For your abs

Decline Sit-Up vs Machine Crunch

For your abs, machine crunch rates well ahead on our research criteria: more of the work on the abs, easier to progress.

Both are good choices that train the abs the same way, so they swap freely. Rotating between them every few weeks is an easy way to vary your training.

Research score

Target tension

Strong

Excellent

Loaded stretch

Good

Progression

Strong

Excellent

Low cost

Strong

Excellent

See the full abs ranking

What these mean

Target tension.: Whether the muscle you’re training is what gives out first, not your grip, balance or other muscles.
Loaded stretch.: How hard the muscle works while stretched. Training it there is linked to more growth.
Progression.: How easily you can keep adding weight in small steps over months and years.
Low cost.: How easy it is on your joints and recovery, and how quickly you can learn it.

The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work

When each one fits

Good reasons to choose decline sit-up

You train at home

Good reasons to choose machine crunch

You want the abs to do the work, not other muscles
You want to keep adding weight in small steps
You want something easier on your joints

Decline Sit-Up

Machine Crunch

You need

Bench

Machine

Skill

Easy to learn

Type

Isolation

Why they rank where they do

Machine Crunch. Loaded spinal flexion on a fixed path, easy to progress like any other machine.

Questions

Which is better for your abs, decline sit-up or machine crunch?

For your abs, machine crunch rates well ahead on our research criteria: more of the work on the abs, easier to progress. Both are good choices that train the abs the same way, so they swap freely. Rotating between them every few weeks is an easy way to vary your training.

Is decline sit-up or machine crunch easier to learn?

About the same: both are easy to learn.

Can you do decline sit-up or machine crunch at home?

Decline sit-up needs a bench, so a home gym covers it. Machine crunch needs a machine, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.

Which is easier on the joints, decline sit-up or machine crunch?

Machine crunch: it rates Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric, against Strong for decline sit-up.

More comparisons

Decline Sit-Up Machine Crunch All abs exercises

Decline Sit-Up vs Machine Crunch

For your abs, machine crunch rates well ahead on our research criteria: more of the work on the abs, easier to progress.

Both are good choices that train the abs the same way, so they swap freely. Rotating between them every few weeks is an easy way to vary your training.

What these mean

Target tension.: Whether the muscle you’re training is what gives out first, not your grip, balance or other muscles.
Loaded stretch.: How hard the muscle works while stretched. Training it there is linked to more growth.
Progression.: How easily you can keep adding weight in small steps over months and years.
Low cost.: How easy it is on your joints and recovery, and how quickly you can learn it.

The research score comes from these, scored by hand from the studies. Lifter scores appear once an exercise has 10 ratings. How scores work

When each one fits

Good reasons to choose decline sit-up

You train at home

Good reasons to choose machine crunch

You want the abs to do the work, not other muscles
You want to keep adding weight in small steps
You want something easier on your joints

Decline Sit-Up

Machine Crunch

You need

Bench

Machine

Skill

Easy to learn

Type

Isolation

Why they rank where they do

Machine Crunch. Loaded spinal flexion on a fixed path, easy to progress like any other machine.

Questions

Which is better for your abs, decline sit-up or machine crunch?

Is decline sit-up or machine crunch easier to learn?

About the same: both are easy to learn.

Can you do decline sit-up or machine crunch at home?

Decline sit-up needs a bench, so a home gym covers it. Machine crunch needs a machine, so for most people it’s a gym exercise.

Which is easier on the joints, decline sit-up or machine crunch?

Machine crunch: it rates Excellent for joint and recovery cost in our research rubric, against Strong for decline sit-up.