doing sit-ups without feet stabilized?

[HardwoodLegend]

I've never been able to do full sit-ups without having something to weigh my feet down to the ground, yet I see others doing them without the support all the time.

Why is it that I can't? Is it because my upper body is disproportionately heavy which causes the legs to rise? Or am I missing some type of muscle strength somewhere?

[Velocirap31]

Bend you knees and raise them above you. It doesn't make crunches much easier. I know what you mean though, my feet have never stayed planted either and it might be from having a heavier upper body I guess.

[ILLsmak]

I've never been able to do full sit-ups without having something to weigh my feet down to the ground, yet I see others doing them without the support all the time.

Why is it that I can't? Is it because my upper body is disproportionately heavy which causes the legs to rise? Or am I missing some type of muscle strength somewhere?

get a ball son.

-Smak

[Mach_3]

bend your knees more and bring them closer to your butt when your doing situps should help. If that doesn't perhaps your going to far up on the situp?

[NotYetGreat]

This isn't going to lend itself to high volume which is what you guys usually do for core movements, but flexing your glutes and pushing down on the floor with your feet should help. There is stability in tension. If it helps but you still inch off the floor a bit, you could add keeping a basketball in between your feet and butt. I haven't tried it but it sounds like it could work.

[gigantes]

situps are pretty hard on the back from what i understand and IME. although you may have to be a little bit older before you notice any actual discomfort.

a replacement ab-cruncher is to stay in that same position on your back and just lift your legs (fully extended) from the floor, straight up, making an L shape. then bring them down again. do it all smoothly and not too fast. it may not be as intense as situps, but it will save your lower back, like i say. you could probably also add leg-weights or something to make the abs work harder.

[rezznor]

I've never been able to do full sit-ups without having something to weigh my feet down to the ground, yet I see others doing them without the support all the time.

Why is it that I can't? Is it because my upper body is disproportionately heavy which causes the legs to rise? Or am I missing some type of muscle strength somewhere?
you got weak abs man. if you cant do it without someone holding your feet, try doing it with your legs crossed, even harder. just keep at it though

[ace23]

you got weak abs man.
this

[KevinNYC]

I've never been able to do full sit-ups without having something to weigh my feet down to the ground, yet I see others doing them without the support all the time.

Why is it that I can't? Is it because my upper body is disproportionately heavy which causes the legs to rise? Or am I missing some type of muscle strength somewhere?

You probably need to engage your legs more. However, I would look up alternatives to crunches.

Here's a video of me that might help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w-uD-uPCBQ

[HardwoodLegend]

situps are pretty hard on the back from what i understand and IME. although you may have to be a little bit older before you notice any actual discomfort.

a replacement ab-cruncher is to stay in that same position on your back and just lift your legs (fully extended) from the floor, straight up, making an L shape. then bring them down again. do it all smoothly and not too fast. it may not be as intense as situps, but it will save your lower back, like i say. you could probably also add leg-weights or something to make the abs work harder.

It's only hard on the back if the back is weak and in need of strengthening, right?

The fact that sit-ups recruit more muscles in the core is what makes me like them. The more you do them when you have a healthy back, won't that just further strengthen your back?

[HardwoodLegend]

you got weak abs man. if you cant do it without someone holding your feet, try doing it with your legs crossed, even harder. just keep at it though

Yeah, they are a bit lagging in strength. Which is strange because I have such good definition in my abs. I've done a variety of different ab exercises that has chiseled them out but never really focused on building more and more core strength.

All cosmetic, almost no function lol

[bmulls]

It's because you have a heavy upper body. I have the same problem. When your back comes off the floor there's a moment where you are basically see-sawing on your butt. If you are carrying any appreciable amount of muscle your torso is going to weigh more than your legs and you'll fall back.

[HardwoodLegend]

It's because you have a heavy upper body. I have the same problem. When your back comes off the floor there's a moment where you are basically see-sawing on your butt. If you are carrying any appreciable amount of muscle your torso is going to weigh more than your legs and you'll fall back.

That has to have something to do with it besides my somewhat weak abs.

Because I've seen fat out-of-shape women with thunder thighs doing unassisted situps, and I doubt it's because they have strong abs. Their lower body weight helps them stay grounded.

[gigantes]

@hardwoodlegend,
good questions.... good questions. i was a little bit addicted to situps i my early 20's. they just felt so RIGHT, and they didn't give me any trouble at the time.
[quote]

[KevinNYC]

It's only hard on the back if the back is weak and in need of strengthening, right?

No. Because they will weaken the back over time and could lead to disk issues.

Lots of folks are saying planks are better core exercises.

If you like crunches get an exercise ball because when you do crunches on an exercise ball you're working the back in two directions.

You should google better than crunches and you'll find lots of suggested exercises.

[HardwoodLegend]

Herschel Walker has probably done the most total situps in World History.

He's planning a comeback to the NFL at age 50. I need to see more studies that definitively show the damage done to the back to believe it. I'm not denying them, but it doesn't seem to be widespread enough to make it conclusive.

[KevinNYC]

Herschel Walker has probably done the most total situps in World History.

He's planning a comeback to the NFL at age 50. I need to see more studies that definitively show the damage done to the back to believe it. I'm not denying them, but it doesn't seem to be widespread enough to make it conclusive.

He's also a freak of nature.

[HardwoodLegend]

He's also a freak of nature.

Yeah, but surely he's not the only human with a back that will allow him to do many situps with no issues.

It's an exercise that many athletes have as part of their regimen and their backs fare just fine throughout life.

Maybe it's the way certain people are anatomically structured? Or maybe some people should work on strengthening their lower back first on a roman chair or something before doing situps hardcore.

[gigantes]

It's an exercise that many athletes have as part of their regimen and their backs fare just fine throughout life.

Maybe it's the way certain people are anatomically structured? Or maybe some people should work on strengthening their lower back first on a roman chair or something before doing situps hardcore.
maybe the best way to find out for sure is to spend the next 20 years doing lots of situps, see how much or how little damage you wind up doing to your lower back, and then report back here and let us know.

i for one will be free that day. ^^