Cable Reverse Crunch
The cable reverse crunch has you lie on your back with an ankle strap hooked to a low pulley, then curl your hips and knees up toward your chest against the cable's pull. It loads the lower portion of your abs through pelvis and hip flexion, and it suits anyone who has the bodyweight reverse crunch down and wants a way to keep adding resistance.
Why it works
Your abs don't just bend your torso forward, the lower fibers also tilt your pelvis backward and draw your knees toward your chest. A bodyweight reverse crunch only fights gravity for part of that motion, but a cable adds resistance you control through the entire curl, and you can increase the load as the movement gets easier, which a floor-only version can't offer.
Set up
- Lie on your back with your head toward a low pulley and an ankle strap attached to the cable.
- Hook the strap around your ankles, or one ankle if that's how your gym's attachment works, and bend your knees to about 90 degrees.
- Press your lower back into the floor and take up the slack in the cable before you start.
How to do it
- Curl your hips off the floor, drawing your knees up and in toward your chest against the cable's resistance.
- Pause briefly once your knees near your chest.
- Lower your hips back to the floor under control, resisting the cable's pull the whole way down.
- Repeat for the set without letting your lower back arch off the floor.
Form cues
- Curl your pelvis, don't just swing your legs.
- Keep your lower back pressed to the floor throughout.
- Move slowly on the way down instead of letting the cable snap your legs back.
- Exhale as your hips curl up toward your ribs.
Breathing: Exhale as you curl your hips up, inhale as you lower back down.
Common mistakes
Swinging the legs using momentum instead of curling the pelvis.
Fix: Slow the tempo and focus on tilting your hips off the floor rather than kicking your legs up.
Letting the lower back arch as the legs lower.
Fix: Keep tension in your abs on the way down and stop the descent before your back lifts off the floor.
Using so much cable resistance that the knees barely travel.
Fix: Drop the weight until you can complete a full curl with control, since range of motion matters more than load here.
How to program it
- This is a lower-ab isolation move with a light joint cost, so three sessions a week is reasonable if your other ab work that week is modest.
- Fifteen to twenty controlled reps per set beats a lower rep count, since the point is a full, slow curl rather than a heavy single effort.
- Place it after standing or loaded ab work, since the floor position makes a good finisher.
Safety notes
- Keep your lower back on the floor throughout, and stop the range short if it starts to arch.
- Choose a load you can control on the way down, not just on the way up.
- Skip this one if lying on your back with hip flexion causes lower back discomfort, and try a standing ab exercise instead.
Exercise profile
- Force
- Pull
- Mechanics
- Isolation
- Category
- Strength
Frequently asked questions
How many reps of cable reverse crunch should I do?
Two or three sets of 15 to 20 slow reps works well, since control through the full curl matters more than the weight on the stack.
What's the difference between a cable reverse crunch and a regular reverse crunch?
A bodyweight reverse crunch only resists gravity, while the cable version adds steady resistance you can increase over time as your lower abs get stronger.
Can I do this without a cable machine?
A bodyweight reverse crunch trains the same hip curl without equipment, and a suspended reverse crunch using gymnastic rings or straps adds a different kind of resistance.
Why do I feel this in my hip flexors instead of my abs?
That usually means you're swinging your legs instead of curling your pelvis. Slow down and focus on tilting your hips off the floor before your knees start moving.