How to do the Extra Decline Sit Up
CoreAbsBodyweightIntermediate
The extra decline sit-up takes the standard crunch off the flat floor and onto a downward angle, forcing your abs to work through a greater range of motion against added gravitational resistance. Master this movement and you build the kind of deep, functional core strength that transfers to every athletic demand you place on your body.
Add this to my personalized plan →Muscles worked
Primary
AbdominalsObliques
Secondary
Hip flexorsLower back
Step-by-step
- Anchor your feet securely at the top of the decline bench and lie back with arms crossed over your chest or hands lightly behind your ears.
- Brace your core and initiate the movement by curling your ribcage toward your pelvis, not by yanking with your neck or hip flexors.
- Rise until your torso is fully upright or slightly past vertical, pausing briefly to maximally contract the abs at the top.
- Lower yourself slowly and under control back to the starting position, resisting gravity on the way down for full eccentric engagement.
Common mistakes
- Pulling on the neck with interlaced fingers, which shifts stress off the abs and onto the cervical spine — keep hands light behind the ears or crossed on your chest and lead the movement with your sternum.
- Using momentum to swing up rather than contracting the abs, which dramatically reduces the training stimulus — slow the tempo to at least a 3-second descent to eliminate the bounce.
- Setting the decline angle too steep before building a base, which causes the hip flexors to dominate the movement — start at a moderate angle and progress the incline only when you can feel the abs doing the majority of the work.
Pro tip — At the top of every rep, exhale forcefully and perform a deliberate posterior pelvic tilt to squeeze out the final degrees of lumbar flexion — this small adjustment fully shortens the rectus abdominis and turns a good rep into a great one.
Sets & reps by goal
Build muscle3–4 sets × 10–15 reps
Get stronger3–4 sets × 6–8 reps
Lose fat / tone3 sets × 12–20 reps
Rest: 60–90 sec between sets.
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