Incline and decline ab exercises are performed on a slant board or incline bench. Sometimes, the terms can be confusing because incline and decline are often used interchangeably for ab exercises, which is generally not true with exercises for other muscles groups. Start with as little as five to 10 reps and work up three sets of 12 to 20 reps.
Incline Crunch/Sit Up
The incline sit up or crunch is done with your head at the bottom of a slanted or inclined bench and your feet hooked into the foot brace. Because you are lying on an incline bench, this exercise is usually called an incline crunch. However, since your head is higher than your hips, you may hear some refer to this as a decline crunch, as well. The exercise is done by lying on your back. You will bend at the waist and raise your upper body off of the bench and toward your knees. You may lift only your head and shoulders off of the bench to do a crunch or raise your entire back off of the bench for a full sit up. The exercise is completed when you lie back on the bench. The arms are typically crossed on your chest. You can increase the difficulty of the exercise by holding an exercise plate against your chest to do weighted incline sit ups.
Decline Reverse Crunch
The decline reverse crunch is done the opposite way of the incline crunch. This exercise is sometimes referred to as an incline reverse crunch. The exercise is also done lying on an inclined bench, but the head is at the top of the bench. The hands hold the foot brace and the feet begin on the floor. Instead of raising the upper body, the legs are lifted toward the chest and extended straight toward the ceiling. The legs begin bent when the feet are on the floor, but they should be straightened as they reach toward the ceiling. The hips will come off of the bench and raise up following the legs. The pelvis will be lowered back to the bench and the feet to the floor to complete one rep. It is possible to keep the knees bent throughout the exercise to make it easier.
Rotation
Rotation can be added to either the crunch or reverse crunch to further target the oblique abdominal muscles. These muscles are along the sides of the stomach. You can twist your shoulders in each direction at the top of the crunch or sit up to add rotation to that exercise. For the reverse crunches, you would keep your knees bent and alternate raising your hips toward each of your shoulders. Instead of bringing your knees toward your chest and then extending them to the ceiling, you just keep them bent and twist your hips to pull the knees in to one side at a time.
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