V-Up
The V-Up is a core exercise that lifts your arms and legs together to build control and strength through your midsection.
V-Up
Muscles Worked: V-Up
The V-Up mainly trains your abs because they curl your upper body and pull your ribs toward your hips as your legs come up. Your hip flexors help lift your legs and keep them moving toward your hands, especially in the top half of the rep. Your deep core also braces to stop you from wobbling or losing position on the floor. If you do it well, you should feel a strong squeeze through the front of your midsection, which fits with research showing that some abdominal exercises can produce high rectus abdominis and external oblique activity (Schoffstall et al., 2010).
Technique and form
How to perform the V-Up
- Lie flat on your back with arms extended overhead and legs straight, palms facing up and toes pointed.
- Engage your core by drawing your navel toward your spine and pressing your lower back into the floor.
- Exhale as you simultaneously lift your torso and legs off the ground, reaching your hands toward your feet.
- Keep your shoulders down and away from your ears as you lift, maintaining length through your neck.
- Aim to create a "V" shape with your body at the top of the movement, with only your hips and lower back touching the floor.
- Hold the contracted position for a brief moment, focusing on the compression in your abdominals.
- Inhale as you slowly lower your torso and legs back to the starting position in a controlled manner.
- Maintain tension in your core throughout the entire movement, never fully relaxing at the bottom position.
Important information
- Keep your legs straight throughout the exercise, but slightly bend your knees if you experience lower back strain.
- Focus on using your abdominals to lift rather than momentum or swinging your arms.
- If you're a beginner, try bending your knees or performing the movement with just your upper or lower body until you build strength.
- Avoid pulling on your neck with your hands—all movement should come from your core muscles.
Is the V-Up good for muscle growth?
Yes — the V-Up can help build your abs if you can control each rep and make the set hard enough. It creates a strong contraction through the front of your trunk, and research comparing abdominal exercise variations found that some floor-based movements produced high rectus abdominis and external oblique activation, which supports using challenging ab work for muscle growth when paired with enough volume (Schoffstall et al., 2010).
- Big shortening at the top — The V-Up trains your abs hardest when your chest and legs meet, so the top position matters. If you rush past that squeeze, your hip flexors take over more and your abs do less of the work.
- Long lever challenge — Because both your arms and legs move far from your body, the exercise gets tough fast without any equipment. That makes it a strong bodyweight option once easier moves like the reverse crunch stop being challenging.
- Easy to make harder without weight — You can slow the lowering phase, pause at the top for 1-2 seconds, or keep your legs straighter. Those changes increase tension on the abs without turning the movement into a different exercise.
- Best for people who can keep their low back under control — If your lower back arches hard or your legs swing, the rep stops being an ab-focused rep. In that case, a simpler drill like the elbow-up-and-down-dynamic-plank or reverse crunch is usually better until you can own the position. Research comparing ab exercises found that some harder curl-up variations produced high abdominal muscle activation, which supports choosing drills that create strong abdominal demand (Schoffstall et al., 2010).
Programming for muscle growth
Do 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps with 45-75 seconds rest, 2-3 times per week. Use a rep range you can control without your lower back popping off the floor. When you can hit 15 clean reps on every set, make it harder by slowing the lowering phase or adding a pause at the top before increasing total volume.
Alternative Exercises
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FAQ - V-Up
The V-Up primarily targets multiple layers of your abdominal muscles, including the rectus abdominis (six-pack muscles), transverse abdominis (deep core), obliques, and hip flexors. This comprehensive engagement makes it superior to basic crunches for overall core development.
Beginners can start with bent-knee V-Ups, where you keep your knees slightly bent throughout the movement to reduce the lever length. Alternatively, you can perform the movement in two phases—first lifting just your upper body, then just your legs, before progressing to the simultaneous action.
The most common mistakes include using momentum rather than core strength, failing to maintain posterior pelvic tilt (which strains the lower back), and reaching with the neck instead of the chest. Focus on slow, controlled movements and keep your lower back pressed into the mat throughout the exercise.
Include V-Ups in your training 2-3 times weekly, either as part of a dedicated core circuit or integrated into full-body HIIT sessions. Allow 48 hours of recovery between intense core workouts for optimal adaptation and to prevent overtraining.
Increase the challenge by adding resistance with a medicine ball or dumbbell held between your hands, incorporating pulses at the top position, or slowing down the eccentric (lowering) phase to 3-5 seconds. You can also try the hollow body hold to V-Up transition for an advanced variation.
Scientific References
Electromyographic response of the abdominal musculature to varying abdominal exercises.
Schoffstall JE, Titcomb DA, Kilbourne BF · Journal of strength and conditioning research (2010)
Sources are peer-reviewed academic publications from PubMed.
V-Up
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