 The dead bug is a phenomenal abdominal exercise because it's easy to modulate based on how fit you are and what sort of challenge you're looking for and it's also just simple to do because you don't need any equipment all you need is your body. The first dead bug variation I want to show you is just using your arms. Your arms are a little bit lighter than your legs so this variation is a little bit simpler. If I lay on my back here I can start in this supine hook lying position so my feet are in the ground my I like to exhale tilt my tailbone up a little bit now I know that I have a good pelvic position for this exercise then what I can do is I can take my arms I can take both overhead at the same time I could do one at a time I can reach up with the other one all of these are nice variations if I'm pretty good but I need a little bit more strength I would like to do two arms at a time if I need some sort of asymmetry addressed it's nice to go one arm at a time if I want to alternate from side to side maybe this is in your warm-up this is alternating exercises are great in your warm-up maybe I'll make a video about that some other day one up here one up here and so I can just alternate that way now I can do it for a nice five count hold or five second hold or I can just hold there and take some breaths right so that's a good way to show me that you're owning that position next variation now how could I make this position harder let's pick my feet up off the ground now my base of support is smaller and I've got a little bit of more lower abdominal tone because I have to support my legs up here but I can do the same stuff here I can go two arms I can go one arm whatever you want to do next variation maybe I need a little bit more weight middle up maybe a little bit more challenge in my movement so instead of worrying about my arms I like to just reach them up here because they help turn on my abs a little bit I'll pick my feet up and then we'll lower one leg at a time just like this so same kind of thing I want to feel like my back is sturdy in the ground I don't want to feel a really deep curve in my back because that's not going to shut off my hip flexors at all they're just going to get tighter if I do this right I want to use my ab exercises for everything that I can use them for not just for abs right one of those things is shutting off hip flexors so if we do it this way we can again take a breath same kind of stuff if this is too hard put the other foot down and let it support you and now I can use this as like a leg lowering kind of variation again there's so much you can do with this dead bug thing next thing this is the one that people think about the most you're going to do one arm and one leg at the same time since we walk on two feet we do opposite sides at the same time I like to do the same thing with the dead bug so I'm going to go right foot down I'm going to go left arm back just like this and so now I've got a load from my arm I've got a load from my leg and I have to challenge that again I can do it for holds I can do it for breaths again I like to prescribe for breaths because it really demonstrates that you're owning what you're doing okay so that one is significantly more difficult now how do I make it even harder well what if we take both legs and fall those out so for this variation I like to take my hands and I'll put them right here to kind of use them as a little bit of support and I'm going to exhale while I fall out because it makes it easier to maintain the right position just like this and I can take another breath in okay again I'm making sure that my back isn't curving away from the ground because that means I'm losing position ultimate ultimate progression and you're probably guessing what this is I'm going to do legs and arms at the same time easy enough if that's too easy for you you can put ankle weights on your arms or you can hold your legs or your arms you can hold some weights or whatever so all sorts of different variations if you need help put your feet on the ground only do your arms if it's too easy then let's start moving your legs around and really show me that you can control that and again the whole time I want you to show me that you can control it with good breaths in the nose fully out the mouth watch those ribs come down feel yourself sink into the ground the big mistake that people make with this is that they try something that's too difficult and their low back curves up and they don't realize why it's not working it's not helping me I don't really feel very good after I do this exercise well that's because you're doing it wrong okay so now that you've watched this you know not to do it wrong if you have any questions leave me in the comments below and don't forget to smash that like button