CalisthenicsIn review

McGill Curl-Up

A small curl-up that keeps the lower back in its natural position.

This page is a working draft. A coach has not reviewed it, so read it as a starting point, not as checked instruction.

Pattern: Trunk stability
Modality: Calisthenics
Difficulty: Beginner
Mechanic: Unknown
Force: Unknown
Laterality: Bilateral
Impact: Low
Trains where: Gym, Home
At home: Yes

How to do it

Set up

Lie on your back with one knee bent and the other leg straight.
Place your hands under the lower back without pressing it flat.

Do the rep

Brace the abdomen and lift the head and shoulders slightly as one unit.
Keep the lower back still, then lower the head and shoulders under control.
Change the bent leg between sets.

What counts as a rep

One rep lifts the head and shoulders slightly without changing the lower-back position, then returns them to the floor.

Breathing

Exhale through the effort and inhale during the controlled return.

Cues

Lift only a little.
Keep the neck in line with the chest.

Common mistakes

Curling through the lower back
What you seeThe lower back flattens or rounds as the shoulders rise.
FixMake the lift smaller and keep the pressure on the hands steady.
The small lift trains trunk control without a large spinal movement.

Stop the set if

Stop if you feel sharp pain.
End the set if you cannot keep the lower back still.

General educational content, not individual coaching or medical advice.

Muscles worked

Prime movers

Rectus abdominis · moderate confidence
Obliques · moderate confidence
Deep core / trunk stabilizers · moderate confidence

Assisting

Hip flexors · moderate confidence
Shoulders (coarse UI group) · moderate confidence
Forearms and grip · moderate confidence

Equipment

Bodyweight

Optional: Floor mat

Lie on your back with one knee bent and the other leg straight. Place your hands under the lower back without pressing it flat.

In the app

You log this by hand. The camera coach does not watch this movement yet.

Tracking: Manual

How this page was checked

Draft. A editorial reviewer has not signed this off yet.

Draft text is original copy for Wave 2 batch 6, written from the blueprint CSV row and the owner rules approved 2026-10-12 in #340. No human review is complete.
Technique, cues, rep standard, breathing, stop cues, and error corrections need independent sources and the assigned review tier (blueprint two-source rule).
Programming roles, skill tier, failure cost, timed use, goal fit, and equipment remain candidates; the switch-on PR must confirm them.
Anatomy uses the CSV planning hints; the assigned review tier must confirm it.
Legacy relations and engine edges stay empty until the progression ladder lane and S2-CAT-005.
Timed use and goal fit copy ex_crunch, the closest Wave 1 record. Its review evidence does not approve this draft.
Rule 2 gives every bodyweight and band core row the trunk role.
Rule 1 removes the CSV optional pull-up-bar from this floor row; floor-mat stays optional.
Bodyweight-reps only replaces the CSV reps-or-duration. No kg are logged. The draft counts full movement cycles rather than hold time.
Skill tier beginner: a new user can perform one clean rep or brief hold in the first session. Failure cost low: the user can stop on the floor or release band tension safely (rule 3).
The draft uses repeated small lifts rather than a timed hold. The switch-on review must confirm the lift height and whether brief pauses belong in this variant.
The bent knee is a setup choice; both sides of the trunk work together, so reps are bilateral.

All instruction and editorial text in this record is original draft copy written for Allena. Planning metadata comes from the internal Wave-2 blueprint CSV.

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