The Starfish Crunch targets your core muscles while improving stability and coordination.

  1. Lie on your back with your arms and legs extended out to the sides, forming a star shape.
  2. Engage your core and lift your legs and upper body off the ground, bringing your knees towards your chest and your arms towards your legs.
  3. Hold for a moment, then lower back to the starting position.

How to perform the Starfish Crunch (beginner)

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Starfish Crunch (beginner) 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.

Build a free routine

Stage exercises here, then sign up to save them as a real Fitly routine — synced to web and mobile.

View staged routine (0)

Related exercises

0 exercises staged Save your routine — sign up free.