Cocoons Exercise: Ultimate How-To Guide (+Variations)

In my experience, mastering the timing and spinal alignment in cocoons is crucial for effectiveness and safety.

Here are my step-by-step instructions: 

• Get into the starting position by lying on the floor with your arms and legs stretched out.
• With your arms extended, slowly lift your hands and feet off the ground.
• Now, slowly bend your knees and bring them toward your chest while making a simultaneous crunch motion.
• With your head over your knees in a sitting position, make sure your feet remain off the ground and take a brief pause.
• Slowly lower yourself back down again to the starting position and try to keep your hands and feet off the ground for another brief pause.

Throughout the movement, you should feel this in your entire core muscles. With your arms extended at the start, you’ll feel it in your upper abs, and it will gradually engage every core muscle.

To maximize the benefits of cocoons, it's important to strategically incorporate them into your overall training routine. I recommend performing it along with other core exercises, perhaps following more challenging movements like hanging leg raises, to ensure a well-rounded core workout.

Let’s take a closer look at the actual impact.

The cocoon exercise is best to target hip flexors and ab muscles at different stages of the exercise.

From my training sessions, I've observed that cocoons intensely work the hip flexors and ab muscles, engaging them uniquely at different stages.

That means you feel a different strain at the starting position compared to the one you will at the mid-way point, and that’s the main attraction.

A key aspect of performing cocoons effectively is focusing on controlled movements and constant core engagement. This approach helps in maximizing muscle activation while minimizing the risk of injury, making it a crucial element for a successful workout.

Rectus Abdominis

The rectus abdominis are your core abs that appear as two vertical rows of square muscles, aka the six-pack, according to the Physiopedia [1].

Because you combine an upper body crunch with a leg raise kind of movement, you find that right from the starting position, this whole area will come under strain.

The crunch movement will target the upper abs, while tucking in the knees toward your chest will target the lower abs and muscles in your hips. 

Let’s take a look at those in more detail.

Related Articles:

• 5 Best Dumbbell Exercises For Abs
• 7 Best Upper Abs Workout
• 10 Best Pull-Up Bar Ab Workouts

Hip Flexors

This group of muscles runs along the inside of your pelvis, and they play a key role in bringing your knees up and maintaining a good posture [2].

These start activating once you lift your feet off the ground and start bringing your knees toward your chest.

“The hip flexors are muscles that connect the lower back to the hips, groin, and thigh bone. This muscle group includes the psoas muscle, which helps push the top of the leg upward.”

- Gregory Minnis, Doctor of Physical Therapy

Here are three variations that will help everyone from beginner to advanced athletes.

Seated Knee Tucks (Easy)

In my practice with beginners, I often start them with seated knee tucks, a simpler variation that still offers significant core engagement.

Rather than get into the starting position of laying down on a yoga mat, you have your legs stretched out straight and slightly leaning back with your hands behind you as support.

You then lift your feet off the ground and tuck your knees in and out, but you skip the crunch of the cocoon.