Starfish Crunch Exercise
Starfish crunches are a kind of crunch exercise in which you lie on your back with your arms and legs extended and pointing apart like a starfish. Starfish crunches strengthen your lower abdominal muscles and obliques more than traditional crunches.
Table of Contents
What Is StarFish Crunch?
A bodyweight exercise that works the abdominal muscles, especially the rectus abdominis and obliques, is called a starfish crunch. To do it, spread your arms and legs out in an “X” shape while lying on your back. Then, while keeping your lower back flat on the ground, raise one arm and the opposing leg until they touch.
Muscles Used While Performing the Starfish Crunch
The muscles in your body that work the hardest are your core muscles. These are the muscles that surround your abdomen, hips, lower back, and pelvis. They are essential to movement involving bending, twisting, reaching, pushing, pulling, balancing, and standing. The muscles in your core run from your neck to your pelvis.
They include the following muscle groups:
- The transversus abdominis encircles your trunk on its front and sides. This muscle keeps the pelvis stable.
- You can rotate your trunk by using the internal and external obliques, which stretch diagonally from your ribs to your pelvis.
- Rectus abdominis: this muscle is sometimes called your “six-pack.” This muscle is used to bend forward.
- The back muscle that supports your spine is called multifidus.
- The back muscle called the erector spinae helps you stand upright by extending your trunk.
Starfish Crunch Exercise Video
How To Perform a Starfish Crunch?
You should ideally lie on a yoga mat or other soft surface when doing starfish crunches. Follow these instructions to perform a starfish crunch:
- Spread your arms and legs wide and lie on your back so that your body forms an X, or starfish.
- Keeping these body parts stretched, slowly raise one leg and the arm of the opposing side until they reach the middle. Your core muscles should be used as much as possible in these activities. You want the arm movement, especially to originate from your upper body lifting off the ground.
- Lower your arm and leg through their whole range of motion to the starting position while maintaining control.
- Repeat the same action with the opposing arm and leg as many times as you can.
To get the most out of your abs and obliques, bear in mind to move slowly and deliberately. Avoid gaining momentum with your arms or legs.
Variation In Performing the Starfish Crunch
For Beginners:
- To lessen the intensity, slightly bend your knees.
- If elevating both limbs is not possible, perform the exercise with only your upper body.
Advanced Starfish Variation:
- To add weight, grasp a dumbbell in each hand.
- To increase muscle contraction and activation, pause at the end of each crunch.
Benefits Of Performing Starfish Crunches
Although some individuals doubt the benefits of this workout, adding starfish crunches to your program can have some positive effects. Among the most important are:
- Stronger muscles
- Can help with losing weight
- Improves mood
- May reduce or prevent back pain
- No equipment or location required
- Improves sleep
- Slows down aging
Stronger muscles: Resistance exercises like starfish crunches can help you build stronger ab muscles.
It can help with losing weight: It probably takes more energy to perform starfish crunches than your usual daily tasks. Increased muscular mass also aids in increased calorie burning. Both of these factors may help in weight loss, but they cannot ensure it. Remember that if you want to lose weight, there are better forms of exercise.
Improves mood: Exercises such as starfish crunches increase the release of chemicals that make you happy.
May reduce or prevent back pain: Back pain can be lessened or avoided with core-strengthening activities like starfish crunches. Before using this workout, you should be cautious and consult a professional if you currently have back pain.
No equipment or location required: Starfish crunches are a bodyweight workout, so you don’t need to buy equipment or be in a certain place. However, a yoga mat or other soft surface might help make the activity more comfortable.
Improves sleep: Exercises like starfish crunches may improve the length and quality of your sleep, which has numerous significant advantages.
Slows down aging: The number of days since your birth is unaffected by starfish crunches. Exercise, however, can decrease the progression of some age markers associated with poor medical conditions.
Common Mistakes While Performing the Starfish Crunch
- Jerking Your Neck
- When lifting, concentrate on using your core muscles rather than your neck.
- Rushing Through Reps
- Fast repetitions decrease control and effectiveness. Slow and steady.
- Arching of the lower back
- Keep your spine straight
- Hold your lower back into the floor.
Prevention
- While doing this exercise, be sure to maintain the neutral position of your neck.
- When raising your upper body off the ground, avoid arching your back too much.
- Make sure you do the exercise with your core muscles as well as your arms.
Summary
The Starfish Crunch is a fun, effective, core-strengthening exercise that also improves coordination and body awareness. It’s an effective workout that you might want to add to your at-home or gym routine, and it doesn’t take much space or equipment.
Including this exercise is one step in achieving goals, whether you’re looking for the famous six-pack abs or just better core functionality.
FAQ’s
These intermediate exercises, known as starfish crunches, may help strengthen your abdominal muscles. The relationship between your arms and your biceps or triceps is comparable to that between your abdominal muscles and your core: one is a muscle, while the other is a region made up of multiple muscles.
Sleeping like a starfish involves lying on your back with your legs extended and your arms raised close to the pillow.
The primary goals of the star crunch are the rectus abdominis and the external obliques, two significant core muscle groups. The rectus abdominis, also known as the “six-pack” muscle, is responsible for pulling the ribs closer to the pelvis and extending the spine.
References:
- Colletta, M. (2022, March 28). How to Do Starfish Crunches (Form & Benefits). Steel Supplements. https://steelsupplements.com/blogs/steel-blog/how-to-do-starfish-crunches-form-benefits?srsltid=AfmBOooE3LNJGo_v8fzHXMAZJOlt9BTkNasuUagGN-mv3v330PzmVqgV
- Starfish Crunch – how to video, alternatives & more. (n.d.). https://www.fitnessai.com/exercise/starfish-crunch
- Claes, M. (2024, September 13). Starfish crunches: How to do, benefits,. . . – Weight loss made practical. Weight Loss Made Practical. https://blog.weightlossmadepractical.com/starfish-crunches/
- Starfish Crunch – how to do, Alternatives, gif & More. (n.d.). Planfit. https://planfit.ai/exercise/starfish-crunch
- Nitesh, D. (2025, November 3). Starfish Crunch Exercise – How to Do, Benefits & Variations. Physiotherapy Treatment and Exercises at Home. https://homephysiotherapyexercises.com/starfish-crunch-exercise/
