Starfish Crunch (advanced)

The Starfish Crunch targets your core while engaging your obliques and hip flexors. This advanced exercise requires coordination and stability.

  1. Lie on your back with arms and legs extended out to the sides, forming a star shape.
  2. Engage your core and lift your legs and upper body simultaneously, bringing your knees towards your chest and arms towards your legs.
  3. Hold for a moment at the top, then lower back to the starting position.
  4. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

How to perform the Starfish Crunch (advanced)

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Starfish Crunch (advanced) using your body weight.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your abdominals.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your abdominals rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

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