Cable Side Crunch

How to do the Cable Side Crunch

1. 1Attach a cable handle to a low pulley and stand sideways to the machine.
2. 2Grasp the handle with the hand furthest from the machine and place your other hand on your hip.
3. 3Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and your knees slightly bent.
4. 4With your abs engaged, bend sideways at the waist, bringing your elbow down towards your hip.
5. 5Pause for a moment at the bottom, then slowly return to the starting position.
6. 6Repeat for the desired number of repetitions, then switch sides.

Tip: Breathe out as you crunch and let the last bit of air leave the lungs at the top of each rep.

Muscles worked

Common mistakes

• Pulling on the neck — hands behind the head should support, not yank; keep the elbows wide and the chin about a fist away from the chest.
• Sitting all the way up — a crunch is a curl of the ribs toward the pelvis, not a sit-up; the lower back should stay on the floor the whole time.
• Cranking out fast reps — momentum does the work if you bounce; lift to a squeeze, hold for a count and lower slowly.
• Never adding load — once bodyweight reps get easy, hold a plate on the chest or use a cable rather than doing sets of 50.

Where it fits in a workout

Crunches close out a session after the heavy work, or they can fill the rest periods between sets of a lift that does not need much bracing. Pair a cable crunch with a cable side bend on the same stack.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

When to talk to someone

• Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
• Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
• Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

More exercises

• All core exercises
• All cable exercises
• Cable core exercises
• Banded Bicycle Crunch
• Banded Standing Crunch
• Banded Standing Oblique Crunch
• Banded V-Up
• Alternating Banded V-Up
• Butterfly Reverse Crunch

Sources

1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.