There are so many reasons why I am such a fan of this exercise, the Dead Bug.  It works every layer of your abdominal musculature in a way that helps protect and support your back, and doesn’t strain your neck.  It’s forms the foundation of many Pilates movements, so mastering the Dead Bug is the key to great abs.

You need to start in neutral spine and then one at a time lift your legs, maintaining a 90 degree angle at your knee, so you’re feet don’t drop, as shown above.

Sounds easy, right?  The tricky part is maintaining your spine in the neutral position without flattening your back. You must contract the deepest layer of your abdominals inward, a sort of sucking the belly button in and up feeling. You can make the exercise less challenging by bringing the knees closer to your chest, and significantly more difficult by taking your knees further way, BUT if, as you move your knees away, you feel your belly button lifting, you have gone too far. The key is to find the position where you have to work to hold, but you can maintain for a minute or more.

Its harder than it looks.  You can test your ability to hold neutral by placing a partially filled blood pressure cuff under the small of your back and then watching to see if the arrow moves.  This gives you great immediate feedback about your ability to hold the position using your abs, and is a really great way to increase your motivation.  It’s surprising how tough this really is.

Once you’ve mastered the basic movement, you can add variations, which include lowering one leg, or taking both arms over your shoulder and then slowly lowering one or both overhead without letting your rib cage move.   And if you’re looking for a myriad of ways to increase the challenge, you’re ready for Pilates.  Just ask…