Sit ups are bad for you! On a military forum, we've discussed the Army Personal Fitness Tests, and one of the items of the test is Sit Ups, the following debate was posted by member "Strikesure" and I was wondering what you guys thought: Also, he raised this point: So what do you people think?
I doubt there are many exercises out there that dont carry some form of risk. I've never heard of anyone blowing a disc whilst doing pressups. Would any damage caused by situps be reversed by doing decompression hangs?
It's one man's opinion. When done correctly situps are a great exercise, but as with any exercise if done incorrectly they may cause injury. I don't know of any incidents of blown disc and situps, just look at how much pressure is placed on the knee's everyday, especially if you jog.
I think you have to weigh this up. What is worse for your health, doing a few sit ups, or telling your PT instructor that you wont be doing sit ups from now on, because they're bad for you.
Lol!Me too!!! I REALLY dont think telling my kung fu teacher that I wont be doing sit ups anymore would be good for my health either! Anyway,its the ONLY excercise in class that I beat all the boys at.I do have a strong stomach,but a very weak back (something I am working with a physio on.)
When I do sit-ups, I raise my head to above knee height (my legs are bent!), and no further. However, I do have a tendency to flop back, and my lower back starts to hurt at around the 60-70 mark. Likewise with push-ups, sometimes I stop because my back hurts from trying to stay rigid before my arms give out. But I've always been hopeless at push-ups anyway.
There are so many better movements than sit-ups that there is no point doing them. They also put a huge level of tension on the hip flexors which are overly tense in a huge proportion of the population.
I have heard this, if you go all the way back and forward you can overextend yourself... but to be honest if Situps were as dangerous as people like to make out half the military forces of the world would be really quite screwed he
yeah, aren't over developed hip flexors one of the biggest causes of back pain in the physically fit.
Perhaps the better question would be- What are the better movements that do not cause the same "damage" that sit-ups do.
Yes. Spirez - Have a look at this: http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1098876 There's a few examples on there, but check out the other topics on abs/core etc. on here for loads more.
Keyword here might be 'correctly'. CCorrect me if I'm wrong but any exercise can be harmful if done incorrectly(?) Thanks for the link Ad McG, will bookmark that for later
Dr McGill is talking about repetitive strain, therefore would not necessarily be talking about disc failure during the exercise. (Especially lower) Back problems are chronic and complicated: it's not as simple as saying if you do this, this will happen. However, he is saying if you do sit-ups there is a higher chance of overstressing your spine. And btw, I have known people who've blown their backs doing sit-ups, including myself. Actually no, it's a lot of men's opinions. This has been an issue for years, which is why all of the Armed Services of the developed militarized countries have changed their sit-ups from the old style full-on ones, a few years ago. Also, it's one respected doctor and exercise specialist's opinion after lots of specific research and peer review. If it's a question of believing him or a couple of geezers saying, "I'm all right so far," down the MAP pub, I think I know who I'm going for! Perhaps you could tell us the correct way to do sit-ups that doesn't put the same kind of stress on your lower spine... because just about every exercise site and muscle mag has its variation, mostly based on slating the orthers rather than on any sound scientific background. That's got me convinced then! I mean, it's not like millions of people don't have shot knees especially through activities like jogging. Lol at Su Lin! I don't believe I just read that... do you think there could just be a connection between your first sentence there and your second? 1) Check the net: most military forces changed their sit-up style a few years ago. 2) Do you really think they care after the soldiers' operational life is over? Anyway, PTSD, Gulf War Syndrome and the like are enough to keep veterans' associations busy without worrying about physiotherapy for soldiers' knees and lower backs! 3) You don't think there might be just a small element of 'tough-it-out' culture in the army?! McGill has published for free on the Net the best set of exercises for people with lower back problems that I've ever experienced in a few years of having chronic lower back probs. In that set he has a version of a crunch which involves keeping your hands under your lower back and only going so far as to lift your shoulders off the floor. I do these religiously and they've cured my lower back problems (together with sensible weight-lifting - but they are my warm-up and warm-down exercises no matter what else I'm doing) and strengthened my abs far more than I ever got with regular sit-ups. Now, that's just one man's opinion! Don't have time now but if you search this forum for lower back problems I linked to that article before.
Here it is! McGill's are slow crunhces rather than sit-ups. I've done the same things quickly and as tabatas, and at full speed they come out pretty much like Fish's recommended crunches from from trainforstrength. Don't know if McGill would recommend the quick version and I don't do them too often, but they seem to give me good results. Of course, it could all be nitpicking as to your definition of sit-ups...
I've been doing sit-up's for years and I've never experienced any back troubles at all. (Touch wood.)
