maratoolKneeling Cable Crunch With Alternating Oblique Twists
How to do the kneeling cable crunch with alternating oblique twists
- Connect a rope attachment to a high pulley cable and position a mat on the floor in front of it.
- Grab the rope with both hands and kneel approximately two feet back from the tower.
- Position the rope behind your head with your hands by your ears.
- Keep your hands in the same place, contract your abs and pull downward on the rope in a crunching movement until your elbows reach your knees.
- Pause briefly at the bottom and rise up in a slow and controlled manner until you reach the starting position.
- Repeat the same downward movement until you're halfway down, at which time you'll begin rotating one of your elbows to the opposite knee.
- Again, pause briefly at the bottom and rise up in a slow and controlled manner until you reach the starting position.
- Repeat the same movement as before, but alternate the other elbow to the opposite knee.
- Continue this series of movements to failure.
Muscles worked
The prime movers are the rectus abdominis and the obliques, which flex the trunk forward and resist it being pulled into extension or twisted out of line.
Every exercise for:Abdominals
How this movement works
One joint changes angle and the resistance travels toward you along a single arc. Nothing is positioned to help, so tension stays where you aimed it and the usable load drops sharply against a multi-joint pull for the same muscle. Protect the range of motion; buying weight by shortening the arc defeats the point.
It is filed under strength: produce force against resistance for a countable number of repetitions, and progress the resistance over time.
What you need
A cable holds tension for the whole range, including the point where a free weight would go slack. Moving the pulley changes the angle the resistance arrives from without changing the movement.
Every exercise using:Cable
These train the abdominals too, using equipment this one does not:
- Landmine 180'sbarbell
- Leg Pull-Inbody only
- Medicine Ball Full Twistmedicine ball
- Side Bend with Dumbbelldumbbell
- Smith Machine Hip Raisemachine
Difficulty
Listed at beginner level: the pattern is simple enough to pick up without coaching, and a position that goes wrong mid-set is obvious enough to correct on the next repetition.
Of the 97 abdominals exercises in this database, 69 are listed at beginner level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.