Are Sit Ups Bad for You? - 9 CORE exercises better than any Sit Up (VIDEO)

FIRST THINGS FIRST!!!

I do not have deeply chiseled, six pack abs.  That requires a certain amount of leanness that I'm just not worried about. I'm human. I like wine and food and have one heck of busy life that gets in the way but I have strong, functional and general pretty useful abs.  That being said, I make these CORE WODS to strengthen your entire abdominal region not just the glory bits and don't give a rats ass if you get cut, ripped, chiseled or whatever adjective you like.  I'm looking to get you healthy and your best you.  I go into this a bit more in the video below.


Moving on...

So? Are sit ups BAD for you? 

It turns out they kinda are.  Oups!  We do sit ups at Cherry Bomb Garage Gym, and we'll probably continue to do them for things like, let me see... Angie, Annie, Barbara and a host of other benchmark WODS but our Core WODS will look a wee bit different.

Turns out the reason why sit-ups are falling out of favour among fitness experts is because they may cause back damage. (note: MAY cause it, not guaranteed to shoot your spine out your back like a jelly donut between a vice.)

One reason sit-ups are hard on your back — they push your curved spine against the floor and work your hip flexors, the muscles that run from the thighs to the lumbar spine. When the hip flexors are too strong or too tight, they tug on the lower spine; made worse by all the sitting we tend to do, because of this you are no longer able to maintain a straight and aligned posture from your back to your pelvis.

There should be minimum movement between the natural curve of the spine to preserve the healthy distribution of weight on the lumbar discs.  This, muscle imbalances in the glutes, hammies, are only one of the slew of issues creating lower back aches and pains and general ouchiness. But we'll start here.

I'm sure you're thinking, this information is all well and good but what about my shredded six pack? Well, to achieve the six pack you'll need to lean on out and no amount of crunching, sitting up and pleading will help. Sorry.  You're just going to have to eat better...more on that next week.  But I do have alternatives to the old and broken sit up as core/trunk/mid-line stability is still super important.


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I have 9 exercises for you which are better than that antiquated crunch. These abdominal exercise will recruit a better balance of muscles on the front, sides, and back of the body, not just the front which is pretty much all the crunch and sit up target. (Your core is your entire trunk, including your butt!)

I get so many folks in to Cherry Bomb who have back pain and I've found it's most often due to poor posture. Think of it. Since your "abs" are the front anchor of your spine, if they are weak, then the other structures supporting your spine (your back muscles, for example) will have to work harder, and vice versa creating achy muscles and strains.   If you slouch there's undue stress/pressure on various bits of the spine often the lower lumbar. My prescription tends to be fairly similar to grandmas...stand up straight. Though I tend not cuff folks on the back of the head when prescribing it.  Think chest up, shoulders back, gut in and butt engaged.  Same thing when lifting...funny that?

Developing stronger core muscles (all of them, including the back) tends to alleviate most of their back woes.

So crunch away if you will but a strong core is more than just six pack abs it's a way to protect the spine!  I hear that's important but what do I know ;) My six pack isn't chiseled just useful.

9 Exercises Better Than The Crunch 

 A good core workout should strengthen the entire set of core muscles you use every day. Correct me if I'm wrong but, daily living tends to call on your muscles to work together, not in isolation.

Click to watch the video and see all 9.

Core WOD #1

 4 Rounds

20 Plank Rockers

20 Toe Touches

20 IsoHeel Touches

(optional) 20 or 1 minute high Knee Skips

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