Will this make sit-ups less effective?

trekkiebeth

My butt is very sore from the exercises I did yesterday. I wanted to try some sit-ups today, but it really hurt my rear. I tried putting a pillow under it, and it helped a lot. I've never heard of anyone doing this before, and I'm concerned that it might make the sit-ups less effective somehow. What do you think?

an_field

Hey, I often have the same problem!
I would first of all suggest getting an exercise mat, you can buy them fairly cheaply from places. If you don't want to do this and save a few pennies, then depending on how big the pillow is will depend on how much it's alterating the effectiveness of the situps.
Another exercise you can do, which works the bottom part of your stomach (which is often the problem area) is to lie on your back preferably near a sofa or bed, have your legs raised at a 90' angle to your body but knees bent and then just gentle bring your legs towards your head and then back away from your body, so you're basically rocking backwards and forwards with your legs. You can use a pillow for this excercise and it won't impair any results!
Hope this helps and you understand what I'm on about!!

Good luck with it all and just keep at it!

babyloncrow

I've actually heard on exercise videos on the net, and on television say TO use a pillow if the sit up hurts your rear. So I highly doubt it will make your workout less effective. But then again, I've also heard that doing crunches are more effective than sit-ups as well.

I had to use a pillow when I first started doing sit ups. But it got in my way too much, so I stopped using it, and within a day or so of doing sit-ups my butt didn't hurt so much anymore.

trekkiebeth

Yeah, I guess it's safe to assume that if I keep it up it will stop hurting eventually. Thanks!