What you'll gain

• Works the upper and lower abdominals in one coordinated rep.

• Improves trunk control and balance without any equipment.

• Scales easily by bending the knees or shortening the range.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Lie flat on your back with your arms extended overhead and your legs straight.

2. 2

   Point your toes, brace your abdominals and lift your feet a few inches off the floor.

3. 3

   Exhale and raise your torso and legs at the same time, keeping both straight.

4. 4

   Reach your hands toward your shins at the top so the body forms a V.

5. 5

   Inhale and lower your torso and legs together under control.

6. 6

   Stop with the feet just above the floor to keep tension, then start the next rep.

Common Mistakes

• Rounding the back and shoulders at the top, which loads the lumbar spine instead of the abdominals.

• Swinging the arms to generate lift, which replaces core work with momentum.

• Resting the feet on the floor between reps, which drops tension and makes each rep a fresh start.

• Bending the knees to reach the top position, which shortens the lever and reduces the demand.

About This Exercise

The V-up folds the body at the hips in one movement. From flat on your back with the arms overhead, you exhale and raise the torso and straight legs together so the hands meet the shins and the body forms a V, then lower without letting the feet touch down. The rectus abdominis and both sets of obliques are the working muscles, with the hip flexors, adductors and quadriceps assisting the leg lift. Rounding the back or swinging the arms shifts load off the abdominals and onto the lumbar spine. As a catalog asset the V-up is high-volume inventory: bodyweight circuits, HIIT timers, ab-focused programs and home workout content all use it, and it needs no equipment in frame, so the clip drops into any visual context without looking out of place.

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