Sit ups and crunches represent traditional exercises used for training the core muscles and flattening the abdomen. The problem is that many people don’t know how to do sit ups correctly, which would explain either the inefficiency of these ab workouts or the number of injuries resulting from them. Here are some suggestions about how to do sit ups at the gym or at home without any risk and with great effects.
First of all, you need to lie on the floor or on a flat, hard surface and make sure there is no distraction nearby. If the position is comfortable you can keep the feet flat on the floor and bend the knees. The distance between the feet should be the same as that between the knees or between the hips. When you lie down, the muscles relax, you eliminate the tension and there is possible soreness in the tissues. Now, let’s continue with how we can do those sit ups the right way to get firm abs.
It is important to pay attention to the position of the hands. If you are a beginner, it is advisable to put the hands behind the head, cushioning it with the fingers laced together. This is a good form of neck protection, because the neck muscle should have no implication in the moves. Don’t pull your neck when you lift. Learning how to do sit ups with the hands by the sides of the body or straight up in the air is a bit more difficult, and not at all a good choice for the early training stages. When the training routine is more advanced you can try this technique, but not before.
Pull the stomach towards the spine to support the lift. You should lift just the shoulder blades off the ground, for no more than eight inches in the direction of your knees. The rise is slow and so should be the descent as well. The rising and lowering movement is the basis for the sit ups, and the results are influenced by the speed of the performance. The benefits of the exercises become more obvious when the training is correct. Now that you know how to do the sit ups, let’s see how you can improve them to get great abs fast.
Increasing the difficulty level is crucial for efficiency. Use more reps to stimulate the muscle growth. You can alternate sit ups with crunches or combine the sit ups with twisting moves. The possibilities are numerous from beginner to advanced levels.
