When you do situps, is it better to put your hands behind your head or crossed on your chest?

Hi,

I always prefer to put my arms across my chest. Its mainly to give me a more central raising point, and when I put my hands behind my head, I tend to force the head up which I guess could cause damage to neck/back muscles.

:seeya:

I had surgery for shoulder dystocia as a child and as a consequence there are a couple of muscles gone from the left side across the chest and in the neck. It's not all that noticeable to people until I point it out, but it means that my neck isn't nearly as good at supporting the weight of my head as other peoples' are. I put my hands behind my head when doing situps and sometimes my head does rest on my hands. Otherwise it would flop to the left. No joke. When I nod off at my desk or the movies, my head always flops to the left. Not as much holding it up on that side.

I put my arms across the chest as well. it works better is what i was told

I'm not a fan of traditional sit ups.

Too easy to mess up your back.

I'm not a fan of traditional sit ups.

Too easy to mess up your back.

I say "sit ups" but I don't sit all the way up, I do crunches instead. The back pain I was complaining about a couple of weeks ago is completely gone too.

Crunches even, as traditionally done, I'm not a big fan of personally.

Crunches even, as traditionally done, I'm not a big fan of personally.

What do you prefer for strengthening ab muscles?

Planks planks and more planks :D

Planks planks and more planks :D

What's that?

A modified plank - which are quite challenging..


Begin by placing elbows on the floor and resting body on the knees. Pull the abs tight to hold your body in a straight line from head to knees without sagging in the middle, eyes looking naturally forward. Hold this position for as long as you can, relax and repeat.

You're basically at the top of a pushup position.. only you're oon your forearms instead of your hands...

Sparkpeople does have a fairly decent demo video of that exercise...

A modified plank - which are quite challenging..


Begin by placing elbows on the floor and resting body on the knees. Pull the abs tight to hold your body in a straight line from head to knees without sagging in the middle, eyes looking naturally forward. Hold this position for as long as you can, relax and repeat.

You're basically at the top of a pushup position.. only you're oon your forearms instead of your hands...

Sparkpeople does have a fairly decent demo video of that exercise...

That might be problematic for me; I can't do a pushup. I can't even hold myself up in that position.

Hi,

I always prefer to put my arms across my chest. Its mainly to give me a more central raising point, and when I put my hands behind my head, I tend to force the head up which I guess could cause damage to neck/back muscles.

:seeya:

Same here. When I put my hands behind my head, I DO force my head up. I'm afraid I'll mess something up. AND then I feel like I'm cheating and doing those sit-ups are a waste if I don't do them properly.

That might be problematic for me; I can't do a pushup. I can't even hold myself up in that position.

Start doing them - you might not last more tha 2-3 seconds

but given time and practice you will be able to go for 30 seconds.. and your core will thank you for i t...

Planks, pallof presses, curl ups, bird dogs, etc

Start doing them - you might not last more tha 2-3 seconds

but given time and practice you will be able to go for 30 seconds.. and your core will thank you for i t...

I know the position you mean, I've tried it before. I just didn't know it was called a "plank".

I can't do it at all. I couldn't assume the position, let alone keep it for 2-3 seconds.

Not that I'm trying to talk you into doing anything.. when i first startd them - 3 seconds was a long time for me - now i'm up to about 30 seconds... it's a great strengthener...

Birddogs are good too -but doing those by yourself can be tough without someone checking your form - I tilt when I do them... unless i really pay attention

Not that I'm trying to talk you into doing anything.. when i first startd them - 3 seconds was a long time for me - now i'm up to about 30 seconds... it's a great strengthener...

Birddogs are good too -but doing those by yourself can be tough without someone checking your form - I tilt when I do them... unless i really pay attention

I don't know what a birddog is.

When I was a kid, I had to be excused from the pushup portion of the yearly physical fitness test because due to surgery, loss of muscle mass, and limited range of motion in my left arm/shoulder, I have been left physically unable to do a pushup. My doctor told me unless I can take most of the strain on my right arm, full pushups are not on the cards for me. I can't even do modified ones sometimes. Even when using machines at the gym to build up my shoulder and chest muscles, my left arm does not move the same way that my right arm does and my right arm often takes a lot of the strain. I sometimes add reps on the left side only to try to strengthen that side, but there is such a thing as "can't" in my case. :banghead:

Hopefully steve won't mind me posting this...
YouTube - Bird Dogs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzEUJxOc_F0)

with modified planks you're on your forearms -but your core is doing the majority of the work...

Just thought I'd throw my 2 cents in.
I do incline sit-ups for upper abs. I use an incline sit-up bench at 30°. I have a chronic shoulder seperation injury so I use a hand towel behind my neck grasp it with both hands, and hold my arms tight against my chest.

For lower Abs, I reverse the position on the incline board, lifting straight legs through horizontal to +30°. You need to take care not to allow the lower back to bow inwards during this exercise though.

Mike D