Seated Ab Crunch
Sitting on a bench facing a high pulley, you hold a rope beside your head and crunch forward, rounding your upper back to bring your elbows toward your thighs.
- Primary muscles
- Abs
- Secondary
- Lower abs, Obliques
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Logged as
- Weight × reps
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Why do it
The seated version gives you a loadable crunch from a stable base, since sitting on a bench pins your hips in place more easily than kneeling. It suits people who want to add weight to ab work in small steps and find the kneeling cable crunch awkward or hard to keep still. Because you start upright, the rep is all about curling your spine down, not leaning forward. Start with the cable already under tension so there's load from the first rep.
How to do it
Attach a rope to the high pulley and sit on a bench facing the machine.
Hold the rope ends next to your head with the cable already under tension.
Crunch forward by rounding your upper back and bringing your elbows toward your thighs.
Return slowly under control. Keep your hips still so the movement stays in your spine rather than turning into a hip hinge.
Common mistakes
Hinging forward at the hips
Leaning your whole torso toward your thighs with a flat back turns it into a hip hinge. Keep your hips still and round your spine, ribs toward your pelvis.
Pulling with your arms
Yanking the rope down with your arms moves the stack without your abs. Keep your hands fixed beside your head and let the crunch move them.
Sitting too close to the machine
Too close and the cable goes slack at the top. Shift back until the stack lifts slightly before you start crunching.
Letting the stack pull you upright
Returning fast lets the weight snap your spine back. Uncurl slowly and stop just before the plates touch.
Sets, reps and progression
How many sets you do and how close to failure you take them depend on your goal and your week, not on the exercise. These guides cover it:
Alternatives that train the same thing
Same movement, a different angle or piece of equipment.
