Cocoon

Execution

1. Brace your belly lightly before the first rep, arms still stretched out near your ears.
2. Exhale, tuck your knees to your chest while curling your shoulders off the mat and swinging your arms forward to meet your shins.
3. Curl the pelvis up a little at the top so the low back naturally lifts off the mat.
4. Pause for a beat folded into a tight ball, knees tucked between your arms.
5. Inhale and unroll back to the start under control, arms returning overhead as the legs lengthen out.
6. Keep it one smooth roll rather than two separate parts, arms then legs.

Quick cues

• Curl into a tight ball.
• Knees and hands meet at center.
• Exhale as you curl in.
• Stretch long at the start.
• One smooth roll, not two.

Common faults

• Fault: Using arm swing momentum to yank the torso up instead of the abs

  Fix: Pause 1 second at full extension before every rep to kill the swing.

• Fault: The knees barely bending, staying far from the chest

  Fix: Slow the tempo to 3 seconds each way until the knees reach the chest.

• Fault: The lower back slamming into the mat on the way out

  Fix: Control the last 10 centimeters of the extension instead of dropping it.

• Fault: Holding the breath through the whole roll

  Fix: Exhale sharply exactly at the tuck point of every rep.