How To Do Sit Ups

Sit ups and crunches represent traditional exercises used for training the core muscles and flattening the abdomen. The number of injuries or the inefficiency of the exercises nevertheless indicate that many people don’t know how to do sit ups correctly. Here are some suggestions about how to do sit ups at home or at the gym without any risk and with great effects.

First of all, you need to lie on the floor or on a flat, hard surface and make sure there is no distraction nearby. Once you are in a comfortable position, you should bend your knees, while keeping the feet flat on the ground. The distance between the feet should be the same as that between the knees or between the hips. When you lie down, the muscles relax, you eliminate the tension and there is possible soreness in the tissues. Now, let’s see how to do the sit ups as such.

It is important to pay attention to the position of the hands. If you are a beginner, it is advisable to put the hands behind the head, cushioning it with the fingers laced together. This is a good form of neck protection, because the neck muscle should have no implication in the moves. Don’t pull your neck when you lift. Learning how to do sit ups with the hands by the sides of the body or straight up in the air is a bit more difficult, and not at all a good choice for the early training stages. When the training routine is more advanced you can try this technique, but not before.

Pull the stomach towards the spine to support the lift. Only the shoulder blades should leave the ground but not higher than 8 inches. Make the rise and the fall back very slow. The rising and lowering movement is the basis for the sit ups, and the results are influenced by the speed of the performance. When done correctly, the benefits of such exercises become more than obvious. Now that you know how to do sit ups, let’s see how you can improve them.

Increasing the difficulty level is crucial for efficiency. Use more reps to stimulate the muscle growth. You can alternate crunches and sit ups or combine the sit ups with twisting moves. From beginner to advanced levels, the possibilities are endless.