Situp Crunch Replacements

[Wilhelmson]

What are your favorite ab exercises?

Having done too many sit ups and crunches in my younger years they are now a no go for me as they wreck my back.

Planks are ok but plain old planks are boring. I've found that some of the plank hand weight routines make it more bearable. My favorite that I recently invented is to hold a forearm plank while grabbing a dumbbell, reaching up, and placing it on the small of my back, then using the other hand to grab it off may back, then repeat, making a circle. This exercise requires you to remain stable to keep the weight from falling off your back. I've been using a 10 pound weight to avoid dropping it on my back. 5 pounds might be better.

Another exercise I like is to hold a pushup position with feet raised on a platform. Bring your knee forward toward the opposite elbow and repeat (or as far as you can go comfortably) , alternating knees for 20 or 30 reps.

My back can handle pull ups in moderation so I try to do these 2 or 3 times a week, but rather than doing 20 straight with bad form I've been doing sets of 6, with the goal of 3 sets of 10.

 

[Rod9301]

Crunches where you lift your shouldersv just 6 inches off the ground should not hurt your back at all.

Get to about 300 a day, a few days a week, and it will solve your back problems.

 

[Rod9301]

Or do planks with feet up in a couch and 50-75 lbs in your back.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Crunches where you lift your shouldersv just 6 inches off the ground should not hurt your back at all.

Get to about 300 a day, a few days a week, and it will solve your back problems.

I didn't scientifically isolate the crunches from the sit ups but am pretty sure they were part of the problem. I was doing hundreds.

 

[Dwight]

Hanging Leg raises.

 

[Rod9301]

I didn't scientifically isolate the crunches from the sit ups but am pretty sure they were part of the problem. I was doing hundreds.

I can see why full sit ups would hurrlt your back, plus they are less effective than crunches. The force required to lift your torso diminished dramatically after the first few inches from horizontal.

 

[Seldomski]

Hanging Leg raises.

+1

@Wilhelmson if you are already doing pull ups, then knee to elbow or toes to bar are both good core exercises that you should be able to do. They are also more 'fun' than situps.

Another good core exercise is double unders - jump rope with 2 swings under the feet per hop. You need to keep a tight core to do these efficiently.

 

[James]

Situps are very bad for your back. Don't take my word for it, but this guy who's dissected, imaged, and worked with spines for decades. There's lots more on this from Stuart McGill available online.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Situps are very bad for your back. Don't take my word for it, but this guy who's dissected, imaged, and worked with spines for decades. There's lots more onthis from Stuart McGill available online.

I always laughed off those warnings. If you're doing 20 a day it's probably fine. I was doing a lot because I liked them and have always been good at them. I started when I was 12 and continued for 28 years.

 

[Pequenita]

How's your back feel when doing Pilates rollups?

 

[Wilhelmson]

How's your back feel when doing Pilates rollups?

That's how I had been doing situps for a while to avoid pulling my head forward. So probably about the same. Once my back starts making popping sounds I can tell it's not a good idea.

 

[no edge]

Have you ever seen fit athletes: like Crossfit. One of their mottos is: "we don't do crunches". I am sure that they do other things that will hurt your back, but what they really do is constantly vary the WOD. I found when I was training with them that strong/fit legs would make for other areas of the body to be fit as well. An example, we rarely did bench presses - every two weeks plus. Legs were trained aggressively. Yet the bench press always seemed to improve even without the focus one would expect.

When we did do sit-ups it was often with a little cheater move at the start of the lift. A little toss or the arms can give a boost at a critical time.

Overhead squats, snatches, press and push press force the whole body to stabilize the weight. Back squats will strengthen the back muscles and complement the abs. Sprints and up-hill sprints.

From the bar: toes to bar and knees to bar. Also weighted pull-ups and strict pull-ups.

Constantly varied workout are underutilized from what I have seen in most gyms. It's important to lift heavy with good form and training with free weights require stabilizing muscles.

 

[James]

I always laughed off those warnings. If you're doing 20 a day it's probably fine. I was doing a lot because I liked them and have always been good at them. I started when I was 12 and continued for 28 years.

Hope one of these days it doesn't catch up to you tying your shoes or brushing teeth.

The science is actually fairly straight forward from what I've seen, but few know it. One can't be a both a yoga master, very flexible spine, and a power lifter, rigid spine. That seems simple enough, but the middle ground is more difficult. I'm just learning about it.

 

[James]

But looking at the alternatives that he provided, there is not much training effect to be had.

I've got no qualifications to argue with you, so won't. You might want to reconsider that though. Brian Carroll, power lifter, has lifted over 1,000 lbs and won many lifting comps. Without those excercises, he likely would have retired from his very significant back injury. He wrote a whole book about it.

https://www.powerrackstrength.com/5-ways-to-potentially-eliminate-lower-back-pain/

 

[no edge]

I've got no qualifications to argue with you, so won't. You might want to reconsider that though. Brian Carroll, power lifter, has lifted over 1,000 lbs and won many lifting comps. Without those excercises, he likely would have retired from his very significant back injury. He wrote a whole book about it.

https://www.powerrackstrength.com/5-ways-to-potentially-eliminate-lower-back-pain/

They appear to be a physical therapy type exercise. It would be helpful to see them integrated into a training session. It would seem that doing these exercises would not be adequate but they may provide something other than strength, possibly a mobility exercise or combination with strength.

 

[Plai]

What are your favorite ab exercises?

Having done too many sit ups and crunches in my younger years they are now a no go for me as they wreck my back.

Planks are ok but plain old planks are boring. I've found that some of the plank hand weight routines make it more bearable. My favorite that I recently invented is to hold a forearm plank while grabbing a dumbbell, reaching up, and placing it on the small of my back, then using the other hand to grab it off may back, then repeat, making a circle. This exercise requires you to remain stable to keep the weight from falling off your back. I've been using a 10 pound weight to avoid dropping it on my back. 5 pounds might be better.

Another exercise I like is to hold a pushup position with feet raised on a platform. Bring your knee forward toward the opposite elbow and repeat (or as far as you can go comfortably) , alternating knees for 20 or 30 reps.

My back can handle pull ups in moderation so I try to do these 2 or 3 times a week, but rather than doing 20 straight with bad form I've been doing sets of 6, with the goal of 3 sets of 10.

I like Russian Twists, kettle bell swings, and all things lunge/squats...

 

[Karl B]

Try these from Duke University. I will say tho, I don't do the bridge as high as demonstrated. I stop much lower with the abs in tension for a 5 count. Breathing is critical.

 

[Plai]

@Wilhelmson did you get what you needed?

 

[Wilhelmson]

Yes thank you. I was mostly gathering ideas to keep things interesting.

 

[Marker]

Hanging Leg raises.

I hate static exercises like planks. Boring! I prefer leg lifts and dynamic exercises, like skiing...