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situps are bad for your back?

  • Thread starter Thread starter daewoo
  • Start date Start date
D

daewoo

Guest
with summer upon us , i have decide to start looking after my body a bit better , don't want to be bulging all over just toned up , anyway i was talking to a friend and mentioned situps , his old men over heard us talking and told me that situps were back for my the back , is there any truth in this ?
 
'Full' situps are generally bad for the lower back. By full situps i mean back flat on floor, raise till head touches knees or as close as u can get. Since the purpose of doing a situp is to work the abs, you should do the alternative - the crunch.

The positioning is the same however instead of going all the way up, u lift ur back off the floor and move towards ur knees just until u feel ur abs thighten (contract) and then u hold for a bet and slowy release, lowering ur back to the floor. This removes the strain on the back somewhat.

Also be careful not to use your arms on the back of your head to pull yourself up. This places great pressure on your neck, and isnt very good for you at all.

alternatively running and swimming is better for your abs
 
Daewoo, listen to Laser. You can rely on him, he's a machine.

When doing crunches focus your eyes at a spot on the ceiling and lift torso in a slow controlled motion.
 
Yes.

Situps place a compressive load in excess of 3,000N through your lower back. 2,400N is the threshold above which US workplace safety rules say that you must use a trolley, etc, or they won't be held responsible.

So if you think that 100 situps a day for years is good for your back, try being a shelf-stacker for years but without using trolleys, do it all with bending over, see what happens.

You don't need situps. Every exercise can be, should be and is a "core" exercise. Do squats, etc with good posture and braced abs, and you will work your abs very well. The best abs on any male I ever saw in person were on an Olympic-style weightlifter, he never did a situp in his life, but front squats, high pulls etc worked his abs hard.
 
Oliver04 said:
Sit ups are an exercise literally thousands of years old. Just fucking do them.
Click to expand...
For thousands of years if you had a headache someone would drill a hole in your head to let the evil spirits out. For thousands of years when you got sick people would let blood out to make you better, even with women in labour. Some of us have learned from those thousands of years, others prefer to ignore them.

A person who can do even a bodyweight squat will have stronger abs than one who can not, a 40kg squat stronger abs than a bodyweight squat, a 100kg squat stronger still, and so on. Try even a 100kg deadlift without bracing your abs.

Every exercise can be, is and should be a "core" exercise.
 
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daewoo said:
with summer upon us , i have decide to start looking after my body a bit better , don't want to be bulging all over just toned up , anyway i was talking to a friend and mentioned situps , his old men over heard us talking and told me that situps were back for my the back , is there any truth in this ?
Click to expand...
Fuck I hate when they say this.
As if it is so simple to be huge.
Train like you want to be huge and you may just achieve your "Toned" look.

Another grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
Shrek said:
Fuck I hate when they say this.
As if it is so simple to be huge.
Train like you want to be huge and you may just achieve your "Toned" look.

Another grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Click to expand...

Agree..

And: with summer upon us , i have decide to start looking after my body a bit better

So you wanna look good for next summer, right?
 
Kyle Aaron said:
For thousands of years if you had a headache someone would drill a hole in your head to let the evil spirits out. For thousands of years when you got sick people would let blood out to make you better, even with women in labour. Some of us have learned from those thousands of years, others prefer to ignore them.
Click to expand...

I'm sure there are a lot of guys out there who deadlift 140kg fine without them. Most serious powerlifters, bodybuilders and OL weightlifters do them however, and considering it takes a whole 3 sets at the end of a squat workout its really not a big ask.

They are infinitely more useful than the shopping lists of exercises most guys do on here.
 
I will have to jump on the situps are useless bandwagon, Being defence and I havent done a situp by my own choice in a year but come to a fitness assesment I can still do 60 reps to a cadence.:eek:
 
like all exercises they are tools, nothing more, nothing less.

as with all movements there is nothing wrong with the crunch or sit-up if its used as an exercise in a proggressive manner and part of a well thought out template.

One or two sets of 10~20 to MMF should be plenty to simulate a response.
 
Kyle Aaron said:
Situps place a compressive load in excess of 3,000N through your lower back. 2,400N is the threshold above which US workplace safety rules say that you must use a trolley, etc, or they won't be held responsible.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you don't mean 300N and 240N?

I can't see US workplace safety rules allowing a lifting pressure threshold of 244kg. Unless they've got stock pickers who squat 3x per week?


Cheers,

Aaron.
 
Shrek said:
Fuck I hate when they say this.
As if it is so simple to be huge.
Train like you want to be huge and you may just achieve your "Toned" look.

Another grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Click to expand...

... here is a chill pill, let them be stupid.

Let them who hath no understanding rekon the name of the beast, for it is a human name.. it's name; is effort.
 
Silverback said:
like all exercises they are tools, nothing more, nothing less.

as with all movements there is nothing wrong with the crunch or sit-up if its used as an exercise in a proggressive manner and part of a well thought out template.

One or two sets of 10~20 to MMF should be plenty to simulate a response.
Click to expand...

Thats right, IMO, you can do them safely no worries, there is a time and place, and if it hurts do something like leg raises or just go home and cry like a baby.
 
I find plain situps mostly do your hip flexors anyway. Crunches or leg raises are the way if your'e lacking in this area.
 
austy said:
Are you sure you don't mean 300N and 240N?

I can't see US workplace safety rules allowing a lifting pressure threshold of 244kg. Unless they've got stock pickers who squat 3x per week
Click to expand...
The compressive load through a joint during a movement is not simply a factor of how much weight has been added to the person's body.

See Stuart McGill's Low Back Disorders.
 
Funny - I have started doing alot more direct ab work including 100-300 sit ups a day and my back has never been better.
 
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