Exercise library

How to do the Decline Oblique Crunch

A beginner compound exercise using bodyweight, working the abdominals.

Primary musclesAbdominals
Secondary musclesNone recorded
EquipmentBodyweight
LevelBeginner
TypeCompound
ForcePull

Steps

  1. Secure your legs at the end of the decline bench and slowly lay down on the bench.
  2. Raise your upper body off the bench until your torso is about 35-45 degrees if measured from the floor.
  3. Put one hand beside your head and the other on your thigh. This will be your starting position.
  4. Raise your upper body slowly from the starting position while turning your torso to the left. Continue crunching up as you exhale until your right elbow touches your left knee. Hold this contracted position for a second. Tip: Focus on keeping your abs tight and keeping the movement slow and controlled.
  5. Lower your body back down slowly to the starting position as you inhale.
  6. After completing one set on the right for the recommended amount of repetitions, switch to your left side. Tip: Focus on really twisting your torso and feeling the contraction when you are in the up position.

Tracking it in OneRep

Add the decline oblique crunch to a routine and your previous weight and reps sit beside every set, so the decision to add load is made by what is already on the screen rather than by memory. Exercise history and volume trends are one tap away, and logging works offline for the gyms where signal does not reach.

Because OneRep tracks food on the same timeline, a stall on this lift can be read against what you were actually eating that month — which is the difference between a programming problem and an eating one. More on that in tracking progressive overload without a spreadsheet.

Where the instructions come from

The steps above come from free-exercise-db, a public-domain exercise dataset. They are general guidance, not coaching for your body: if a movement hurts, stop and get someone qualified to look at it.