Alternate heel touchers is a bodyweight exercise targeting the abdominal muscles, particularly the obliques. It involves lying on your back, lifting your shoulders, and reaching side to side to touch your heels, engaging your core throughout.
Also Works
Obliques
How to Perform
1
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
2
Extend your arms straight out to the sides, parallel to the ground.
3
Engaging your abs, lift your shoulders off the ground and reach your right hand towards your right heel.
4
Return to the starting position and repeat on the left side, reaching your left hand towards your left heel.
5
Continue alternating sides for the desired number of repetitions.
Pro Tips
•Keep your shoulder blades off the ground for the entire set to maintain constant ab engagement.
•Reach by laterally crunching your obliques, not by shifting your whole body side to side on the floor.
•Position your feet about 6-8 inches from your glutes so your heels are within reach without overextending.
Common Mistakes
•Letting the shoulder blades drop back to the floor between each side, which releases tension on the abs.
•Rocking the hips side to side instead of keeping the lower body stable and using the obliques to reach.
•Craning the neck forward instead of keeping it neutral and letting the torso do the lateral bending.