Sit Ups Without Support?

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Currently I can only do sit ups if my feet are supported underneath something. I typically use the couch at home and heavy dumb bells at the gym. I'm guessing the reason is that all my extra body fat tends to be stored in my torso, so I'm top heavy and have more weight (yes, a larger moment arm for anyone who really cares about the physics of it) above the pivot point of the sit up than below it, so it's physically impossible for me to do a full sit up without foot support. I'm asking because the new class I'm in does sit ups and no one else uses foot support.

My question is this: Is there any way that you have done to help me be able to do a full sit up without foot support other than becoming less top heavy by losing weight? I do extend my legs to try to get the moment arm below the pivot point larger, but it isn't quite enough.

[m00se]

I'm guessing the reason is that all my extra body fat tends to be stored in my torso, so I'm top heavy

Its this. I lost load of fat off my torso and now I can do them with nothing on my feet but before i started losing the fat I had to have my feet wedged under something. Or...

There are two solutions that worked for me. One is get some of those ankle weights. Offsets the balance just enough. The other is to exploit the physics, flip the exercise and do ab wheel rollouts. These will also punish your core much better than situps, and will work your stabilizers better.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[spatzcat]

2 words: Core strength.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Its this. I lost load of fat off my torso and now I can do them with nothing on my feet but before i started losing the fat I had to have my feet wedged under something. Or...

There are two solutions that worked for me. One is get some of those ankle weights. Offsets the balance just enough. The other is to exploit the physics, flip the exercise and do ab wheel rollouts. These will also punish your core much better than situps, and will work your stabilizers better.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I like the idea of the ab wheels, I may add them in at home. The ankle weights won't work for me, at least during this crazy military workout I did because I'm jumping around a lot. For now on that one I'll just keep using the 50 lb dumb bells as support.

2 words: Core strength.

I have the core strength to do sit ups, I can do 20-30 supported at the feet, so I can lift the mass. I can do 5-8 with 25 lbs of weight on my chest. I would like to start building more though.

[spatzcat]

i am just going by own experience...I am by no means your size or anything, but I was taking a pilates class, and we had to lie flat on the floor, and then sit straight up....at the beginning of the class I couldn't do it without my feet flying up....but as the class progressed, and we worked our cores to death (and if you've taken pilates, you'll know what I mean) I was able to do this without my feet lifting off the ground.

I don't know how to measure core strength. I do know I have a strong one though -- I can do up my bitch boots on one leg, while half bent over....I can brush my teeth with one leg at a 45 degree angle while touching my toe with one hand....I can balance on an exercise ball on my knees....I can hop around the kitchen on one leg and prepare dinner while my 5 year old giggles his ass off...

I have an obsession with balancing on 1 foot. I like doing toe touches on one leg for some odd reason. anytime I ever drop anything on the floor, I always pick it up balanced on one leg.

I know it's weird. but what can I say. core strength is fun.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

Yeah, yours is better than mine then. The stability stuff would probably give me a good workout, I just hate doing it.

[spatzcat]

drop your pen right now, and pick it up on one leg. DO IT. suck it up, buttercup, core strength is the key.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

drop your pen right now, and pick it up on one leg. DO IT. suck it up, buttercup, core strength is the key.

I did it... didn't get out of my chair though. I can't wait to switch my cube so the monitor is facing away from the door, I'm going to switch to a standing work station once I do.

[spatzcat]

lmao. You kill me. Also, dropping your pen and picking it up with your ass facing the first available female employee, is always killer.

the boys at my office do this, and I am forever laughing.

I wonder if we are the only cubicle workers on nerd fitness.

[citabean]

I share a "pod" with 2 boys. You should see what happens when I plop myself on the floor and stretch. They usually look at me like I'm from mars.

The situps - I agree, increasing the core strength should help some... I do like the idea of the abwheel and reverse situps. You could also do the reverse ones by holding something and pulling your legs up for some additional core strength in an area you don't work as well with the situps. Then again, I like the plank for core workouts. It's the bestest!

[Waldo]

I wonder if we are the only cubicle workers on nerd fitness.

You are not.

I've come to really like hanging L sits for core strength. Hang from a pullup bar, lift your legs 90 degrees and hold it. Punishes the abs. I also this thing we used to do when I was in martial arts as a kid, kind of an inverse plank (I have no idea of what it is actually called). Lie flat on the ground, put your hands under your butt, lift your legs and torso a couple inches off the ground and support your weight on your hands. For added difficulty flex your fingers so your fingers are holding a lot of the weight. Hold it as long as you can.

[The Tin Man]

I wonder if we are the only cubicle workers on nerd fitness.

Negativo. My cube farm just got WINDOWS! I can even know if it's daytime or nighttime or rain or snow or anything! I'm...a little too excited.

And CoreyD, are you trying out for the Ginyu Force or something in that avatar?

[jdanger]

Yeah I would add in some variation. Planks, l-sits, leg raises, rollouts, whatever. Normally we'll try to progress from anchored situps to legs straight out situps or even butterfly (think indian style/groin stretch with the knees flesxed and pointing out) though these should technically be harder. I'll also allow a certain degree of arm swing to get the reps moving. Shout out to the kippers!

You can actually do rollouts with a barbell and it's a great exercise. Don't be surprised if you have to start with controlled negatives at first.

And I actually program things like bench dips and various BW exercises for people with cubicle jobs. It's fun to see what people can get away with.

[gugi9000]

Disclaimer: I think sit ups and crunches are stupid.

I like the idea of the ab wheels, I may add them in at home.

The ab roller is tough. To save money you could do inch worms, either from standing or from kneeling, and planks instead.

[spatzcat]

I made my own ab roller for i think 5$. I got a wheel barrow wheel, a metal bar, and some bike handle covers. voila.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

I share a "pod" with 2 boys. You should see what happens when I plop myself on the floor and stretch. They usually look at me like I'm from mars.

Before I was hitting the gym every day, I used to get on the floor after lunch for 50 push ups and 50 sit ups, yeah, it gets some odd looks.

Negativo. My cube farm just got WINDOWS! I can even know if it's daytime or nighttime or rain or snow or anything! I'm...a little too excited.

And CoreyD, are you trying out for the Ginyu Force or something in that avatar?

I want to be Recoome, isn't it obvious?

And I actually program things like bench dips and various BW exercises for people with cubicle jobs. It's fun to see what people can get away with.

I used to do the chair L sits (hold myself up with my hands, feet off the floor), decline push ups with my feet on the desk, and sit ups. I tried to figure out a back workout but there's nothing I can grab onto with an overhand grip while laying under it. Now I save everything for the gym since my lunches are usually pretty low cal and low carb.

[The Tin Man]

I want to be Recoome, isn't it obvious?

Last time I heard the position was still open...

[wildross]

Worse than cubes. Open concept. 60+ of us in a large room sitting at very expensive tables (cable racks underneath, lids at the back, etc). Great for team building. Lousy for concentrating. My supervisor and his boss/my boss sit across the table from me.

[The Tin Man]

Worse than cubes. Open concept. 60+ of us in a large room sitting at very expensive tables (cable racks underneath, lids at the back, etc). Great for team building. Lousy for concentrating. My supervisor and his boss/my boss sit across the table from me.

Can you at least use headphones? Preferably noise-canceling? And maybe blinders like in a horse race?

[Pat G]

I'm in a small cube farm. very small.

i use Simplynoise.com Thunderstorm Soundscape when i need some serious concentration in.

There is an i-beam just before the bathrooms that i use for greasing the groove.

[wildross]

Can you at least use headphones? Preferably noise-canceling? And maybe blinders like in a horse race?

Since we are a 'support' group, for most of the others on the floor, no headphones. At least so far. The company thinks it is cool and modern and is apparently ok with the inefficiencies. If they wanted us to be more efficient, they'd get us cubes.

[bprime]

My first question is: Why are you doing situps?

My answer to your problem is: Use a couch or chair or bed or something to anchor your feet.

My answer to my answer about is: It's only a band-aid for the issue - weak core.

[ETFnerd]

i would work isolation of abs. the fact that you need to wedge your feet means that you need to engage the hip flexors and upper leg muscles to get up. practice just focusing on your abs to get up. it is usually most difficult to do at the bottom of the range, so 1 inch off the floor to 1/3 of the range off the floor. I would practice just that range concentrating solely on your abs getting you up. do crunches to gtg as these will work the upper abdominals that predominate in this range. if you are top heavy, that just means that your abs will be that much stronger when you get these. my ab routine which is one of only 3 exercises i do is focused on just isolation. i consider it a bad rep if i feel leg muscles engaging. i run enough that i don't need to work on those and feel they are plenty strong. if you do SQ & DL yours are plenty strong too... take them completely out of the equation (not really possible, but do the best you can)....

[MMyers]

Nothing wrong with Sit-Ups as part of a detailed plan....

[ETFnerd]

one more thing is that if you do crunches, you have to do them right. 99.9% of people i see doing crunches or situps use their legs, shoulders, neck, arms to do an ab exercise. what's the point of that? this is a core abdominals exercise. when your abs hit failure, you're done. why squeeze more reps out when your using all legs and arms to do it? makes no sense but just about everyone i see does it. if you have to wedge your feet you're not really doing a core isolation workout.