Roman Chair Crunch
oec:roman-chair-crunch
An abdominal exercise performed on a Roman chair that targets the rectus abdominis through controlled spinal flexion while the lower body is anchored.
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: Hyperextension Bench Crunch
How to do it
Setup
- Sit on the Roman chair facing upward with your thighs supported by the main pad and your ankles firmly secured beneath the roller pads.
- Cross your arms over your chest or lightly place your fingertips beside your ears without pulling on your neck.
- Engage your core and lean back slightly until your torso forms a straight line with your thighs.
Movement
- Exhale and curl your ribcage down toward your pelvis by flexing your spine, squeezing your abdominals hard at the peak of the contraction.
- Pause momentarily at peak flexion while keeping your hips stable.
- Inhale and slowly uncurl your spine, returning to the starting semi-reclined alignment without hyperextending your lower back.
Breathing
Exhale forcefully as you curl the torso upward; inhale smoothly as you lower back down under control.
Cues
- Ribs to hips
- Curl, don't hinge
- Keep tension on the abs throughout
Common faults
- Swinging the torso by hinging at the hips instead of flexing the spine.
- Keep your hip angle relatively fixed and focus exclusively on curling your ribcage toward your pelvis.
- Hyperextending the lower back excessively at the bottom of each repetition.
- Stop descending once your torso is parallel with your thighs to maintain continuous abdominal engagement and protect the lumbar spine.
- Yanking on the neck with hands behind the head.
- Cross your arms across your chest or keep your fingertips gently resting at your temples.
Safety
- Ensure ankle pads are securely locked in position before leaning back into the movement.
Muscles
Joints
- Lumbar spine: Flexion, Extension
- Thoracic spine: Flexion, Extension
- Hip: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Spinal flexion
- Modality
- Hypertrophy, Strength, Calisthenics
- Mechanics
- isolation
- Force
- pull
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- closed
- Level
- intermediate
- Equipment
- Roman chair or back extension bench or Glute-ham developer
- Record
- Repetitions
- Load
- bodyweight
Related
- progression of Crunch
- variation of Crunch
- substitute for Decline Crunch
- substitute for Stability Ball Crunch
Sources
- wger: Roman Chair Crunch, by MaddieBeasley (CC-BY-SA-3.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.