Weighted Side Crunch

How to do the Weighted Side Crunch

1. 1Lie on your back on a mat with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, hip-width apart.
2. 2Hold a weight plate or dumbbell against your chest, or extend your arms overhead holding the weight with both hands.
3. 3Allow your knees to fall to one side so they rest on or near the floor at roughly a 45-degree angle — this tilts the pelvis and pre-loads the obliques on the opposite side.
4. 4Brace your core and exhale as you curl your upper torso diagonally toward your raised hip, contracting the obliques on the side you are crunching toward.
5. 5Pause briefly at the top, feeling a strong contraction in the obliques and rectus abdominis.
6. 6Inhale and lower your torso back to the mat under control, avoiding a sudden drop.
7. 7Complete all reps on one side, then reposition your knees to the opposite side and repeat for the same number of reps.
8. 8Keep the movement slow and deliberate throughout — momentum reduces oblique involvement and increases neck strain.

Form tips

• Keep your chin slightly tucked and your neck long — do not yank your head forward with your hands; the drive should come from the obliques.
• Focus on shortening the distance between your ribs and hip on the working side; think 'compress the side' rather than simply lifting your shoulders.
• Choose a weight that lets you complete each rep with full control — the side crunch has a short range of motion, so even moderate load creates significant tension.
• Press your lower back gently into the mat during the crunch to prevent the lumbar spine from arching away from the floor.
• Match the rep count precisely on both sides every set to avoid developing lateral imbalances in the core.

Common mistakes

• Using too much weight too soon — excess load forces the hip flexors and neck to compensate, pulling the movement away from the obliques and increasing the risk of cervical strain.
• Letting the knees drift back to center during the set, which removes the lateral tilt that pre-loads the obliques and turns the movement into a standard crunch.
• Pulling on the neck with the hands when holding a plate behind the head, which stresses the cervical spine and reduces oblique recruitment — hold the weight at the chest if neck strain occurs.
• Rushing through reps with momentum — a fast, jerky crunch removes the slow eccentric phase where much of the oblique tension is built and raises injury risk.
• Crunching straight up rather than diagonally toward the hip — the lateral obliques contract on lateral flexion, not on a purely forward curl, so direction of movement is critical.

Frequently asked questions