Sit-Up and Crunches Question

[EnbyFitness]

Hi all, I'm new to the community and have a question: What's the deal with sit-ups?

I see a lot of Darebee workouts and challenges have sit-ups, but when I look online, I see people saying they're not really a good ab exercise, mostly working your hip as you push yourself forward, and that they're bad for your back. Crunches seem to be better, but only marginally. A lot of spaces have phased these exercises out due to these issues.

I'm new to all this stuff, and I'm totally open to being wrong. I'm just wondering if sit-ups and crunches are good exercises, and if they're safe to do in higher reps. Thank you in advance!

 

[Damer]

@EnbyFitness this is a great question. There is some controversy around most exercises, mostly for two reasons: A. They way they are performed B. By whom they are performed. Sit ups and crunches flex the spine, this is a necessary and natural movement to strengthen the abs and maintain spine health and biomechanically we are designed for it. At the same time, like with every form of exercise, we can get injured if we don't perform it properly (a lot of people new to it use their hands to pull their head and this puts unnecessary pressure on the back of the neck) or if we overdo it (exercise is a physical stressor that causes discomfort to the muscles which then respond with localized inflammation that leads to adaptations which result in an improvement in strength and capability) we can end up with repetitive strain injuries.

Darebee workouts are field-tested on volunteer groups for up to three months before release. These volunteer groups are comprised by people of different ages and abilities. We always say the same thing: listen to your body. Understand how it works and be kind to it and be patient with it. Push it gently. Give it time to develop strength and ability. Recover properly. That way you're always safe no matter what you do and you always keep on improving.

I hope this helps.

 

[Deadoks]

I always do crunches out of situps by habit.
So you can just do like this no problem.

Damer is right, situps are alright if you do them good. The only problem is that situps are not easy to realise good are not forgiving if you do them wrong. So by default I do crunches and when I gave lessons I did crunches it's just safer for all age students.

 

[Marzattack]

I always do sit-ups, crunches I do in bed before getting up. I often do sit-ups with a 12lb BB plate on me chest for 30 reps.

 

[Maegaranthelas]

I used to be very good at sit-ups, but I'm no longer any good at them (yay health stuff) and they often feel kinda bad to do.
So I usually substitute with high-crunches or other ab exercises that challenge the entire front chain. There is no shame in substituting if an exercise feels wrong to your body!