Standing Cable Ab Crunch

Also known as: Standing Cable Crunch, Standing Rope Crunch

StrengthCore

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Body Part: Abs

Description

Stand with your back to a high pulley, hold a rope at your temples and curl down until your elbows reach your knees: a weighted crunch done on your feet. The six-pack muscle (rectus abdominis) does the work along its whole length, and the bottom of each rep is where it burns most; the obliques at the sides of your waist help a little. All you need is a rope and a high pulley, no mat or bench, so it suits days when kneeling bothers your knees. For heavier loads, switch to the kneeling version facing the stack.

How to Perform

Clip a triceps rope to the high pulley of a cable column or lat-pulldown station.
Take a rope end in each hand, turn your back to the stack and step forward until the cable hangs just behind your head.
Bring your fists to your temples, palms facing in, with the rope behind your head and your bent elbows pointing forward and down.
Set your feet hip-width apart, toes forward, knees soft. Stand tall with your ribs down; the plates should already be off the stack.
Breathe out and curl from the top: chin in, upper back rounding, ribs pulling toward your pelvis, fists still glued to your temples.
Curl until your elbows reach your knees and your head is about knee height.
On the way, your hips slide back slightly and your knees bend a bit more.
Hold the squeeze for a second, uncurl over about 2 seconds and stop once you're upright. Start the next rep before the plates touch down.
When the set is done, step back toward the column until the weight rests, then let go. Released at your head, the rope whips straight up.

What Muscles Work

Primary Muscle:

Tips

Take 2–4 sets of 10–20 reps close to failure.
Going heavier than 8–12 rarely pays off here, because standing, your balance gives out before your abs do. Pick a range such as 12–15 and add reps at the same weight until you get 15 on every set with a full curl, a one-second squeeze and a 2-second return. Then add one plate (usually 2.5–5 kg) and go back to 12. If that plate pulls you off balance at the top, stay at the old weight and slow the reps down instead.
You should feel the whole front of your stomach working, with a hard burn at the bottom and a little at the sides of your waist. Tired arms or shoulders mean you're pulling the rope; a stretch in the back of your thighs means you're folding at the hips with a flat back. Sharp pain in your lower back, or pain running into a leg, means stop.
Keep turning it into a hip bend? Learn the curl seated first, where the bench pins your hips. Once the standing version gets easy, slow the return to 3–4 seconds and hold the bottom for 2 before you add a plate. Loads differ from one pulley to the next, so only compare weights on the same station.
Substitutes: Kneeling Cable Abs Crunches (same rope and curl, facing the stack, heavier loads), Seated Ab Cable Crunch (no balance needed), Machine Abdominal Crunches (fixed path, small weight jumps) and Band Standing Crunches (the same standing crunch at home or when every cable is taken).

Common Mistakes

Folding at the hips with a flat back: your trunk tips forward in one piece and you feel it in the back of your thighs. Think "ribs to pelvis" and round your upper back first; your hips move back only a little, at the very end.
Pulling the rope down with your arms, so your hands leave your head and your elbows open up like a triceps pushdown. Pin your fists to your temples and keep the elbow angle fixed. If your arms keep taking over, drop the weight.
Letting the stack yank you back up past vertical, so your lower back arches or you step back to catch your balance. Take about 2 seconds to uncurl and stop as soon as you're upright; if you still lose balance, the weight is too heavy.
Standing in the wrong spot. Too far from the column and the cable drags you backward; too close and the rope scrapes your neck while the plates rest on the stack. Stand where the cable hangs just behind your head, usually a foot-length out.
Dipping your knees to push the weight down instead of curling. Keep them soft and nearly still; they bend a little only as your hips move back at the bottom.
Yanking your head down chin-first and straining your neck. Let your head follow your upper back as it rounds, with your hands at your temples and never on your neck.