Decline Crunch
oec:decline-crunch
An abdominal isolation exercise performed on a decline bench where the torso curls upward against gravity through spinal flexion.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Incline Crunch, Decline Bench Crunch, Slant Board Crunch, Decline Ab Crunch, Incline Crunches, Negative Crunches
How to do it
Setup
- Secure your legs and ankles under the padded rollers at the elevated end of a decline bench.
- Lie back on the bench so your head is positioned lower than your hips.
- Place your hands lightly beside your ears or cross your arms over your chest without interlocking your fingers behind your head.
Movement
- Engage your abdominals and tuck your chin slightly toward your chest.
- Curl your upper torso off the bench by flexing your spine and drawing your ribcage down toward your pelvis.
- Pause and squeeze your abdominals hard at the peak of the contraction when your shoulder blades clear the bench.
- Slowly uncurl your spine under control to lower your torso back down to the starting position.
Breathing
Exhale forcefully as you curl upward against gravity; inhale as you slowly lower your torso back down.
Cues
- Ribs to hips
- Roll up like a carpet
- Do not yank your neck
Common faults
- Pulling on the head and neck with the hands.
- Cross arms over the chest or place fingertips lightly by your ears without pulling forward.
- Performing a full sit-up by pivoting at the hips rather than curling the spine.
- Keep your lower back in contact with the pad and focus purely on flexing your spine to lift your shoulder blades.
- Relying on momentum and bouncing off the bench at the bottom.
- Maintain continuous abdominal tension throughout and control the descent fully.
Safety
- Ensure your legs are securely locked into the ankle pads before leaning back into the decline position.
Muscles
Joints
- Thoracic spine: Flexion
- Lumbar spine: Flexion
- Hip: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Spinal flexion
- Modality
- Calisthenics, Hypertrophy, Strength
- Mechanics
- isolation
- Force
- pull
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- open
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- Adjustable bench or Flat bench
- Record
- Repetitions
- Load
- bodyweight
Related
- variation of Crunch
- progression of Crunch
- substitute for Cable Kneeling Crunch
- substitute for Machine Crunch
- substitute for Weighted Crunch
- substitute for Stability Ball Crunch
Sources
- wger: Incline Crunches, by wger.de (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
- wger: Negative Crunches, by wger.de (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.