Janda Situps

I was curious as to what you guys think

of these devils and whether or not I should

incorporate them into my core workout.

I heard that you have to buy one of Pavel's

gizmos "The Pavelizer" in order to do it without

a partner, is that true?

Also, Pavel says that even gymnasts have a hard

time doing a couple of reps. Is that true as well?

Hi kombatmaster7,

If I recall, the Janda sit-up isolates the abs taking the hip-flexors out of the equation? If that is the case, then I have two questions for you:

1) How many movements in gymnastics require you to use your abs without your hip flexors?

2) If gymnasts are unable to do them, would you say that gymnasts need to be able to do them?

In my opinion this kind of isolation training is not a good idea, either for gymnastic training or any kind of functional strength. They may be great for bodybuilding and getting ravioli abs, but I would worry a lot about creating problems with firing patterns and strength imbalances - lets face it, a lot of people starting out with gymnastic conditioning seem to have much weaker hip flexors than abs already!!!

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I don't have all the facts. I like most of Pavel's stuff, but these always seemed ...wrong.

Just my thoughts,

George.

Janda sit-ups - Get into a normal sit-up position with the knees bent at a right angle. Secure something under your knees (I use a doorframe pull-up bar) or else have a partner put their hands under your knees and pull. Now drive your feet into the ground and pull your calves back against whatever's under your knees. Hold this tension throughout the exercise. Now perform a sit-up. It should be much harder than a regular sit-up; if it's not, you're not tensing hard enough. This exercise works by eliminating the hip flexors from the sit-up movement by tensing its antagonists - the hamstrings and glutes. This means the rectus abdominis must do all the work. You can work the obliques more by putting more pressure on one foot than the other.

Source:

http://www.fightingarts.com/ubbthreads/ ... r=15833023

Personally I do not like the idea of buying a piece of equipment for a single exercise... and there are tons of exercises that require little to no weight that can punish your core.

Like this one:

I prefer for my gymnasts to perform whole body and multi-plane movements whenever and wherever possible in their conditioning; in the long run this approach is simply more effective for OUR training needs. Remember that athletically the body functions as a unit; compare the difference in intensity, and the subsequent performance benefits, between an exercise that attempts to isolate the upper abs only (i.e. Jandas) and a full body core variation like the Crank.

Perhaps the foundational difference between the two approaches is best explained as bodybuilding is primarily designed to give the appearance of being athletic, whether or not their athletic ability actually increases is usually completely secondary to a bodybuilder; while necessity requires gymnasts to be able to progress through an extremely challenging series of exercise variations. Their outstanding physiques are simply a by-product of a highly effective training system.

Gymnasts have no problem performing Janda situps.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Thanks for the reply guys and Coach Sommer.

I was reading Pavel's Bullet Proof Abs and he makes

Janda Sit ups sound extremely hard. Pavel is big on

building strength (5 or less reps with high tension and low velocity)

so I figured that these Janda Situps of his were mainly

to build amazing abdominal strength.

I was considering buying his Pavelizer II for $150 :shock:

because he made it sound like the Janda situp was a great exercise

in his book.

My goal is better core strength, but I was thinking that I should

buy rings instead?

I'm trying to build amazing core strength with these

Janda situps. Is it worth it or should I stick to

gymnastic exercises?

I think you don't need the Paveliser. It costs too much and you can you

use it for just one exercise. The rings are less than half the price and you can do much more on them.

If you want to try Jandas just use that trick:

1.find two chairs (same height)

2. place them shoulder width apart

3. put a stick on them

Now you have a Paveliser.

I saw this trick in one of Ross Enamait's books.

maybe i'm weird, but i find janda sit ups very easy..

Thanks for the input guys.

I decided not to buy the Pavelizer and put my money

towards rings from this site as well as the book when it

comes out.

Best Regards,

-kombat

I think that's a very wise choice. Rings you can hit every part of the body, upper, middle and yes lower (L-sits, power splits, and other such things).

Ed

I would love to try Janda sit ups, I have to find a video or diagram how to ghetto rig something so I can try them out. And rings was defiantly a better choice, but you have to put work into them.