How to Perform a Sit-Up

The sit-up is a convenient exercise that tones and develops your abdominal muscles. The muscles that are utilized during this exercise include the transverse and rectus abdominus muscles, the hip flexors, and the rectus femoris (a muscle of the quadriceps). Defining the rectus abdominus muscle group is what largely contributes to the much desired "six pack abs,” but one must keep in mind that simply performing sit-ups will not result in a six pack. There are a lot of other factors at play when it comes to achieving visible abs. That said, sit-ups are a great exercise for developing core strength.

Everyone has done a sit-up at some point in their lives. Most people regularly incorporate sit-ups or crunches into their workout routine. But, have you ever actually been taught how to do a sit-up correctly? Form is very important when performing this exercise. If you do not have proper form, you could be working muscles that you don’t intend to use. For example, your back muscles could easily take over the whole exercise without you even realizing it. This is not a good thing as we do not want to injure our back unintentionally.

Here is a step-by-step guide to performing a correct sit-up:

1)  Lay down on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Place your feet heels about 1-1.5 feet in front of your tailbone. Place your hands behind your head or cross them over your chest.

2)  As you start the movement, make sure to squeeze your shoulder blades together. As you raise your torso up using your abdomen, make sure your neck is relaxed. Exhale as you raise yourself up. Tilt your chin slightly so that your neck and head are in line with your spine. Make sure to focus on tightening the abdomen (it may help to squeeze your pee muscles as you raise your torso upwards towards your knees).

3) Throughout the entire exercise, make sure to keep the bottom of your feet, your lower back and your tailbone flat against the floor.  The bottom of your shoulder blades should rise off the floor at the top of the movement. Pause for a count of two at this point.

4) As you start moving back down towards the floor, exhale first, and then slowly and with control, lower your torso until your upper back is in contact with the floor. At this point of the exercise, your abdomen should still be contracted – your abdomen should be tight throughout the entire movement.

5) Repeat until you feel a burning sensation in your abdominal muscles. Note: you should feel no pain in your back.

Now you have completed a proper sit-up!

Image Source: bcliving