Dead Bug
The dead bug is a core exercise where you lie on your back with arms and legs raised, then lower an opposite arm and leg while keeping your lower back still. It trains your abs and obliques to stop your spine arching. Pick it to learn bracing or warm up. Extend your legs further to make it harder.
Muscles worked
The dead bug trains the abs, with obliques helping.
Weekly sets for abs
Hard sets per week that Swole.fit plans for abs, counting every exercise that trains it. Start a cycle near the growth line and climb toward the recovery limit before a deload.
How to do the dead bug
- 01Lie on your back with your arms pointing to the ceiling and your knees bent 90 degrees over your hips.
- 02Press your lower back gently into the floor and brace your abs as if bracing for a poke.
- 03Slowly lower one arm overhead and the opposite leg toward the floor at the same time.
- 04Stop just above the floor or when your lower back starts to lift, and exhale fully.
- 05Return both limbs to the start and repeat on the other side.
Coaching cues
- Lower back glued down
- Exhale as limbs reach
- Slow is the whole point
Common mistakes
- Letting your lower back arch as your limbs extend defeats the purpose; shorten the reach until your back stays flat.
- Rushing reps lets momentum do the work; take three to four seconds to lower each arm and leg.
- Holding your breath makes bracing harder; exhale through your mouth as you extend and inhale as you return.
How Swole.fit programs it
Log it once and the app plans the next session for you.
- Most sets land between 8 and 15 reps, the range the plan steers isolation work toward for size.
- Week one starts around 2 to 3 reps in reserve. Each week you train a little closer to failure, ending around 0 to 1 in reserve before a deload week.
- Once the top of the range is easy, Swole.fit suggests a harder variation or added load.
- Sets for this exercise count toward your weekly volume for every muscle it trains: a full set for the primary muscles, half a set for the helpers.
The full method, with the maths, is in how mesocycles work.
Dead Bug alternatives
Same muscles, different tool. Swap in one of these when the equipment is taken or your joints want a change.
Log it. Let the app plan the next one.
Track your dead bug free. Swole.fit picks the next weight, counts your weekly sets and tells you when to deload.