I've Heard Sit-ups Are Bad For Your Back So Can Anyone Recommend An Exercise To Tone My Abs?

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Lynn Perie Profile
Lynn Perie answered
You can do crunches. Those are similar to sit-ups but your back is at less risk.

On your back, knees bent, lift only your shoulders off the floor, hands are either crossed in front of your chest or behind your head, hold for a count of 3 let yourself down slowly and repeat as many times as you can.

To protect your back when doing any floor exercise, keep your knees bent and your hips tilted up so that the small of your back stays pressed to the floor.
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Anonymous
Anonymous commented
Yes, sit ups are bad for your back. The reason being, is we all have a muscle called the Psoas, or also known as the Iliopsoas, when the name is combined with another muscle the Iliacus. These two muscles are known as hip flexors. When ever you are laying on your back and siting up, or doing any movement similar to leg raises, these muscles are the ones responsible for that movement. When doing sit ups, for the psoas, one of the attachment sights are located to your lower back, will pull on your lower back. This causes strain in the area, thus causing potential back problems. At the very least, your lower back becomes sore. This is commonly taught in any Sports Science degree program. Your, PE teacher, is required to also take these classes for their degree as well, and should be able to confirm what I am telling you. I would only suggest that you talk to a PE teacher that has graduated after year 2000, because the old school of the 80's thought was sit up are okay, but the more recent school from the 90's, and more so after words should had been informed of this information. Most certified personal trainers should also know this, but not all personal trainers are certified or degreed. Also I can't say for sure how reliable all certifications are. But, I figured this should get you the reason why, and additional sources to check with, that should be easily attainable to contact. Also, crunches are not the same as sit ups, since the person should always keep their lower back on the floor, with your knees bent, which does prevent you from using your hip flexor muscles. Crunches are specific to what movement your body does when they are in use, were as sit ups, focus is mostly to bend at the hips and the abdominal is only a stabilizer with in the movement.

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