Decline Reverse Crunch
Trains the Abs.
- Equipment
- A decline bench
- Mechanic
- Isolation
- Force
- Pull
- Level
- Beginner
How to do it
- Set a decline bench and lie on it with your head at the high end.
- Grip the bench behind your head or hold the top edge.
- Bend the hips and knees to about a right angle.
- Curl your hips off the bench toward your ribs, drawing the knees up.
- Stop where the hips have lifted and the lower back is pressed into the bench.
- Lower under control, stopping before the lower back arches away.
Common mistakes
- Swinging the knees to generate momentum. If the knees whip toward the chest and the hips barely move, the hip flexors are doing it — the hips leaving the bench is the repetition.
- Setting a steep decline immediately. The angle is the load here, and a shallow decline with the hips actually curling is worth more than a steep one where they never leave the pad.
- Letting the lower back arch away from the bench as the legs go down. That is the abdominal wall letting go; the range below that point is being held by the spine.
- Gripping so hard that the shoulders do the work. The hands anchor the torso; if the arms are pulling, the trunk is being moved rather than moving.