Dead Bug with Medicine Ball

Perform the Dead Bug with a medicine ball to engage your core and improve stability.

  1. Lie on your back with your arms extended towards the ceiling, holding a medicine ball.
  2. Lift your legs to a tabletop position, knees bent at 90 degrees.
  3. Simultaneously lower your right arm and left leg towards the floor while keeping your back flat.
  4. Return to the starting position and switch sides, lowering your left arm and right leg.
  5. Continue alternating sides for the desired number of repetitions.

How to perform the Dead Bug with Medicine Ball

  1. Set up. Set up in a stable, balanced starting position appropriate for the Dead Bug with Medicine Ball using your medicine ball.
  2. Brace and execute. Brace your core, control the descent, and move through a full pain-free range of motion while emphasizing your abdominals.
  3. Reset. Reverse the movement under control and reset between repetitions, keeping your form crisp on every rep.

Coaching cues

  • Move with intent — every rep should feel deliberate, not rushed.
  • Drive force through your abdominals rather than momentum.
  • Keep your breathing steady: exhale on the hard part, inhale on the reset.

Common mistakes

  • Using too much weight and losing positional control.
  • Cutting the range of motion short and missing the target muscle.
  • Letting your spine round or hyperextend instead of staying neutral.

Detailed cues, common mistakes, and demonstration video are available in the Fitly app.

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