Sit Ups Without Support?

[Pat G]

Negativo. My cube farm just got WINDOWS!

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

I just spent 1 and a half hours reading through the Dragon Ball Z wikia.... where did my morning go....

Proper form as ETF has said, and i don't see why a few isolation exercises thrown in for your core would do any harm instead of good.

[Atalan]

A combination of sit-ups as a proof of fitness exercise in grade school and ego causes people to try to push past ab failure.

[bprime]

I'm not against extra core work. Probably best accessory work you can do.

I'm against situps. Worst core work there is.

[MMyers]

Anyway...

Unanchored Sit-Ups are just a movement you need to practice to get a feel for. No matter what, your feet will rise off of the ground, but it will be less as you get more experience in the movement.

[Gainsdalf the Whey]

To answer the questions, I am currently doing them with my feet anchored, but this new, awesome endurance excise this guy runs at my gym is focused on all kinds of variations push ups, lunges, squats, pull ups, and ab work, including variations of sit ups. The sit ups are done in the open floor, so I'd like to not be the only person in the room bringing 2 50lb dumb bells over to use as anchors. Do I think sit ups are the best core workout? No way, my core gets plenty of stabilization work doing squats, bent over rows, and dead lifts. If I chose an isolation exercise for abs them, it would probably be weighted incline sit ups or planks.

Thanks for the help everyone! So far this discussion is leading me to working on isolating the abs by doing non-anchored crunches and working up to the sit ups as I continue to lose body fat.

[Pat G]

Good summary of a multi-opinioned essay. Mark: A+

[oystergirl]

I can't do em...whaaa....my issue is I had a C-section and then a severe distasis hernia that needed vertical surgical repair (ah babies!) that plus lower back issues and all the pilates in the world (and I have done tons of it and yoga too) will never bring my upper body to vertical without anchored feet. I used to get upset about it and now I just do planks and leg lifts....though I would love to be able to bust them out...I have to listen to my body and know its limitations...a bit off topic, more like a little whine...good luck in figuring it out!

[ETFnerd]

cool. when i do crunches (haven't in a long time) i am focused on using just my abs to lift my shoulders straight up to the ceiling. the range of motion is like 6 inches. may be a little more if you are really flexible. a key is to relax your entire body and just use your abs (upper) to lift your upper body straight up to the ceiling. I am not crunching down to my stomach or feet, but straight up as high as I can get.

we also used to do a crunch variation in karate called "picking grapes" for side abs. we would imagine that there was a bunch of grapes dangling high above our chest and alternate right hand, left hand reaching up to "pick the grapes" as high as possible. again the key is to relax the entire body and let the abs crunch your upper body to the ceiling. hands, arms, shoulders, neck are completely relaxed as you reach up as high as possible.

also your shoulder blades never hit the floor until you finish your set, so the bottom of the range on the crunches isn't on the floor to maintain ab tension throughout the set.

You don't need to wait until you lose BF. The abs will get used to the movement fairly quickly and you'll be doing situps easily in a few weeks tops. consistency in doing the exercise is key as it all goes to sh!t really quickly if you don't give it enough volume over time. situps aren't like pullup progressions, you'll see results quickly.