Sports practice and athletic training continuously evolve, and it’s no wonder that traditionally effective sit ups are not recognized as generally valid anymore. The knees bended, the feet on the ground and the hands behind the head, this used to be the essential position of sit ups, meant to raise the torso almost vertically. At present, the lift is done only partly with no bending towards the knees and the firm tightening of the abdominal muscles. There are a few tricks to effective sit ups that you should be aware of.
The position of the body controls everything. There is a common risk to strain the neck muscles instead of tightening the abdomen Keep in mind that the head plays no part in the move. This is in fact the whole purpose of the laced fingers behind the head: to support the movement and allow only for the abdomen muscles to take over the effort. The distance between the body and the floor during the lift should not be higher than eight inches. If you work out at the gym, the coach should teach you how to do effective sit ups, but if you train at home, it is important to read a few materials before taking up the exercises.
Anyone can appreciate how effective sit ups are by noticing the adaptation of the body to the training conditions. If sit ups seem difficult to perform at first, the more you practice, the easier it gets. The difficulty level of the exercises should not be increased too often or too soon. Just increase the number of reps you do per week and train like that for two weeks in a row, then, introduce a new difficulty element. A Swiss ball works well for advanced training levels helping you perform effective sit ups.
The torso needs to stay parallel with the floor while you lie on the ball. During the exercise you keep your balance with the feet. With the hands behind the head, lift the torso a few inches while remaining in the horizontal position on the ball. To take the maximum out of these effective sit ups, you could keep the body a little below the horizontal line in order to tighten the abs more when lifting. Do not ignore the safety of the lower back during the exercise, no matter how you keep the legs. Do not mistake effective sit ups for painful abdominal exercises, pain is not a positive factor in the equation.
