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What's the Perfect Sit-Up Form?


Quick Start Test Smith
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Quick Start Test Smith

It seems like everyone has a different way of doing sit-ups... what's the proper form?

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Just don't do them. They aren't necessary and there are better options. :P

lol, sorry I don't know the answer to your question. Like you I've heard of different ways to do them.

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Quick Start Test Smith

Hmm. What do you recommend instead? I remember Sliz mentioning doing sets of 10-20 weighted sit ups to great effect... they're a standard in a lot of great martial artists training routine and I think they may be a good way for me to eventually get to body levers.

Edit: By the way, I mean decline sit ups, not regular sit ups. Sorry, forgot to mention that.

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personally i think as long as your back is straight, and you are using your abs, you are good to go. I have seen people with their hands behind their heads and they are basically pushing on the back of their head to get more reps. Although i don't think that really helps get more reps, i would not recommend that. Straight back and arms lightly over chest should be a good enough form

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Replace situps with one or more of:


  • [*:3vaop91o]Reverse crunches
    [*:3vaop91o]Hand walkouts (or ab wheel rollouts if you have a wheel)
    [*:3vaop91o]Planks
    [*:3vaop91o]V-ups
    [*:3vaop91o]Leg raises (lying or hanging)

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Quick Start Test Smith

Hmm... you're probably right. I will start doing ab wheel roll outs and decline lying leg raises (I can't do full hanging with good form, so I figure that if I do a lying one on a decline with ankle weights I can progress into full HLL).

What's a good rep/set scheme for this kind of trunk training? I was thinking of 6x4 or 5x5, but perhaps it should be higher rep?

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For hanging leg lifts, what has helped me immeasurably is to do them with bent legs, to quite a tight tuck. Then at the top extend the legs fully and lower down under control. This is essentially deleveraging on the concentric contraction, and then fully leveraging the negative. This way, the form doesn't suffer, and I can maintain a slow pace with full range of motion. I also prefer to do them on stall bars if available to ensure that I can't swing.

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I don't think the sit-ups are a bad exercise. I used them a lot in the past. There is a pilates exercise that is really good for spine awareness and posture, and that lead to do a perfect sit-up.

Lay on your back. Lift your head and try to reach forward towards your feet. Then, keep lifting by curving your spine, vertebrae after vertebrae. Contract your abs to do that. You really have to try to feel each vertebrae leaving the floor. Lift until you did a sit-up. On the way back, do the same thing. Go down slowly, and try to touch the ground with each vertebrae, one after an other.

If you do your sit-ups like that, you can be sure they'll be top quality sit-ups, and if you perfectly drill the motion, you can do lots of reps, use lots of weight, or have your stomach crushed by lots of weight (if you're a martial artist, doing that help you to take hits in the stomach without losing your breath. If you're a hand balancer, an acrobat or a gymnast, it teach you to keep your stomach tight while still being able to breathe). I used to do that as a martial arts training. I had to hold a flat back position (you know, when you lean on the ground on your back, you tighten your abs, tilt your pelvis, lightly lift your shoulders and heels, and flatten your lower back? In French, this position is called "gainage", but I'm not sure for the English name. If someone could tell me the proper name for that position, I'd be really grateful), have someone heavy standing on my stomach, do crunches, and keep breathing. That helped me a lot to receive punches and kicks in the stomach. Helped building tension while being able to control my breath. Anyways. Sit-ups aren't a bad exercise either.

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Quick Start Test Smith
For hanging leg lifts, what has helped me immeasurably is to do them with bent legs, to quite a tight tuck. Then at the top extend the legs fully and lower down under control. This is essentially deleveraging on the concentric contraction, and then fully leveraging the negative. This way, the form doesn't suffer, and I can maintain a slow pace with full range of motion. I also prefer to do them on stall bars if available to ensure that I can't swing.

THANKS! That is a really good idea.

I don't think the sit-ups are a bad exercise. I used them a lot in the past. There is a pilates exercise that is really good for spine awareness and posture, and that lead to do a perfect sit-up.

Lay on your back. Lift your head and try to reach forward towards your feet. Then, keep lifting by curving your spine, vertebrae after vertebrae. Contract your abs to do that. You really have to try to feel each vertebrae leaving the floor. Lift until you did a sit-up. On the way back, do the same thing. Go down slowly, and try to touch the ground with each vertebrae, one after an other.

If you do your sit-ups like that, you can be sure they'll be top quality sit-ups, and if you perfectly drill the motion, you can do lots of reps, use lots of weight, or have your stomach crushed by lots of weight (if you're a martial artist, doing that help you to take hits in the stomach without losing your breath. If you're a hand balancer, an acrobat or a gymnast, it teach you to keep your stomach tight while still being able to breathe). I used to do that as a martial arts training. I had to hold a flat back position (you know, when you lean on the ground on your back, you tighten your abs, tilt your pelvis, lightly lift your shoulders and heels, and flatten your lower back? In French, this position is called "gainage", but I'm not sure for the English name. If someone could tell me the proper name for that position, I'd be really grateful), have someone heavy standing on my stomach, do crunches, and keep breathing. That helped me a lot to receive punches and kicks in the stomach. Helped building tension while being able to control my breath. Anyways. Sit-ups aren't a bad exercise either.

Thanks for the description. I will try to practice that!

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I also found an awesome exercise for core tension, even harder than the ab roller, which isn't even that hard when I think of it.

Find a swing in a park. Yep. A swing for kids. It's height should be about of your arm length, from wrist to chest. So, upper arm plus forearm length. Put your ankles on it, and go in a perfectly straight push-up position. Open your shoulders and push the swing back, until your body get perfectly straight. You can keep a very light angle in your shoulders to protect your joint. Like on the ab roller, don't allow your lower back to arch. If it does, it's because your abs give up, and it means they're too weak for what you're doing, or you didn't apply proper tension in them.

Once you're extended, keep the same shoulder angle, don't go back in a push-ups position, but pike and bring your hips over your head. Pull the swing towards your elbows with your ankles, and use your abs to pull. The position is a bit similar to a pike press to handstand, but the shoulders don't have to move forward, cause you're using your abs to pull on the swing. Then, extend your body again, and repeat.

If you want to make this easier, put your hands closer to the swing. If you want to make it harder, put your hands away from the swing, or said differently, walk away from the swing in push-ups position. The swing will pull you back, and that will make the exercise much, much harder.

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