Dead Bug

Muscles worked by the Dead Bug

Primary

AbsRectus AbdominisDeep CoreTransversus Abdominis

Secondary

Hip FlexorsHip Flexor Muscles

Also called: abs, six-pack, rectus abdominis, abdominals, stomach muscles, transverse abdominis.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Dead Bug

1. Lie on your back with arms extended toward the ceiling and knees at 90 degrees.
2. Lower your right arm and left leg toward the floor while keeping the lower back pressed down.
3. Return to start.
4. Repeat on the other side.
5. Alternate.

Form tips

• Press your lower back into the floor at all times.
• Move slowly.

At a glance

Dead Bug in German & Spanish

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

Related exercises

• Bicycle Crunch
• Cable Crunch
• Crunches
• Decline Crunch
• Dragon Flag
• Kettlebell Russian Twist
• Machine Seated Crunch
• Russian Twist

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": "dead-bug",
  "name_en": "Dead Bug",
  "name_de": "Dead Bug",
  "name_es": "Dead Bug",
  "description_en": "A supine core exercise coordinating opposite limb extension to train deep core stability.",
  "description_de": "Eine Rückenlage-Rumpfübung, bei der gegenüberliegende Gliedmaßen gestreckt werden, um die tiefe Rumpfstabilität zu trainieren.",
  "description_es": "Un ejercicio de core en decúbito supino que coordina la extensión de extremidades opuestas para entrenar la estabilidad del core profundo.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "dynamic",
  "mechanic": "compound",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "core",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "rectus_abdominis",
    "transverse_abdominis"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "hip_flexors"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "endurance",
    "rehabilitation"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "core",
    "lower_back_safe",
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "no_axial_load"
  ],
  "variation_group": "crunch",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Lie on your back with arms extended toward the ceiling and knees at 90 degrees.",
    "Lower your right arm and left leg toward the floor while keeping the lower back pressed down.",
    "Return to start.",
    "Repeat on the other side.",
    "Alternate."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Leg dich auf den Rücken, Arme zur Decke gestreckt, Knie in 90 Grad.",
    "Senke den rechten Arm und das linke Bein Richtung Boden, dabei den Lendenbereich gedrückt halten.",
    "Zurück zum Start.",
    "Wechsle die Seite.",
    "Alternieren."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Túmbate boca arriba con los brazos extendidos hacia el techo y las rodillas a 90 grados.",
    "Baja el brazo derecho y la pierna izquierda hacia el suelo manteniendo la zona lumbar presionada contra el suelo.",
    "Regresa a la posición inicial.",
    "Repite del otro lado.",
    "Alterna."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Press your lower back into the floor at all times.",
    "Move slowly."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Presse den Lendenbereich jederzeit in den Boden.",
    "Langsam bewegen."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Presiona la zona lumbar contra el suelo en todo momento.",
    "Muévete despacio."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/dead-bug-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/dead-bug-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 === "dead-bug");

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.