Sit ups exercise?!


Question:

Sit ups exercise?

i was wondering most of sites and people say sit ups are bad for your back etc, but i was wondering is it really true becuase over the last 20 years many people, athletes do sit ups, plus some one i know has been doing sit ups and hasnt hurt his back so i was wondering without crunches i should do them aswell, p.s i had a back pain for at 7 months but now the pain is slowly stopping should i do them then?????


Answers:

The crunch movement does put stress on your back, (lower especially) mostly because of the way people do sit ups. They go from floor all the way to their knees and they don't tighten their abs, making their backs compensate for lack of ab control.

Do as many as you feel comfortable with, taking rests in between. Use common sense -if it starts to hurt, stop. You can also try different ways to do ab exercises.
-Lift your feet off ground and put your legs up in the air or bent towards your chest and do sit ups like that.
-Work your lower abs by lowering your legs from straight up in the air (perp to the floor) and lower them to 45 degree angle and back up.
-bicycle crunches.
-sitting tall on stability ball, arms behind head with elbows out and feet flat on floor, lift right leg into chest as you bring left arm into chest (bring them together, doing an opposite arm/leg crunch while sitting). Repeat opposite arm/leg.

Remember whatever you do pull in your abs to your spine, and hold them there the whole time. If you aren't engaging your abs, your back will compensate and will start to hurt.

And because you are working your torso, you also need a strong back to support it. Lay face down on ground. Pull arms back to your butt while lifting your chest. Don't raise too much off the ground-just 6inches or so. Hold and release. Repeat aa few times. Also you can also lift right arm with left leg. Or do superman on ground or on stability ball.

And remember to stretch after a tough ab workout. Lay on ground face down, arms by your armpit. Press up off ground and do a sort of backbend. Hold a few, and then push your body onto your knees and hold the position like you are praying. Face down near your knees with butt on your heels and arms stretched forward. You can also do a cat stretch -on all fours, curl your spine like a cat would, hold a few, then release.




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