquesOblique Abdominals

Secondary

AbsRectus Abdominis

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

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Cross-Body Crunch

1. Lie face-up on the floor with knees bent and hands lightly behind the ears.
2. Crunch up and rotate, bringing the right elbow toward the left knee as the knee draws up.
3. Return to the starting position under control.
4. Repeat on the other side, alternating every rep.

Form tips

• Twist from the ribcage, not the arms; the elbows follow the shoulders.
• Lower back stays on the floor throughout.

At a glance

Cross-Body Crunch in German & Spanish

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

Related exercises

• Ball Pike
• Bicycle Crunch
• Cable Pallof Press
• Dumbbell Side Bend
• Half Moon Pose
• Human Flag
• Kettlebell Russian Twist
• Pilates Side Bend

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": "cross-body-crunch",
  "name_en": "Cross-Body Crunch",
  "name_de": "Cross-Body-Crunch",
  "name_es": "Crunch Cruzado",
  "description_en": "A floor oblique crunch that draws the opposite elbow and knee toward each other, hitting the obliques and rectus together.",
  "description_de": "Ein Boden-Crunch für die schrägen Bauchmuskeln, bei dem der gegenüberliegende Ellbogen und das Knie aufeinander zubewegt werden.",
  "description_es": "Un crunch de oblicuos en el suelo que acerca el codo y la rodilla opuestos entre sí, trabajando los oblicuos y el recto abdominal juntos.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "dynamic",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "core",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "obliques"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "rectus_abdominis"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy",
    "endurance"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "core",
    "calisthenics"
  ],
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Lie face-up on the floor with knees bent and hands lightly behind the ears.",
    "Crunch up and rotate, bringing the right elbow toward the left knee as the knee draws up.",
    "Return to the starting position under control.",
    "Repeat on the other side, alternating every rep."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Leg dich auf den Rücken, Knie gebeugt, Hände locker hinter den Ohren.",
    "Crunch nach oben und drehe dich, bringe den rechten Ellbogen zum linken Knie, während das Knie angehoben wird.",
    "Kehre kontrolliert in die Ausgangsposition zurück.",
    "Wechsle die Seite und alterniere jeden Satz."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Túmbate boca arriba en el suelo con las rodillas dobladas y las manos ligeramente detrás de las orejas.",
    "Contrae y rota llevando el codo derecho hacia la rodilla izquierda mientras la rodilla sube.",
    "Regresa a la posición inicial de forma controlada.",
    "Repite del otro lado, alternando en cada repetición."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Twist from the ribcage, not the arms; the elbows follow the shoulders.",
    "Lower back stays on the floor throughout."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Drehe aus dem Brustkorb, nicht den Armen; die Ellbogen folgen den Schultern.",
    "Der untere Rücken bleibt die ganze Zeit auf dem Boden."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Gira desde la caja torácica, no desde los brazos; los codos siguen a los hombros.",
    "La zona lumbar permanece en el suelo durante todo el ejercicio."
  ],
  "met": 3.5,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/cross-body-crunch-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/cross-body-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 === "cross-body-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.