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"name": "KC Clements, MS"
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"name": "Warrior Made",
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"headline":"How To Do Bicycles With Perfect Form",
"datePublished":"2018-01-12",
"dateModified": "2019-10-30",
"description":"Learn How To Do Bicycles With Perfect Form.",
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<article>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="#section1">Instructions</a></li>
<li><a href="#section2">Things to Keep in Mind</a></li>
<li><a href="#section3">Conclusion</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<section>
<p>When it comes to core exercises, you have many different options. Whether you’re doing classic crunches or trying out something a little different, training your core provides amazing benefits, including enhancing your athletic performance, alleviating back pain, improving your breathing and much more. In this article, we’re going to talk about a popular, beginner-level core exercise: the bicycle.</p>
<p>The bicycle is a crunch-like exercise where you’ll start lying on your back. From there, you’ll touch your right elbow to your left knee while extending your right leg, similar to how you pedal a bicycle. Then you’ll switch and perform the move on the opposite side. If you do this exercise correctly, you’re going to train your abdominal muscles to function properly, which can ease or even prevent back pain and help you to maintain good posture.</p>
<p>Once you’ve mastered the bicycle, you’ll move on to chinees. The chinee is a variation on the bicycle. To start you’ll bring your chin up to one knee while extending the opposite leg, much like you do with the bicycle. This exercise will help you to focus on core pressure and stabilization, preparing you to move on to the most challenging variation on the bicycle: the V-up.</p>
<p>For the V-up you’ll start lying on your back with your arms over your head. Then you’ll tighten your core and lift your arms and legs until they touch and your body forms the shape of a V. The V-up requires a lot of abdominal strength. It’s an incredible workout for your entire core and definitely worth working your way up to.</p>
<p>Let’s get started by learning how to perform the bicycle crunch properly.</p>
</section>
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<section id="section1">
<h2>Instructions</h2>
<ol>
<li>Start by lying on your back and bringing your knees into your chest. Your lower back should be pressed into the ground.</li>
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<li>Place your fingertips on the back of your head with your elbows pointing out.</li>
<li>From this position, rotate your left elbow towards your right knee while extending out your left leg. It will look something like this:</li>
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<li>Return to the starting position and repeat on the opposite side, rotating your right elbow towards your left knee while extending your right leg.</li>
<li>Continue alternating sides until you’ve reached the desired number of repetitions. </li>
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<section id="section2">
<h2>Things to keep in mind</h2>
<ul>
<li>Make sure that your lower back keeps in contact with the ground for the duration of the exercise. If you notice that your lower back is starting to arch or rotate with your body as you do your crunches, take a moment to pause and reset before continuing with the exercise. It should look like this:</li>
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<li>Don’t clasp your fingers behind your head while performing the bicycle crunch as this can cause you to support your head, making your abs pull less weight. Instead, lightly touch the back of your head with your fingertips and let your core do the work.</li>
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<li>Inhale while you’re in the starting position and exhale as you touch your elbow to your knee. This is going to keep the blood pumping and allow you to focus on maintaining good form.</li>
<li>Bring your elbow as close as possible to your knee during the movement. Doing so will build strength across the body from your knee to your shoulder, which is especially crucial for teaching your ab muscles to function properly. That, in turn, is going to maximize the benefits you’ll get from the exercise.</li>
<li>When you extend your leg on each crunch, focus on squeezing your quad muscle hard. Squeezing your quad muscle while compressing your opposite leg is going to help create maximum tension in the core.</li>
<li>This exercise is meant to be done relatively quickly, but as always, form comes first. Start by getting your form perfect and then work up to a faster cadence as you build strength over time.</li>
</ul>
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<section id="section3">
<h2>Conclusion:</h2>
<p>The bicycle is an awesome core workout that’s going to help you tighten and strengthen your abdominal muscles. A stronger core will give you some great benefits including preventing or alleviating back pain and helping you to achieve a better posture. Follow the instructions provided here to maintain the perfect form, and you’ll get the most of the bicycle during your workout.</p>
<p>When you’ve gotten the form down and built up core strength with the bicycle, you’ll be able to move on to chinees, an intermediate version of the bicycle that’s going to force you to work on core stabilization while giving your abs an even harder workout.</p>
<p>From there, you can really challenge yourself with the V-up, a core exercise that’s going to require a lot of abdominal strength, but will help you to achieve even better results than the bicycle alone.</p>
<p>Now that you know about the benefits of the bicycle and how to perform it properly, try adding a few sets to your next workout!</p>
<p>If this exercise is too easy, try <a target="_blank" href="https://www.warriormade.com/content/exercise/perfect-form-chinees/">Chinees</a>.</p>
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