situps

[kaiser1]

hello,

i was wondering if anyone could help me out here. i did marine rotc through highschool in addition to another military program afterschool, and i was in really decent shape after those four years. im in college now and i really wasnt working out much at all. im trying to ease back into the routine, but i have a problem with situps.

considering my inactivity since i stopped, i'm not doing all that bad. it seems like I can do ab crunches for a near infinite amount of time, but i just cant seem to do situps. i can only do 10 or so before it starts to hurt--not back pain or anything, its as if theyre just really weak.

10 situps is nothing, so ive been trying at it several times a day to be able to do more, but its not doing much. could i be doing them wrong somehow, or is there anything i can do to help the process along?

 

[rip]

Perhaps you are doing your crunches wrong. Instead of just lifting your shoulders, make sure you are lifting your shoulder blades off the ground. And, don't use your hands to pull on your head. Also, don't "bounce" off the floor with crunches, do them slower and more pronounced thinking about rolling up your torso with each rep.

Try adding a weight plate to your chest while doing crunches.

Even though you aren't feeling back pain, this can hurt your situp performance... So, try working your lower back some with straight-legged deadlifts or hyperextensions.

-Rip

 

[phaledax]

just adding to rips comments, in that instead of useing a plate, use a dumbell on your chest or behind your head with a pillow between your head and the weight, make sure not to move it around.