How to do a Medicine Ball Leg Crunch
Reviewed by Jim Parker, CPT, B.A. Kinesiology
Workouts with Medicine Ball Leg Crunch
Instructions for Proper Form
The Medicine Ball Leg Crunch is an exercise that targets your abdominal muscles. Lie on your back with your legs raised and knees slightly bent. Hold a medicine ball between your feet. Crunch your upper body and legs toward each other, squeezing the medicine ball between your feet.
- Lie face up on the floor and position a medicine ball between your knees.
- Raise your heels off the ground while squeezing the medicine ball with your knees. There should be a 90-degree bend in both your hips and knees.
- Engage your core to raise your shoulder blades off the ground.
- Hold this position for a moment at the top of the movement while maintaining tension in your core.
- Slowly allow your shoulder blades to descend back to the starting position while maintaining tension in your core.
- Maintain good posture by keeping the medicine ball secured between your knees, your core engaged and your hips and knees at 90-degree bends.
- You should feel this exercise in your core.
Weight & 1 Rep Max Calculator
Average Medicine Ball Leg Crunch standards by male, female, weight, age and height
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- beginner8reps10lbs1 Rep Max12.5lbs
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Alternatives & Variations to Medicine Ball Leg Crunch
1. Crunches
94 mSCORESWAPPED 111 TIMESCrunches are one of the most common exercises out there. It’s an easy to perform, bodyweight exercise that targets your abdominals. Crunches are very similar to Sit Ups, however, instead of raising your upper body all the way into a near sitting position, you only raise your shoulder blades off the ground. This is a great exercise for beginners looking to build core strength.
2. Leg Raise
96.5 mSCORESWAPPED 73 TIMESLeg Raise is a simple bodyweight core exercise that involves laying on the ground and suspending your legs in the air. While your core does play a significant role in raising your legs, the real benefit comes from controlling their descent back to the floor.
3. Plank
92.8 mSCORESWAPPED 71 TIMESPlanks are one of the most common core exercises out there. This is a bodyweight exercise that is performed for time rather than reps. Planks don’t require any movement, instead they force you to place yourself in a position that requires you to engage your core, and maintain that muscle activation for the duration of the exercise. This is a great way to help build strength and stability in a way that will translate to a variety of other exercises, and your daily life.
4. Ab Crunch Machine
96.1 mSCORESWAPPED 59 TIMESAb Crunch Machine is a variation of Crunches performed with a machine. Unlike standard Crunches, the use of a machine gives you more control over your resistance. In addition, the machine will restrict your range of motion allowing you to focus more on exertion than stabilizing the movement.
- Intermediate
- Abs
- Ab Crunch Machine
5. Russian Twist
96.2 mSCORESWAPPED 54 TIMESRussian Twist is one of the more common core exercises. This exercise targets multiple muscles in your core, but the reason for including this exercise is usually to target your obliques. By raising your feet off the ground, engaging your core, and twisting to each side, you can better target this specific muscle in your core.
6. Bicycle Crunch
91.8 mSCORESWAPPED 51 TIMESBicycle Crunch is a more difficult version of a standard crunch. Instead of raising your torso off the ground for each rep, you keep your torso off the ground, and your core engaged. By cycling your legs, you add more instability to the movement, which leads to better core activation.
7. Medicine Ball Russian Twist
79.7 mSCORESWAPPED 49 TIMESMedicine Ball Russian Twist is a weighted variation of Russian Twist. By holding a medicine ball in both hands, you can add resistance to this usually bodyweight exercise. While the weight usually isn't much, it forces you to engage your core both to move, and to stop the medicine ball as you rotate. This is a great variation for anyone looking to make their Russian Twists a bit more challenging.
8. Leg Pull-In
94.9 mSCORESWAPPED 47 TIMESLeg Pull in is a bodyweight exercise that targets your core. By raising your legs off the ground, you’re already engaging your core. Additionally your core helps to pull your legs in towards your chest.