When you do a sit-up you are performing a strength training exercise. A standard sit up begins with you lying on your back, knees bent at a 45 degree angle and your hands behind your head. You use leverage to lift yourself up until only your buttocks are touching the floor and your abdominal muscles are used to contract to lift you up and then relaxed to lower you back down.
There are a number of ways to perform a sit-up:
- Legs straight
- Knees bent
- Using a balance ball
- Using a medicine ball
- Holding weights
- Hands behind your head
- Hands in folded on your chest
Ultimately, sit-ups are an area-targeted exercise that works your abdominals and your hip flexors. This is a core strengthening exercise that can also create stress in the lower back. So you should be sure to work your lower back muscles using a bridge or plank exercise that stretches and strengthens the lower back. Too many sit-ups without lower back strengthening exercises can lead to persistent back pain.
Many people perform sit-ups as a way of developing a six-pack. This does not always work if you have excessive body fat around your middle. It’s important to combine sit-ups with a cardio workout to help burn off excess calories and fat. You may want to swap to crunches or alternate them between crunches and sit-ups in order to work all your abdominal muscles. Bicycle crunches are another sit-ups workout that can strengthen your abdominals and help you burn excess calories in that area.
Regular exercise is an important component to any overall fitness. Strength training should be performed three times a week. Core training is important to maintaining your overall body strength. A good program is to alternate sit-ups, crunches and other core training in and around your cardio workouts. This way you strengthen abdominal muscle that helps to burn more calories at the same time you are burning excess calories with your cardio workout.