Chest Pad Machine Seated Crunch
In SetGrip: Machine Seated Crunch (Chest Pad)
- Secondary muscles
- Obliques
- Body part
- Core
- Position
- Seated
- Laterality
- Bilateral (both sides together)
- Category
- Strength
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Pushing against a chest pad rather than pulling on handles takes your arms out of the movement, so tired grip or shoulders cannot fake the crunch for you. The weight stack also makes ab progression measurable in a way floor work never is; add a plate only once 15 controlled reps feel easy.
How to do the Chest Pad Machine Seated Crunch
- Adjust the seat height and chest pad position according to your comfort.
- Sit on the machine with your back against the chest pad and your feet flat on the floor.
- Grasp the handles or side bars for stability.
- Engage your abs and slowly lean back, allowing the chest pad to move with you.
- Pause for a moment at the maximum contraction, feeling the tension in your abs.
- Slowly return to the starting position by contracting your abs and pulling yourself back up.
- Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.
Tip: Exhale slowly as you roll out and keep the ribs pulled down toward the pelvis the entire time.
Muscles worked
Primary
Abs · Core
The abs work almost entirely to resist extension, holding the pelvis tucked as the lever gets longer; the tension should be highest at the far point of the rollout, not on the way back.
Secondary
- Obliques
Common mistakes
- Hips sagging at the bottom — if your lower back arches as the wheel rolls out, you have gone past the range your abs can control; shorten the rollout and stop at the point where your hips still stay tucked.
- Hinging at the hips — pushing your backside back toward your heels on the return turns it into a hip hinge; keep the hips locked in line with the torso and pull with the abs.
- Reaching with the arms — leading with the arms turns it into a lat exercise; think of moving the whole body as one rigid plank that happens to lengthen.
- Skipping the posterior tilt — before you roll, squeeze the glutes and tuck the pelvis slightly so the abs are braced before the load arrives.
Where it fits in a workout
Rollouts belong toward the end of a session, after heavy lifts but while you can still brace well. Superset them with hanging knee raises or a plank variation so the core work is done in one block.
How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.
Variations and alternatives
Similar exercises
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.
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More exercises
Sources
- ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
- ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
- ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
- CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)
Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.
Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.