Stop Doing Sit-Ups!

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Replies

  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,114 Member
    No problem. The truth is that abs only need very small movements while being trained. While sitting in a chair, arch your back and stick your chest out a little. Now round your back and face your chest towards the top of your thighs. This is the entire ROM (range of motion) for the abs that we consider the "6 pack". This same motion, while under tension, trains most of your abdominal muscles. The tension comes from gravity and weights if your on your back, or cables if your on your knees. Trying to use too big on an ROM is when you get into trouble and start twisting up your back. Just squeeze, then release.

    That is CRAZY! I never knew that would have any effect! I just did it for two minutes and felt a burn after about 20-30 seconds!

    Yup. Now just lay on the ground with a rolled up towel under your lower back and do the exact same thing. All you have to do is raise your shoulders about 3 inches off the ground and squeeze. Another way of thinking about it is that a string is tied to your chin and someone is standing above you pulling the string. Raise your chin just a few inches, using your abs to do the lifting, then smoothly release back down. That's an old trick people use to keep from kinking your neck towards your pelvis.

    Great way to describe a proper way to do a crunch. I rarely work my abs because I don't know the proper form and my neck always ends up hurting.

    Question. What do you think of the machine that supports your neck while doing crunches at the gym? I hear it's useless, but it was the only way I enjoyed doing crunches. Now I just get on the contraption where you hold on to the handles, then hang and pull your legs up... :ohwell:
  • TateFTW
    TateFTW Posts: 658 Member
    If you're talking about the litte tubey thing wtih the pad for your head, it's not a bad thing, but people tend to use their arms to "pull" their head up, which is a HUGE no-no and does absolutely nothing for your abs. If, instead, you sort of "lock" your arms, chest, and head in place and use the squeezing of your abs to roll the machine up, then it works alright.

    In the same way, using ab straps and lifting your legs can be good or bad. If you simply lift your legs, then your abs aren't doing anything. Your hip flexors are doing all the work. However, if you squeeze your abs and bring you hips up towards your chest as you raise your legs, you'll hit your abs. Note; The correct version is MUCH harder, which is probably why most people don't do it.

    In my opinion, doing crunches while holding a weight above your chest and doing leg lifts where you lift your butt off the ground at the top are just about the best ab exercises around, and give you the smallest margin for error. With many "ab" exericises you can get away with not using your abs at all and still have it "look" correct.

    What most people don't realize is that your abdominals are "fast twitch" muscles. These types of muscles need heavy resistance and lower reps to respond and grow stronger. Instead people use no resistance other then bodyweight and do high reps, then wonder why their abs don't seem to change.

    One more thing; You will never see your abs if they are covered in fat, and you can't lose fat from just one place. In the same vein, you can NEVER do a single ab exercise and you'll still have a 6 pack if you don't have any fat on your body, but you'll be weak and injury prone as well without a strong core.
  • spicy618
    spicy618 Posts: 2,114 Member
    If you're talking about the litte tubey thing wtih the pad for your head, it's not a bad thing, but people tend to use their arms to "pull" their head up, which is a HUGE no-no and does absolutely nothing for your abs. If, instead, you sort of "lock" your arms, chest, and head in place and use the squeezing of your abs to roll the machine up, then it works alright.

    In the same way, using ab straps and lifting your legs can be good or bad. If you simply lift your legs, then your abs aren't doing anything. Your hip flexors are doing all the work. However, if you squeeze your abs and bring you hips up towards your chest as you raise your legs, you'll hit your abs. Note; The correct version is MUCH harder, which is probably why most people don't do it.

    In my opinion, doing crunches while holding a weight above your chest and doing leg lifts where you lift your butt off the ground at the top are just about the best ab exercises around, and give you the smallest margin for error. With many "ab" exericises you can get away with not using your abs at all and still have it "look" correct.

    What most people don't realize is that your abdominals are "fast twitch" muscles. These types of muscles need heavy resistance and lower reps to respond and grow stronger. Instead people use no resistance other then bodyweight and do high reps, then wonder why their abs don't seem to change.

    One more thing; You will never see your abs if they are covered in fat, and you can't lose fat from just one place. In the same vein, you can NEVER do a single ab exercise and you'll still have a 6 pack if you don't have any fat on your body, but you'll be weak and injury prone as well without a strong core.


    Thank so much for taking the time to descibe it to me. I've been doing it all wrong :grumble: .

    I'm definately never gonna see a sixpack... i love chocolate too much :laugh: But I do want to strengthen my abs and back. Don't want to hurt my back because I barely work those muscles.

    I will practice those 2 exercises you described. I'm pretty good with the leglifts (making sure I raise my booty off the ground). I just never do them :embarassed: The crunch with the weight on my chest, sounds a little too much for me , but I will go hide in the corner of the gym and give it a try... I'm doing them on a ball. is that correct? Thanks again.
  • Incisive
    Incisive Posts: 9 Member
    I sure don't know why all the chiropractors are pointing to the studies like those done at the University of Waterloo on the spine and how situps exert more than the recommended newtons of force on your back. It just makes no sense since Tony can't find anything. Weird right? All those chiropractors and none of them know **** about back strain and what can cause it. Weird.

    It all boils down to all chiro's not wanting people to strain their back. Goody, great, but in reality, we have been bending our backs for oh... what... about 100 million years now? The people who hurt themselves are the same ones who are not doing the crunch properly. Anyone who complains of their neck hurting should NOT be yanking their neck up to pull up the rest of their torso, they should be looking up at the ceiling and using their abs to pull up with... and take the hands off the back of their necks altogether and spread your arms away from your body.

    My chiropractor says crunches are great for you as long as you are not going so far as to reverse bend the small in your back. You have a natural arch in your upper back that will support a crunch perfectly and hence is a great exercise. I only ever had to see my chiro BECAUSE of full situps in the first place because of how hard they are on your sacroiliac against the floor. Since then my crunches don't hurt me at all once I began doing them correctly.
  • Roobean33
    Roobean33 Posts: 104
    Butt lifts are awesome for the core too, I find.
  • TateFTW
    TateFTW Posts: 658 Member
    If you're talking about the litte tubey thing wtih the pad for your head, it's not a bad thing, but people tend to use their arms to "pull" their head up, which is a HUGE no-no and does absolutely nothing for your abs. If, instead, you sort of "lock" your arms, chest, and head in place and use the squeezing of your abs to roll the machine up, then it works alright.

    In the same way, using ab straps and lifting your legs can be good or bad. If you simply lift your legs, then your abs aren't doing anything. Your hip flexors are doing all the work. However, if you squeeze your abs and bring you hips up towards your chest as you raise your legs, you'll hit your abs. Note; The correct version is MUCH harder, which is probably why most people don't do it.

    In my opinion, doing crunches while holding a weight above your chest and doing leg lifts where you lift your butt off the ground at the top are just about the best ab exercises around, and give you the smallest margin for error. With many "ab" exericises you can get away with not using your abs at all and still have it "look" correct.

    What most people don't realize is that your abdominals are "fast twitch" muscles. These types of muscles need heavy resistance and lower reps to respond and grow stronger. Instead people use no resistance other then bodyweight and do high reps, then wonder why their abs don't seem to change.

    One more thing; You will never see your abs if they are covered in fat, and you can't lose fat from just one place. In the same vein, you can NEVER do a single ab exercise and you'll still have a 6 pack if you don't have any fat on your body, but you'll be weak and injury prone as well without a strong core.


    Thank so much for taking the time to descibe it to me. I've been doing it all wrong :grumble: .

    I'm definately never gonna see a sixpack... i love chocolate too much :laugh: But I do want to strengthen my abs and back. Don't want to hurt my back because I barely work those muscles.

    I will practice those 2 exercises you described. I'm pretty good with the leglifts (making sure I raise my booty off the ground). I just never do them :embarassed: The crunch with the weight on my chest, sounds a little too much for me , but I will go hide in the corner of the gym and give it a try... I'm doing them on a ball. is that correct? Thanks again.

    The key to strengthening any muscle is progression. So start by simply holding a 2.5 lb plate in your hands wtih your arms straight above your chest. You can use a ball if you want, but a rolled up towel or sideways bench will keep you from falling over (The idea of having to balance yourself being helpful to your exercise is complete and utter bunk. All it does is keep you from using adequate resistance to stimulate the muscle because you're more worried about falling over.) Then in your next session use a 5 lb plate, then a 7lb dumbell in your next session, so on and so forth. This increasing resistance is what forces your muscles to get stronger.

    Btw, when you do the crunch, simply squeeze your abs and feel like you're trying to touch the ceiling with the weights in your hands. Same idea as the string to the chin, and far more effective then holding the weight on your chest.
  • deagn5
    deagn5 Posts: 19 Member
    thaanks for making me laugh, i was having a bad day!
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