Here is a little background about myself. 6'0 165 lbs, 25 years old. worked out 4-5 times a wk for 5 yrs up until about septemeber of '05. Most if not all of those workouts were focused on strength training, pretty safe to say there was little to no cardio / abs being done, out of fear of losing weight. my upper body strength has always been above average, but i fear my conditioning has been seriously lacking. I had recently taken a civil service exam for a police dept, and did the requisite push ups w/ zero difficulty. but w/ in 15 seconds was told to proceed to the sit ups where I was required to do 38 sit ups w/ in a minutes time. when i got to about 15-20 my form started to decrease and by 30 i had 15 seconds remaning and could not physically lift my body any longer. after this process I was extremely fatigued & had extreme dry mouth. I have till march 19th to complete the requsite training & would really appreciate any insight as to what could have caused this serious lack of energy / failure on my part. as well as any recomendations based on my weight / age as to what exercises could be done to seriously increase my level of cardio / abdominal endurance. thank you so much in advance
sit ups
- Thread starter Brian927
- Start date
Soldiers in basic training have to pass a PT exam that is probably much like your police one and when they were lagging behind in sit ups they were usually told to do flutter (aka scissor) kicks and run. Im not sure why, but poor sit up performance usually went hand in hand with a slow 2 mile.
As far as taking the test- remember to keep your breathing steady for the entire sit ups. One of the reasons some people do poorly on sit ups is that they start their time breathing too slowly. Also be sure to stretch out your entire body before your test, this includes your abdominals!
Edit- Another thing: Every night before bed practice doing at least 40 perfect form sit ups, doest matter how long it takes. This is very important as if your police PT test is anything like an Army one, they wont count reps that have sloppy form. Until you have a feel for what perfect form feels like, use a mirror or get another person to critique you.
As far as taking the test- remember to keep your breathing steady for the entire sit ups. One of the reasons some people do poorly on sit ups is that they start their time breathing too slowly. Also be sure to stretch out your entire body before your test, this includes your abdominals!
Edit- Another thing: Every night before bed practice doing at least 40 perfect form sit ups, doest matter how long it takes. This is very important as if your police PT test is anything like an Army one, they wont count reps that have sloppy form. Until you have a feel for what perfect form feels like, use a mirror or get another person to critique you.
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If you're training to do a lot of sit ups, why not actually do a lot of sit ups in your training?
Flutter kicks suck. Have a read.
Lower Abdominal Myth
It is widely believe the lower abs are exercised during the leg raise or other hip flexor exercises. It can be misleading to judge the mechanics of an exercise based upon localized muscular fatigue. The primary muscle used in hip flexion is actually the Iliopsoas, one of many hip flexors. The Iliopsoas, indeed, does happen to originate deep below the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominis. During the leg raise the entire abdominal musculature isometrically contracts (contracts with no significant movement) to:
Posture the spine and pelvis
Supports the weight of the lower body so the lumbar spine does not hyperextend excessively
Maintains optimal biomechanics of the Iliopsoas
Hips are kept from prematurely flexing if the lumbar spine and pelvis does not hyperextend excessively
Iliopsoas can contract more forcefully in a relatively slight stretched position
Bent knee (and hip) situps actually place Iliopsoas in a mechanical disadvantage
Counteracts Ilopsoas's pull on spine
Many people with weak abdominal muscles are not able to perform hip flexor exercises without acute lower back pain or discomfort
The combination of the local muscular fatigue, or a burning sensation from the isometrically contracted abdominal muscles, and from the working hip flexors produces fatigue in the pelvis area which we mistakenly interpret as the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominis being exercised. In movements where the Rectus Abdominis does Isotonically contract (contracts with movement), it flexes the spine by contracting the entire muscle from origin to insertion. The spine is not significantly flexed during the leg raise. Incidentally, both the spine and hip flexes during the Sit Up and Hip Raise.
From Fat Loss & Weight Training Myths
Lower Abdominal Myth
It is widely believe the lower abs are exercised during the leg raise or other hip flexor exercises. It can be misleading to judge the mechanics of an exercise based upon localized muscular fatigue. The primary muscle used in hip flexion is actually the Iliopsoas, one of many hip flexors. The Iliopsoas, indeed, does happen to originate deep below the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominis. During the leg raise the entire abdominal musculature isometrically contracts (contracts with no significant movement) to:
Posture the spine and pelvis
Supports the weight of the lower body so the lumbar spine does not hyperextend excessively
Maintains optimal biomechanics of the Iliopsoas
Hips are kept from prematurely flexing if the lumbar spine and pelvis does not hyperextend excessively
Iliopsoas can contract more forcefully in a relatively slight stretched position
Bent knee (and hip) situps actually place Iliopsoas in a mechanical disadvantage
Counteracts Ilopsoas's pull on spine
Many people with weak abdominal muscles are not able to perform hip flexor exercises without acute lower back pain or discomfort
The combination of the local muscular fatigue, or a burning sensation from the isometrically contracted abdominal muscles, and from the working hip flexors produces fatigue in the pelvis area which we mistakenly interpret as the lower portion of the Rectus Abdominis being exercised. In movements where the Rectus Abdominis does Isotonically contract (contracts with movement), it flexes the spine by contracting the entire muscle from origin to insertion. The spine is not significantly flexed during the leg raise. Incidentally, both the spine and hip flexes during the Sit Up and Hip Raise.
From Fat Loss & Weight Training Myths
Aharris how long have you been in the Military? still in it?
Anyway I've been out of the Military for about 10 years now and I am sure the exercises we did during basic training and what they do now, is different.
God I remeber the flutter kicks, mountain climbers, etc.....
I know the Military just hired two men, I forget their names to re-structure the way the Army does their basic training and exercise regime, they come to the conclusion that what they were doing was in-effective for total body work out, which I agree with.
Soldiers are built to be not "strong" but efficient with their energy and manuever easily in combat situations. So they are not looking to "bulk up" hand to hand combat is a thing of the past and rare.
But more fuel efficient and stream line, Bulkier the bigger the target.
and slower in a tight spot IE under a fence, over a fence, low crawl, etc.
I recommend LUNGES and plenty of them.
Hopefully the Army will switch to either crunches or some other form of testing. The Running is fine and the pushup test is fine, but the sit up, is OLD SCHOOL and is a killer on the lower back, needs to be revamped.
I don't miss my army days
Also here is a tibit, the MRE's (meals ready to eat) are engineered to last 1 day, not 1 meal, they have enough calories in them for a full grown man @ 250lbs for a day. They are designed that way for the scouts and pathfinders (special ops) so instead of 12 meals for a 4 day mission, all they need is four meals to stuff in their ruck, and this goes to the principle od 5-6 short meals a day, same thing the way they are designed.
Anyway I've been out of the Military for about 10 years now and I am sure the exercises we did during basic training and what they do now, is different.
God I remeber the flutter kicks, mountain climbers, etc.....
I know the Military just hired two men, I forget their names to re-structure the way the Army does their basic training and exercise regime, they come to the conclusion that what they were doing was in-effective for total body work out, which I agree with.
Soldiers are built to be not "strong" but efficient with their energy and manuever easily in combat situations. So they are not looking to "bulk up" hand to hand combat is a thing of the past and rare.
But more fuel efficient and stream line, Bulkier the bigger the target.
and slower in a tight spot IE under a fence, over a fence, low crawl, etc.I recommend LUNGES and plenty of them.
Hopefully the Army will switch to either crunches or some other form of testing. The Running is fine and the pushup test is fine, but the sit up, is OLD SCHOOL and is a killer on the lower back, needs to be revamped.
I don't miss my army days
Also here is a tibit, the MRE's (meals ready to eat) are engineered to last 1 day, not 1 meal, they have enough calories in them for a full grown man @ 250lbs for a day. They are designed that way for the scouts and pathfinders (special ops) so instead of 12 meals for a 4 day mission, all they need is four meals to stuff in their ruck, and this goes to the principle od 5-6 short meals a day, same thing the way they are designed.
#24 Meatloaf MRE is the bomb!