Among the most popular workouts at any gym around the world are abdominal exercises. With people everywhere striving for the ripped six-pack look, there are dozens of ab exercises circulating the fitness world. One such exercise, the bicycle crunch, is useful because it keeps your body active for the duration of the workout, requires little strength, works on your stamina and exercises both your abdominals and your oblique muscles at the same time.
Step One
Lie on the ground on your back and place your hands behind your head as you would with a normal sit up. Make sure your elbows are stretched outward.
Step Two
Lift your shoulder blades about six inches off of the ground, resting your weight on your lower and mid-back.
Step Three
Extend one leg straight out from your body, six inches off of the ground.
Step Four
Extend your other leg upward, bending it at the knee with your thigh extended up from the mid section.
Step Five
Begin the exercise by bringing the knee towards the chest and extending the opposite leg straight out. At the same time, bring the elbow opposite the bent knee across your body towards your knee. Both should meet at your chest, right knee and left elbow or left elbow and right knee.
Step Six
Reverse the process by straightening the bent knee and bringing the opposite knee up, meeting it with the reverse elbow.
Step Seven
Continue this process for at least 30 seconds at a time without stopping. Rotating each leg up once per second. With experience you may be able to increase your time to up to 3 to 5 minutes without stopping.