Decline Sit-Up
Muscles worked: Abs.
How to do it
- Secure your legs at the end of the decline bench and lie down.
- Now place your hands lightly on either side of your head keeping your elbows in.
- While pushing the small of your back down in the bench to better isolate your abdominal muscles, begin to roll your shoulders off it.
- Continue to push down as hard as you can with your lower back as you contract your abdominals and exhale.
- After the one second contraction, begin to come down slowly again to the starting position as you inhale.
Coaching cues
The two cues IronPack shows on this exercise's card mid-workout:
- Hold a plate at the chest to load it
- Curl up one vertebra at a time
Logging it
IronPack suggests working in the 10 to 15 rep range, progressing in 2.5 kg jumps when you own the top of the range. Bodyweight movement: log added weight only, and your records account for your logged bodyweight. Records are tracked automatically at every rep count from 1 to 12. Check your estimated 1RM from any hard set.
Related exercises
- Cable Crunch - abs
- Hanging Leg Raise - abs
- Ab Wheel Rollout - abs
- Ab Crunch Machine - abs
Track the decline sit-up properly
IronPack logs every set, tracks your records at every rep count, shows these form photos mid-workout, and turns the training into a card game you play with your mates.
Get IronPack free on the App StoreFree download, iPhone. Currently on the New Zealand App Store, wider rollout to follow.
Photos and steps: free-exercise-db (public domain). Cues, muscle weighting and logging guidance are IronPack's own app data. Last generated 2026-07-17.