Home › Workouts › Abs

Crunches

The most common ab exercise there is. Different from a sit up - here only your shoulders come up, not your whole back.

Level Beginner
Equipment None
Sets and reps 3 sets x 15-20
Works on Upper abs

How to do it

  1. Lie on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
  2. Rest your hands beside your ears - do not lace them behind your head and pull.
  3. Tighten your abs and lift only your shoulders about 15-20 cm off the floor.
  4. Hold for a second, then lower slowly. Your lower back stays on the floor.

Common mistakes

  • × Pulling your head with your hands - this strains the neck and takes the work off the abs.
  • × Coming up too high - going past 20 cm adds nothing.
  • × Rushing the reps - the real work happens when you go slow.
💡
One thing that matters

Breathe out on the way up, breathe in on the way down. This one change alone will make a difference.

How much

Sets and reps for Crunches

Where you are Aim for
Just starting 2 sets x 10
The standard 3 sets x 15-20
Once it is easy 4 sets x 25, 2 seconds down
🌬️
Breathing

Breathe out as you curl up, in as you lower. Holding your breath is what makes your neck strain.

Too hard, or too easy?

Where this sits

You are here Crunches 3 sets x 15-20

Beginner · None

Harder → Sit Ups 3 sets x 12-15

Move up when crunches stops being a challenge.
Questions

Crunches, answered

Do crunches burn belly fat?

No. Crunches build the muscle underneath the fat, they do not remove the fat on top of it. Fat comes off the whole body at once through a calorie deficit, and the belly is usually last. Doing 200 crunches a day changes very little on its own.

How many crunches should a beginner do?

Two sets of ten, done slowly and properly, is a real starting point. Most people who start at fifty do them fast and sloppy, feel it in the neck rather than the stomach, and quit inside a week.

Why do I feel crunches in my neck?

You are pulling your head forward with your hands. Rest your fingers lightly behind your ears, not laced behind your skull, and keep a gap the size of a fist between chin and chest the whole way up.

One exercise is never the whole story

Which day to do Crunches, how many sets, and what to pair it with - the AI builds the whole plan. Your first one is free.

Build My Free Plan
Abs

You can also try

🧽 Beginner

Plank

Whole core, shoulders

Nothing moves - you just hold the position. Widely considered the single best exercise for your core.

3 sets x 20-60 sec →
🧽 Beginner

Leg Raises

Lower abs

The most direct exercise for the lower abs - the area that is always the last to show.

3 sets x 12-15 →
🧽 Intermediate

Russian Twist

Obliques (side abs)

This one hits the sides of your waist. Hold a water bottle and it gets a lot harder.

3 sets x 20-30 →
⚕️
This is general information, not medical advice

Everything on this page is worked out from a formula or from published averages. It has never met you, and it cannot see your blood pressure, your medication or an old injury.

Talk to a doctor before you start if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have a heart condition, diabetes or high blood pressure, take regular medication, have or have had an eating disorder, are recovering from injury or surgery, or are under 18. Stop and get advice if any exercise causes pain, dizziness or chest discomfort.

More about where these numbers come from is on the about page.