Weighted Side Crunch

How to do the Weighted Side Crunch

1. 1Lie flat on your back on a mat and hold a dumbbell or weight plate at your chest with both hands.
2. 2Bend your knees and drop both legs together to one side, rotating your lower body so your hips are at roughly a 45° angle to the floor.
3. 3Keep your upper back flat against the mat and let your arms secure the weight against your chest.
4. 4Place your chin slightly toward your chest and engage your core before you begin.
5. 5Exhale and curl your upper body straight up, contracting the obliques on the side opposite your dropped legs to lift your shoulders off the mat.
6. 6Pause at the top of the movement for a moment, feeling the contraction in your obliques and rectus abdominis.
7. 7Inhale and lower your upper body back to the mat under control, avoiding a sudden drop.
8. 8Complete all reps on this side, then switch your legs to the other side and repeat.

Form tips

• Keep the movement vertical — crunch straight up rather than twisting, so the obliques do the work rather than momentum.
• Press your lower back gently toward the mat as you lift to avoid straining your lumbar spine.
• Control the descent as carefully as the ascent — the eccentric phase builds strength and prevents injury.
• Start with a lighter weight to master the range of motion before progressing; the obliques fatigue quickly when loaded.

Common mistakes

• Using momentum to jerk up instead of contracting the core, which reduces oblique activation and increases strain on the neck.
• Pulling on the weight with your arms to assist the lift, shifting stress away from the target muscles.
• Allowing the hips to roll off the mat during the crunch, which turns the movement into a general ab crunch and removes the oblique emphasis.
• Going too heavy too soon, which causes the lower back to compensate and increases injury risk.
• Holding your breath, which raises intra-abdominal pressure unnecessarily — exhale on the way up, inhale on the way down.

Frequently asked questions