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Exercises

Exercises for upper abs: crunches, weighted sit-ups and rollouts

Published October 29, 2026

Your upper abs are the top half of one muscle, the rectus abdominis, and they work hardest when you curl your ribs down toward your pelvis. The best exercises for them are the crunch, the cable crunch, the machine crunch and the weighted decline sit-up, plus the ab wheel rollout and hollow hold, which train the same muscle to resist arching. Do 10 to 20 hard sets a week over two or three sessions, add weight once you pass about 15 reps, and stop 1 to 2 reps short of failure.

  1. Cable Crunch Abs
  2. Crunch Abs
  3. Machine Crunch Abs
  4. Decline Crunch Abs
  5. Ab Wheel Rollout Abs
  6. Plate Hollow Hold Abs

Crunches and sit-ups

Curling the ribcage toward the hips is the movement that puts the upper abs to work. Start with the floor crunch, then add a plate or a decline bench when 20 reps stop being hard.

Upper abs, spinal flexion

Crunch

Abs

The crunch is the plain version of what the upper abs do: lift your shoulders by curling the ribs down, nothing from the hips. It is the place to learn the movement before you load it.

How to do it

  1. Lie on your back with your knees bent, feet flat, and your arms reaching straight forward at shoulder height.
  2. Breathe out and curl your head and shoulders up until the shoulder blades clear the mat, sliding your hands toward your knees as your ribs move toward your hips.
  3. Pause for a second when your shoulder blades are just off the floor.
  4. Uncurl slowly until your shoulders touch down, then start the next rep.

Cues

  • Ribs to hips
  • Reach, don't pull
  • Exhale up

Common mistakes

  • Jerking your arms forward to get up: the reach follows the curl, your abs start it.
  • Bouncing off the floor: lower under control so every rep starts from rest.

Swap for: Decline Crunch, Cable Crunch

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Upper abs, reaching crunch

Toe Touch Crunch

Abs

With your legs pointing up, every rep reaches the hands toward the feet, which gives you a clear target and keeps the curl short and strict. Holding a light medicine ball makes it harder.

How to do it

  1. Lie back with your legs straight up and a light ball or nothing in your hands.
  2. Reach your hands up toward your toes by lifting the shoulder blades.
  3. Lower your shoulders with control.

Cues

  • Reach up, not forward
  • Legs still

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the arms to get up: slow the reach.

Swap for: Crunch, Reverse Crunch, Cable Crunch

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Upper abs and hip flexors, loaded sit-up

Plate Sit-Up

Abs

Holding a plate on your chest is the simplest way to add load to a sit-up at home or in the gym. Curl up one vertebra at a time so the abs start the movement before the hips take over.

How to do it

  1. Lie back with your legs straight and your feet hooked under a bench or held by a partner.
  2. Hold a plate in both hands with your arms straight, pointing it up over your chest.
  3. Curl up and sit tall, keeping your arms reaching up.
  4. Roll back down under control.

Cues

  • Curl up
  • Arms straight, plate up
  • Slow descent

Common mistakes

  • Throwing the plate forward to sit up.
  • Dropping back on the way down.

Swap for: Decline Crunch, Machine Crunch

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Upper abs, decline sit-up

Decline Crunch

Abs

The decline bench makes your trunk lift against gravity through a longer range, so even bodyweight reps are hard. Hold a plate once 15 reps are easy.

How to do it

  1. Hook your feet under the pads of a decline bench and lie back with your fingertips lightly behind your head.
  2. Curl up, chin tucked, until your trunk is upright.
  3. Lower slowly, one segment of the back at a time.

Cues

  • Curl up
  • Slow down
  • Plate at chest when easy

Common mistakes

  • Throwing the arms forward to sit up.
  • Dropping back fast and bouncing off the bench.

Swap for: Plate Sit-Up, Cable Crunch

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Cable and machine crunches

Abs grow like any other muscle when you add load in small steps. A cable stack or crunch machine lets you go up 5 lb at a time instead of piling on reps.

Upper abs, loaded crunch

Cable Crunch

Abs

The best gym exercise for the upper abs because the load is easy to raise in small steps and stays on the abs through the whole curl. Keep your hips still and pull your elbows toward your thighs.

How to do it

  1. Attach a rope to a high pulley, turn your back to the stack and hold the ends behind your head.
  2. Step forward so the weight lifts, then brace your hips in place and curl your ribs down toward your pelvis.
  3. Pause when your trunk is fully curled, then let the rope pull you back up slowly.

Cues

  • Ribs to pelvis
  • Hips still
  • Round, don't hinge

Common mistakes

  • Hinging at the hips so the body weight pulls the stack down.
  • Pulling the rope with the arms instead of keeping the hands at the head.

Swap for: Machine Crunch, Decline Crunch

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Upper abs, machine crunch

Machine Crunch

Abs

The pad and handles fix the path, so you can take sets close to failure with no technique to manage. A good choice when you are tired at the end of a session.

How to do it

  1. Set the seat height so the machine's pivot sits near your belly button and your feet hook under the pads or rest on the footplate.
  2. Hold the handles or place your arms on the pads with your elbows pointing forward, and sit tall with your back on the pad.
  3. Breathe out and curl your chest down toward your hips by rounding your spine, keeping your hips on the seat.
  4. Hold the squeeze for a second when your ribs are closest to your pelvis.
  5. Uncurl slowly back to upright and let the weight touch down lightly before the next rep.

Cues

  • Ribs to hips
  • Arms just hold on
  • Slow on the way back

Common mistakes

  • Pulling with your arms: if your shoulders and arms burn first, lower the weight and let your hands rest on the handles.
  • Hinging at the hips instead of curling: keep your lower back on the pad and think about shortening the distance from your ribs to your pelvis.
  • Bouncing the stack between reps: pause briefly at the top so the abs start every rep from a stop.

Swap for: Cable Crunch, Decline Crunch, Crunch

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Rollouts and holds

These train the abs to keep your ribs down while your arms or legs move away from you, which is the same muscle working without bending. They pair well with a crunch in the same session.

Abs, anti-extension

Ab Wheel Rollout

Abs

Rolling out stretches the whole front of the trunk under load while the abs stop your lower back from sagging. Start from your knees and roll only as far as you can come back without arching.

How to do it

  1. Kneel with the wheel under your shoulders and your arms straight.
  2. Brace and roll forward, letting your hips follow, until just before your back starts to sag.
  3. Pull the wheel back to your knees using your abs, not your hips.

Cues

  • Tuck the pelvis
  • Roll only as far as you own
  • Arms straight

Common mistakes

  • Letting the lower back cave at the far end.
  • Sitting the hips back first on the return instead of pulling with the abs.

Swap for: Stability Ball Body Saw, Plank

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Abs, anti-extension on a ball

Stability Ball Body Saw

Abs

A gentler rollout: your forearms stay on the ball while your body rocks forward and back. Good if a full ab wheel rollout is still too far.

How to do it

  1. Kneel behind an exercise ball, put your forearms on it and step back into a plank with straight legs.
  2. Push the ball slightly forward with your forearms, letting your body lengthen.
  3. Pull it back under your shoulders using your abs.
  4. Keep sawing back and forth for the set without letting your hips drop.

Cues

  • Small rolls, flat back
  • Abs pull the ball back
  • Feet wide for balance

Common mistakes

  • Rolling too far and arching: keep the range short until the back stays flat.
  • Pushing the hips up into a pike to bring the ball back: the hips stay in line.

Swap for: Ab Wheel Rollout, Plate Hollow Hold, Plank

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Abs, isometric hold

Plate Hollow Hold

Abs

The hollow position keeps the ribs pulled down toward the pelvis for the whole hold, which is exactly the upper ab job. A light plate held over your chest makes a short hold count.

How to do it

  1. Lie face up holding a light plate with straight arms above your chest.
  2. Press your lower back into the floor.
  3. Lift your shoulders and straight legs, pushing the plate up over your chest.
  4. Hold the shape without letting your back lift.

Cues

  • Back flat
  • Long and tight
  • Breathe shallow

Common mistakes

  • Letting the lower back peel up.
  • Starting with legs too low: raise them to make it easier.

Swap for: Dead Bug, Landmine Hollow Hold

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Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in.

Session 1

At home, new to ab training

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~10 min
  • EquipmentBarbells

You train at home with a mat and maybe one weight plate or a heavy book, and you have not trained your abs regularly before.

Abs recover quickly, so three short sessions of 6 sets, 18 a week, build the habit while keeping each session easy to recover from. Every exercise is easy to scale, so you can stay 2 reps short of failure while you learn them.

Crunch, reach, hold
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Crunch 2 × 12–20 2 1 min
Toe Touch Crunch 2 × 10–15 2 1 min
Plate Hollow HoldSeconds per hold. 2 × 20–40 2 1 min
How to run it
Do it after your main workout or on its own on three non-consecutive days. It takes about 8 minutes.
How to progress
Add 2 reps per set each week. When crunches reach 20, hold a plate on your chest; when the hollow hold reaches 40 seconds, use a heavier plate.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Gym, crunches feel easy

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets20 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentAdjustable Cable, Decline Bench, Ab Wheel

You can already do 20 or more crunches and want visible ab muscle, so you train them in a gym with cables and a decline bench.

Once bodyweight is light, load is what makes the abs grow. Two sessions of 10 sets, about 20 a week, all in the 8 to 15 rep range where a cable or plate keeps them hard.

Loaded crunches and rollouts
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Cable Crunch 4 × 8–15 1 75 s
Decline CrunchHold a plate when 15 is easy. 3 × 8–15 1 75 s
Ab Wheel Rollout 3 × 6–12 2 90 s
How to run it
Add it to the end of two lifting days, for example your upper and lower days, at least 48 hours apart.
How to progress
Double progression: when all cable crunch sets reach 15 at 1 rep in reserve, add one plate on the stack. Add 5 lb to the decline sit-up the same way. Roll the ab wheel a little farther each week before going to full range.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

10 minutes at the end of a full-body workout

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets14 a week
  • Per workout~10 min
  • EquipmentAb Crunch Machine, Barbells, Exercise Ball

You already lift two or three times a week, squats and deadlifts work your trunk, and you only have a few minutes left for abs.

Heavy compound lifts train the abs to brace but rarely to curl, so this adds 7 sets of flexion and anti-extension. A superset of the first two keeps it inside 10 minutes.

Abs finisher
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
A1 Machine Crunch 3 × 10–15 1 1 min
A2 Plate Sit-Up 2 × 10–15 2 1 min
Stability Ball Body Saw 2 × 8–12 2 1 min
How to run it
Do it at the end of two of your full-body sessions. Skip it on a day when your lower back is tired from deadlifts.
How to progress
Add one plate on the machine when all sets reach 15 reps. Add reps to the plate sit-up until 15, then take a heavier plate.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

Is 20 minutes of abs a day enough?

It is more than you need. Two or three sessions of about 10 minutes, with weight on the exercises once they get easy, build the abs better than daily high-rep circuits.

Do ab workouts burn belly fat?

No. Fat over the stomach comes off as your overall body fat goes down, through what you eat and how much you move. Ab training builds the muscle under it, which is what shows once the fat is low enough.

Can I get a six pack in 2 weeks?

Only if you are already lean and the muscle is there. For most people it takes months of fat loss plus loaded ab work; two weeks of training will make the abs stronger but not visibly different.

Can you target the upper abs separately?

Partly. The rectus abdominis is one muscle, but curling the ribs toward the hips, as in a crunch, works the top part harder, and lifting the legs works the bottom part harder.

Why do my upper abs bulge out?

Usually it is not the muscle. What sits behind the abs and the way you stand and breathe, for example with the ribs flared up, can push the upper stomach out. Training the abs to keep the ribs down, as in rollouts and hollow holds, helps you hold a flatter position.