Exercise guide · Intermediate · Compound

Bottoms-Up: How to Do It & Muscles Worked

The bottoms-up exercise is a bodyweight movement targeting the abdominal muscles. It involves lying on your back, bringing your knees toward your chest, and lifting your hips off the ground to engage your core.

Primary muscles
Abs
Secondary muscles
Quads , Obliques
Equipment
Body Weight
Level · type
Intermediate · Compound
Demonstration of the bottoms-up
Front view: muscles worked by the bottoms-up. Primary: abs. Secondary: quads and obliques.
Back view: muscles worked by the bottoms-up. Primary: abs. Secondary: quads and obliques.
Primary Secondary

How to do the bottoms-up

  1. Step 1: Lie flat on your back with your legs extended and your arms by your sides.
  2. Step 2: Bend your knees and bring them towards your chest, keeping your feet off the ground.
  3. Step 3: Engaging your abs, lift your hips off the ground, bringing your knees towards your head.
  4. Step 4: Pause for a moment at the top, then slowly lower your hips back down to the starting position.
  5. Step 5: Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Sets, reps and programming

Suggested sets, reps and rest for the bottoms-up by training goal
Goal Sets Reps Rest Effort
Strength 3–5 3–6 3–5 min 1–3 reps in reserve
Muscle growth 3–4 6–12 2–3 min 1–2 reps in reserve
Muscular endurance 2–3 12–20 1–2 min 1–3 reps in reserve

Ranges follow the ACSM position stand on progression in resistance training. Muscle grows across a wide range of loads when sets end close to failure (Schoenfeld et al., 2017), longer rests between heavy sets support strength and size (Schoenfeld et al., 2016), and stopping a rep or two short of failure works about as well as training to failure (Grgic et al., 2022). Estimate your working weights with the strength calculators.

Bottoms-Up alternatives

More exercises that train the abs as their main target:

More abs exercises

See the best ab exercises, ranked →

Sources

  1. American College of Sports Medicine. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41(3):687-708.
  2. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and hypertrophy adaptations between low- vs. high-load resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2017;31(12):3508-3523.
  3. Schoenfeld BJ, Pope ZK, Benik FM, et al. Longer interset rest periods enhance muscle strength and hypertrophy in resistance-trained men. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(7):1805-1812.
  4. Grgic J, Schoenfeld BJ, Orazem J, Sabol F. Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sport Health Sci. 2022;11(2):202-211.

Step-by-step instructions and demonstration media are from the ExerciseDB exercise dataset.

This guide is general fitness information, not medical advice. Stop if an exercise causes pain and speak to a doctor or physiotherapist about injuries or health conditions before starting a new programme.