How to use the sit-up board

We all know that sit-ups are a great way to exercise. . Lie on your back with your legs together and your hands raised. Contract your abdominal muscles and swing your arms forward. Quickly sit down. Continue to bend your upper body forward, touch your feet with your hands, and lower your head. Then return to a sitting position. This process continues. Now there are special sit-up boards that can make sit-ups more standardized and more thorough. So, how do you use the sit-up board? Let me introduce it to you!

1. Position of hands

In traditional sit-ups, the fingers of both hands are crossed and placed behind the head. During the process of sitting up, people often use the strength of their hands to lift their head, which can easily cause strain on the neck muscles. The correct way is to cross your arms in front of your chest, and when you sit up, you should use your abdomen rather than your arms. Generally speaking, the closer your hands are to your head, the harder it is to stand up. If you want to increase the difficulty, you can stack your hands behind your head. Be careful not to point your elbows forward when standing up, but try to stretch them out to both sides. Beginners of sit-ups can also

Keep your hands at your sides to make rising easier.

2. Point of force

Traditional sit-ups require your feet to be fixed, which puts more pressure on your thighs and hip flexors and reduces the role of your abdominal muscles. When the external force increases, people tend to use their hips to complete the sit-up movement, which can easily cause damage to the waist and coccyx. Therefore, when using external force, you should pay attention to using moderate force.

3. Speed

The physical fitness standard requires doing more than 30 sit-ups within 1 minute, so many people think that sit-ups require speed. In fact, the faster the speed, the less pressure the abdominal muscles will be. The correct method is to slow down as much as possible and exercise the control ability of the abdominal muscles. When you stand up, remember to exhale so that the deeper abdominal muscles can be exercised at the same time.

4. Standing height

After standing up from a traditional sit-up, you need to let your forehead touch your knees before returning to the original position. That is, the upper body quickly rises from a lying position to about 90 degrees. In fact, the burden on the rectus abdominis has not reached the heaviest stage before rising to 45 degrees. Because in this starting phase, there is a synergistic effect of the sternocleidomastoid muscle, pectoralis major, intercostal muscles, psoas minor, psoas major and iliacus muscles. When the angle exceeds 45-90°, the "resistance arm" from the upper center of gravity to the hip fulcrum continues to shorten, the burden of the "crane effect" played by the abdominal muscles becomes smaller and smaller, and the burden on the rectus abdominis does not reach the heaviest. Only when the upper body is raised to 45 degrees is the best time for the rectus abdominis to "resistance growth function".

5. Number of exercises and sets

Sit-ups are relatively easy compared to other exercises, but they also need to be practiced step by step, otherwise it is easy to cause muscle strain and it will be difficult to persist in the long term. When you first start, you can try 5"/set, and then add one more set each time you practice. When you increase it to 15"/set, you can try adding one more set, and gradually reach 3 sets per exercise.

Now everyone knows how to use the sit-up board! But it is also important to note that you should gradually increase the number of sit-ups and do them slowly. It is recommended that for people under 30 years old, the best sit-up performance should be 45-60/minute; at the age of 30, it is best to do 35-40/minute; at the age of 40, it should be around 35/minute; at the age of 50, you should strive to reach 25-30/minute.