Correct way to do situps

[Guest Hazel]

Moderators, I don't know if you remember but I've been at university and not being able to take classes because lack of transport etc... Anyway I had planned now I'm back home to go to my old school for the 4 weeks left before the summer to get back into shape, spend 2 or 3 weeks there again before going back to university where I've made arrangements to join a new school. But I sprained my ankle before I left university (old injury) so I won't be able to take so many classes before the summer as I hoped.

So to get to the pount of this post seen as I really want to be somewhere close to back into shape by the time I join my new dance school in September I need to do some exercise at home. I know my weak point (or one of many!) is my stomach muscles. I'm always being told to do situps but are you supposed to delibaretly pull your stomach muscles in as you do them or not? A teacher I had said if you didn't the muscle would be built up so it curved outwards. Is this true or not? Also what's a sensible amount to do each day.

Any other stamina building exercises that I can do over the summer when there's no classes woudl be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Guest ziva cvar]

Well, I have a kindda same problem with my stomach muscles and I also have or now better to say had an ancle injury. I did a lot of situps, but then , I think it was too much, I was so tired of them that I stopped doing for a week. And when I got energy back, again a lot, and so I am in the "cercle vicieux"( sorry because I use french, but I don't know expression in english). So, do you maybe know an amount of situps per a day that is the most appropriate?

[Mel Johnson]

Don't worry about the French phrase, ziva. It comes out to practically the exact same thing in English, "vicious circle".

 

Now, to talk about situps. You can do a lot of good for yourself just by doing "crunches", which are curls of the head and shoulders toward the knees, which are kept bent and the feet flat on the floor. The only thing is that the small of the back never leaves the floor. This exercise prevents gripping of the quads in order to pull the rest of the body up. Your abdominal muscles will automatically pull in if you do it this way. When you start any new repetitive exercise like crunches or situps, do them incrementally. Start with ten/day for a week, then the next week fifteen, then twenty, forty, and so on. You shouldn't need to do more than a hundred crunches in any situation.

 

As to situps, there are two types. The first is the relatively easy curl-up, which is a crunch which continues until you lift the small of the back off the floor, and touch the points of the elbows to the knees. The problem with this one is that there is a tendency to lead with the the head and grip the neck muscles. Also to grip the quads, and that's not good. The second is more difficult. It involves lying on the floor on your back with your arms out to the sides. Sit up from the small of the back FIRST! trailing the chest, head and arms after. These are horribly difficult if you've not done them before, so only start with five a day. You should really never need any more than twenty-five situps of any kind - this is not the Army, and there, the most they ask for is fifty. Besides, we dancers have harder things to do than they do.

[Guest Hazel]

Thanks for the advice Mr Johnson. Hopefully I'll have enough willpower to keep this up all summer until it becomes a normal part of my routine.

[Guest ziva cvar]

Yeah, I will try all this. You told how to do all these exercises very precisely and I appreciate that a lot! Thanks!