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Exercises

Gym machine exercises for abs, station by station

Published October 29, 2026

The best gym machine exercises for abs are the ab crunch machine and the cable crunch for the six-pack, the decline bench crunch when both are taken, the captain's chair knee raise and hanging leg raise for the lower abs, and the cable woodchop, Pallof press and landmine twist for the obliques. Pick one crunch, one leg raise and one rotation move, do 3 sets of 8 to 15 reps each, and stop 1 or 2 reps short of failure. Because a weight stack goes up in small steps, add load whenever every set hits the top of the range.

  1. Machine Crunch Abs
  2. Cable Crunch Abs
  3. Captain's Chair Knee Raise Abs
  4. Decline Crunch Abs
  5. Cable Woodchop Abs
  6. Pallof Press Abs
  7. Hanging Leg Raise Abs

Crunch stations: ab machine, cable and decline bench

These three load the same motion, curling your ribs toward your hips, which is the job of the six-pack muscle. The ab crunch machine is the easiest to set up, the cable crunch goes heaviest, and the decline bench is the fallback when the other two are busy. One of them per session is enough.

Abs, seated machine crunch

Machine Crunch

Abs

Set the seat so the pivot lines up with your belly button and the machine draws the arc for you, so you only have to curl. It is the most beginner-proof way to load your abs, and moving the pin one plate at a time makes progress easy to see.

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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Abs, standing cable crunch

Cable Crunch

Abs

A cable stack goes far heavier than most ab machines, so this is where your abs keep progressing once the machine's top plates feel light. Standing with your back to the pulley keeps the setup quick in a busy gym.

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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Abs, decline bench sit-up

Decline Crunch

Abs

Head lower than your hips means you start from a stretch and curl against more of your own weight than on the floor. Hold a weight plate on your chest to load it 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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Captain's chair, hanging bar and cable hip flexion for the lower abs

Raising your legs and curling your pelvis up at the top trains the lower part of the abs harder than a crunch does. The captain's chair supports your back and arms, the hanging bar removes that support, and the low pulley with an ankle strap lets you add weight in plates one leg at a time.

Lower abs, supported knee raise

Captain's Chair Knee Raise

Abs

The back pad stops the swing and the arm rests take your grip out of the set, so even someone who cannot hang from a bar can train the lower abs hard here. It is the best first leg-raise station.

How to do it

  1. Stand on the step, press your back to the pad and set your forearms on the pads.
  2. Lift your knees to hip height or higher and curl your pelvis up off the pad at the top.
  3. Lower your legs slowly until they hang straight.

Cues

  • Pelvis curls
  • Slow lower
  • Back on the pad

Common mistakes

  • Lifting the knees without curling the pelvis, which leaves the abs half used.
  • Swinging the legs up and dropping them.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Reverse Crunch

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Lower abs, hanging knee raise

Hanging Knee Raise

Abs

Hanging removes the back pad, so your abs have to stop your body swinging as well as lift your knees. Use it when the captain's chair is taken or when 15 reps there have stopped feeling hard.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar with straight arms and your legs together.
  2. Draw your knees up toward your chest and curl your pelvis up at the top.
  3. Lower your legs slowly until they hang straight and still.

Cues

  • Curl the pelvis
  • Stop the swing
  • Slow down

Common mistakes

  • Swinging into each rep: pause at the bottom until you are still.
  • Lifting the knees only to hip height, which works the hip flexors more than the abs.

Swap for: Captain's Chair Knee Raise, Reverse Crunch

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Lower abs, straight-leg raise

Hanging Leg Raise

Abs

Straight legs make the lever twice as long as a knee raise, which makes this the hardest leg raise in the gym. Save it for when bent-knee raises with a pelvic curl are easy for 12 or more.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar, legs long and pressed together.
  2. Lift your legs, keeping your knees straight, until your feet reach at least hip height.
  3. Tilt your pelvis up at the top, then lower under control.

Cues

  • Legs locked
  • Pelvis tilts
  • No kip

Common mistakes

  • Bending the knees as you tire: switch to knee raises for the rest of the set.
  • Using a swing to get the legs up.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Lying Knee Raise

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Obliques, hanging side knee raise

Hanging Oblique Crunch

Abs

Bringing your knees toward one shoulder turns the hanging knee raise into an oblique exercise. It adds the side of the waist to a leg-raise station you are already using.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar with straight arms, your shoulders set down and your legs still.
  2. Bend your knees and bring them up and across toward one shoulder.
  3. Squeeze the side of your waist at the top for a second.
  4. Lower with control to a still hang and alternate sides.

Cues

  • Knees to the armpit
  • Shorten one side of the waist
  • Pause before switching

Common mistakes

  • Swinging from side to side: stop the hang before every rep.
  • Raising the knees straight up: aim them clearly to one side.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Windshield Wipers, Russian Twist

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Lower abs and hip flexors, cable knee drive

Standing Cable Hip Flexion

Abs

An ankle strap on a low pulley loads the knee drive with plates, so it can be progressed by weight instead of by harder leg positions. Standing upright, it also trains each side separately.

How to do it

  1. Attach an ankle strap to a low pulley, strap one ankle and face away from the stack.
  2. Hold the frame for balance and stand tall on the other leg.
  3. Drive the strapped knee up toward hip height or above, then lower it slowly.

Cues

  • Tall chest
  • Knee high
  • Control the return

Common mistakes

  • Leaning back to lift the knee higher.
  • Letting the stack yank the leg back.

Swap for: Hanging Knee Raise, Captain's Chair Knee Raise

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Cable and landmine stations for the obliques

Your obliques turn your trunk and stop it turning. The cable woodchop and landmine twist train the turn against load, and the Pallof press trains the stop. A single adjustable cable column covers two of the three.

Obliques, cable rotation

Cable Woodchop

Abs

A cable keeps the same pull through the whole turn, which a dumbbell cannot. Setting the pulley high gives a downward chop, low gives an upward lift, and both progress by the pin.

How to do it

  1. Set a cable high, stand side-on and grip the handle two-handed above the near shoulder.
  2. Chop it on a diagonal to the far hip, turning your chest as your back heel lifts and spins.
  3. Let it return along the same line under control. Finish one side, then switch.

Cues

  • Turn the chest
  • Arms long
  • Pivot the back foot

Common mistakes

  • Pulling with the arms rather than turning the trunk.
  • Going so heavy the stack drags you back on the return.

Swap for: Dumbbell Woodchop, Pallof Press

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Obliques and deep abs, anti-rotation

Pallof Press

Abs

The cable tries to twist you toward the stack while you press the handle straight out and hold it. It trains the obliques in the bracing job they do during squats, deadlifts and carries.

How to do it

  1. Set a cable at chest height, stand side-on to it and grip the handle two-handed at your chest.
  2. Step away until the cable pulls, feet hip-width.
  3. Press the handle straight out, hold for two seconds without turning, then bring it back.

Cues

  • Hands on the midline
  • Don't turn
  • Hold it out

Common mistakes

  • Standing too close, so the cable barely pulls.
  • Letting the arms drift toward the stack.

Swap for: Cable Woodchop, Landmine Twist

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Obliques, landmine rotation

Landmine Twist

Abs

The landmine bar moves in an arc from hip to hip and can carry more weight than a cable rotation. It is the oblique station to move to once the woodchop stack runs out.

How to do it

  1. Hold the end of a landmine bar at chest height with both hands and arms nearly straight.
  2. Turn your trunk and arms to lower the bar toward one hip in an arc.
  3. Bring it back over the middle and down to the other hip.

Cues

  • Arc, don't drop
  • Pivot the feet
  • Brace

Common mistakes

  • Letting the bar fall to the hip and bouncing it back.
  • Adding plates before the arc is smooth.

Swap for: Cable Woodchop, Russian Twist

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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

Your gym has an ab machine and a captain's chair but no free cable

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets18 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentAb Crunch Machine, Dip Bar, Decline Bench

You train at a budget or hotel-style gym with selectorized machines, an ab crunch machine, a captain's chair and a decline bench, and you want a short ab block after your workout.

Three stations for three sets is 9 hard sets per session and 18 a week, enough for the abs to grow without cutting into your main training. Each move has its own lever to make it harder: the pin, the leg position and a plate on the chest.

Ab machines finisher
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Machine Crunch 3 × 10–15 1 75 s
Captain's Chair Knee Raise 3 × 8–15 1 75 s
Decline Crunch 3 × 10–15 1 75 s
How to run it
Do it at the end of two of your regular gym sessions, at least two days apart. Rest 60 to 90 seconds between sets; the whole block takes about 12 minutes.
How to progress
On the machine crunch, add one plate when all three sets reach 15 reps at 1 rep in reserve. On the captain's chair, move from bent knees to straighter legs once 15 is easy. On the decline bench, add a plate on your chest after 15 bodyweight reps.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Loading your abs heavy for more visible definition

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets16 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentAdjustable Cable, Pull-Up Bar, Ab Crunch Machine, Landmine

You already lift four or more days a week, your abs show at lower body fat or you want them to, and you are ready to train them like any other muscle with heavier weights and lower reps.

Heavier crunches in the 8 to 12 range build thickness in the six-pack the same way heavy rows build the back. A two-exercise day and a three-exercise day come to 16 hard ab sets a week, inside the range most muscles grow on.

Day A: Cable crunch and leg raise
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Cable Crunch 4 × 8–12 1 90 s
Hanging Leg Raise 3 × 6–12 1 90 s

Open Day A: Cable crunch and leg raise in the session builder

Day B: Machine crunch and landmine
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Machine Crunch 3 × 8–12 1 90 s
Standing Cable Hip FlexionPer leg. 3 × 8–12 1 1 min
Landmine TwistOne rep is one side. 3 × 8–12 2 90 s

Open Day B: Machine crunch and landmine in the session builder

How to run it
Run Day A and Day B on two separate days, three or more days apart, after your main lifts or on a lighter day. Keep the order: the heaviest crunch first, while you are fresh.
How to progress
Use double progression on the stack: hold the weight until all sets reach 12 reps at 1 rep in reserve, then move the pin one plate. For the hanging leg raise, once 12 reps come easily, add a one-second pause at the top of every rep, then hold a light dumbbell between your feet.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

You play a rotational sport: golf, tennis, baseball or hockey

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets17 a week
  • Per workout~20 min
  • EquipmentAdjustable Cable, Pull-Up Bar, Landmine, Dip Bar

You swing a club, racket, bat or stick and want your gym ab work to train turning hard and stopping the turn, with only enough crunching to cover the front.

Most of the sets here go to the obliques, in both directions, because that is where a swing's turn and its braking come from. Two short sessions give about 11 sets for the obliques and 6 for the front of the abs each week.

Day 1: Chop and hang
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Cable WoodchopPer side. 3 × 8–12 2 1 min
Hanging Oblique CrunchPer side. 3 × 6–10 2 75 s
Cable Crunch 3 × 10–15 1 75 s

Open Day 1: Chop and hang in the session builder

Day 2: Brace and twist
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Pallof PressPer side. Hold each press for 2 seconds. 3 × 8–12 2 1 min
Landmine TwistOne rep is one side. 2 × 8–12 2 90 s
Captain's Chair Knee Raise 3 × 10–15 1 75 s

Open Day 2: Brace and twist in the session builder

How to run it
Do it after your lifting on two days that are not the day before a match or round. In season, cut each exercise to two sets and keep the weights where they are.
How to progress
Add a pin to the woodchop and Pallof press when both sides reach the top of the range at 2 reps in reserve; for the Pallof press, lengthen the hold to 3 seconds before adding weight. Count each side separately and train your weaker side first.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What machines are used for abs?

The seated ab crunch machine, the cable column (for cable crunches, woodchops and the Pallof press), the captain's chair, a pull-up bar for hanging raises, the decline bench and a landmine. Most commercial gyms have at least the first four.

How do you work on abs at a gym?

Pick one crunch station, one leg-raise station and one rotation station, do 3 sets of each at 8 to 15 reps, and add weight when you reach the top of the range. Twice a week after your main workout is enough. Ab definition shows up through overall fat loss from diet and training together; these exercises build the muscle that shows once it does.

Is the ab crunch machine better than floor crunches?

For building muscle, usually yes, because you can add weight in small steps once 15 reps get easy. Floor crunches stop progressing at that point unless you hold a plate, which is what the decline bench version does.

How many sets of ab machine exercises should I do?

About 10 to 18 hard sets a week split over two sessions suits most people; three exercises of three sets each, twice a week, is the top of that. More than that rarely helps unless the abs are your main focus for a training block.

What is the 3-3-3 rule for weight training?

It is usually read as three exercises, three sets, three days a week. For machine ab work, three exercises of three sets fits well, but two days a week is enough since your abs also work during every heavy squat and deadlift.