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how to do dead bug

Lying on your back with all four limbs in the air sounds easy, yet the dead bug teaches the skill most core work depends on: keeping your lower back still while your arms and legs move. Because you stay on the floor with nothing to balance, it suits true beginners, people returning after a break, and anyone whose back complains during crunches. Unlike a plank, it trains opposite limbs working against a braced middle. Once you can reach far without your back lifting, it stops challenging you, so extend the legs straighter.

primary musclesabs
also workship flexors, obliques
levelbeginner
equipmentnone — bodyweight
typerep-based

how it’s done, step by step

  1. Begin by lying flat on your back with your arms extended straight up towards the ceiling and your legs lifted with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle.
  2. Engage your core and slowly lower your right arm and left leg towards the floor, keeping your back flat on the floor and not allowing it to arch.
  3. Return your right arm and left leg to the starting position.
  4. Repeat the movement with your left arm and right leg. Continue alternating sides for the desired number of repetitions.

how much: Start with 3 sets of 6–8 reps, and slow each reach to a three-second lowering before adding more reps.

form tips from the wandelbar coaches

  • Press your lower back into the floor as if flattening a coin under it.
  • Exhale slowly through pursed lips as the arm and leg reach away.
  • Keep the resting knee stacked directly over your hip, not drifting toward your chest.

common mistakes

  • Lower back peeling off the floor as the leg lowers — shorten the reach and stop the heel higher.
  • Rushing side to side like pedaling — pause for a full breath at the bottom of each reach.
  • Same-side arm and leg moving together — lead with the opposite hand and foot, right arm with left leg.

make it easier or harder

easier
Keep both arms still and lower only one heel at a time to tap the floor, knees bent.
harder
Straighten the moving leg fully and hover it just above the floor for a two-second pause.
dead bug starting position: back flat, arms up, knees stacked over hips
dead bug — correct starting position

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