And most people are awaiting the answer of how many and what type of sit-ups to do, and how often…

Or when you advise someone to work on their core, they start wondering which sit-up exercises you want them to work on…

What few people, including health and fitness professionals, are willing to think about is what do sit-ups do really? And more importantly, what injuries and health problems are we setting our clients up for when we ask them to do this exercise?

I cringe everytime I participate in a workout, whether it’s a class, a bootcamp, a workshop, or a team training session, and you are asked to do sit-ups. And nothing is more frustrating than “discussing” with someone that sit-ups are almost a waste of time and are detrimental to most fitness programs and people’s goals.

Why?

Firstly, they do not “reduce the fat” around your midsection. So all those wanting to lose weight there need to understand this important point.

Secondly, they are not a functional exercise – apart from getting out of bed, I am not sure what other purposeful goal or movement you are training for (I will admit there are two other special roles that may utilise this manouevre though). So unless you are a prostitute or have a job description of getting out of bed in fast succession, you may want to look at alternatives.

Finally, repetitive sit-ups are a great way to put yourself at risk of back pain and incontinence! As you perform a sit-up, you are training the front muscles of the torso to bend without any regard for your back. In a sit-up, your back is supported by the floor, or fitball or whatever other device you are doing sit-ups on. If you repeat this movement pattern in any other way when there is nothing against your back, you are most likely going to bulge or rupture a spinal disc! You are also increasing the imbalance between the front muscles and the back muscles around your trunk, so the likelihood of poor posture and poor movement coordination increases.

The manouevre also places a high amount of pressure on your abdominal contents and consequently your pelvic contents, thus increasing pressure on some major blood vessels (eg. abdominal aorta) and the structures preventing incontinence.

So unless you are after a bad back, incontinence and blood pressure issues… I advise finding some other exercises!

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