advice for situps.

[hurley bird]

a month ago i could pull 200 situps in a row. Then i started doing situps every secound day. I then formed (what i think is) a new way of doing situps. I tied a rope fairly tight across my stomach where one of the "cutlines" was and then did the situps. I noticed this was quite a bit harder, especially for "sideways situps" In any case the results have been amazing to say the least. I now can do 1000 situps in a row and have a large visible "six pack". My dad is concerned about how healthy my rope treatment is and is concerned that i could damage internal organs. does anyone know if these kinds of situps are safe? or how they can be made safe? any response would be appreciated.

[BoxerScott]

Are you doing full sit-ups or just crunchs. Why I ask is because Sit-ups only strengthen your back, while crunchs are the ones that focus on your abs. Also, getting a 6-pack is 90% what you eat and 10% working-out the abs. I'm not sure if tieing a rope will do damage or not. I depends on how hard you tied it. I don't believe it would do any serious damage if it was somewhat loose

[crash]

boxerscott is right, your abs are used in pretty much everything you do, so they're getting worked all the time, getting them to show is 90% diet. as far as tying a rope around them, I was reading an article in some magazine(cant remember which one, maybe someone else read it and can comment further) about something similar, it was testing how muscle growth is affected by lack of oxygen, preliminary results were outstanding but not enough testing has been done to know if it is safe. if this is what you are doing then it could possibly cause damage in the long run. instead of taking that chance it would be better to focus on crunches(without the rope) and diet.

[IAMA_chick]

hmmm. i dunna, but how do you tie a rope on your stomache? i might try it.

[hurley bird]

Are you doing full sit-ups or just crunchs."

 

Full situp, but with the rope you can feel your abs burn fairly easily as well... think i'll try crunches but it may be harder as the rope restricts movement.

getting a 6-pack is 90% what you eat and 10% working-out the abs.

 

what type of diet would you suggest or this?

as far as tying a rope around them, I was reading an article in some magazine(cant remember which one, maybe someone else read it and can comment further) about something similar, it was testing how muscle growth is affected by lack of oxygen, preliminary results were outstanding but not enough testing has been done to know if it is safe. if this is what you are doing then it could possibly cause damage in the long run. instead of taking that chance it would be better to focus on crunches(without the rope) and diet.

 

Mainly it seems to just make it harder to do the situp, it probably would block blood (and oxygen) as well... what type of results do "outstanding" mean?

hmmm. i dunna, but how do you tie a rope on your stomache? i might try it.

 

I find where the cutline is and then just tie it tightly around the stomach... can take a while to get it right...

[nathanjusko]

The thing with the rope might work for strength only because you are isolating your abs more than your back in your previous sit-up workouts. Your abs have much more potential to get stronger than your lower back(much larger muscle group). Also you are probably cutting off their oxygen supply, thus forcing them to go into anaerobic respiration much more quickly than normal. Anaerobic is what makes your muscles burn if you do a lot of sit-ups or kicks or anything involving muscles, and also what causes you to feel somewhat sore the next day because you actually have acid in your muscle cells. Forcing them to go to an anaerobic state more quickly can possibly result in more muscle growth and strength gains, however, for every positive there is a negative (just how this world works) and you do a lot of damage to your muscles and the cells around them (vital organs, etc.) since your muscle cells respond with greater amounts of protein and growth this isn't a bad thing for them, however, your stomach or other cells don't respond this way and you could be damaging them very badly. I wouldn't continue doing this sort of sit-up if i were you, rather focus more on doing crunches and doing variations of them (reverse, horizontal leg twists, hanging leg raises, etc.).

 

p.s. that article was in muscle and fitness magazine dealing with anaerobic growth involving cutting off the circulation to a certain muscle part

 

p.s.s for the person who responded before me, it is infinite not infinant, hope not to discourage your inflated ego

[hurley bird]

thatnks for the reply, I hope i havent damaged anything... could you go into further detail on the risks involved in this sort of exercise?

[theswarm]

ummm whoever said it was 90% diet - that is the biggest load of crap i've ever heard.

 

You will get cut abdominals from a variety of things, genetics, diet is a player in it yes, how you work them out, how often you work them out, how you use your abs in your daily life (related to working them out).

 

An example:

 

I had a six pack at the age of 15, I had no idea how I got it at the time - but i have this weird feeling (and feel free to discount this stupid theory) that it was when I was a kid i used to always do silly stomach things like push my stomach out and pretend I was ET, and then i used to do that wave thing with my stomach ( i think these may have played some part) but the most important thing I did when I was younger was ride my bike and swim LOTS, swimming works EVERYTHING, bike riding works your abs, your back, your grip, your thighs and calfs - these two activities.

 

They were totally cut abs, my diet wasn't very good - all I ate was what my parents fed me which was the usual red meat and veg type diet, too many sweets etc.

 

When I was 18 I went vegetarian - (almost 4 years later) I'm now vegan. My diet is very very well balanced because I cook for myself and keep what I eat in check. I eat really healthy, loads of fruit- heaps of vegetables, etc. While my physique has changed my sixpack is almost exactly the same as I remember it, possibly a little more cut because I work out way more than I did when I was 15-20.

 

I totally changed my diet and my sixpack changed very little.

 

Genetics would've played a small part- but given no one else in my family has a six pack - and the builds of the people in my family are all pretty different.

 

The most important workouts for your abs I would say are exercises where you don't go out of your way to actually do your abs but are doing other things which benefit your abs, second to this are lying on your ground doing leg ups, third being crunches, and I did alot of situps before i knew about crunches and leg ups (When i was a kid) but I don't do situps anymore because they are too easy.

 

I'm not a dietician or a trainer but the way I eat in regards to training at home is: I eat lots of energy foods during the day (talking fruit here)

 

then I usually have a high protein meal 30-40 mins before training (don't go too close to your training here or you'll regret it hehe), during training taking in a bit of water but not too much water (or once again your stomach will hate you), then after training I usually eat a high protein meal 40-60 mins after training, if you can't get to a high protein meal for whatever reason - make a big smoothie. I was always under the impression the pain you get the next day which I used to get before I ate this way was to do with your body needing something, I found eating this way would reduce that pain by heaps.

 

once again I am not a dietician, what works for me might not work for you - ask a dietician/personal trainer

[BoxerScott]

ummm whoever said it was 90% diet - that is the biggest load of crap i've ever heard.

Then I guess you know more than licensed fitness professionals and instructors ...

 

I will make a thread later on how to achieve a 6 pack for those interested. And yes, it is diet, working out your abs (it only strengthens the ab muscles) is completely useless if you have a layer of fat covering them (this means you can't see them)....

 

You also have to do a lot of cardio to get your body fat down into the 13% range....

[hurley bird]

well... I'm only sixteen, i'm pretty skinny but TKD and Track and field, sports, and weigtlifting have probably dirven my body fat below 13%.

 

Is the diet's only purpose in getting the 6-pack to loose body fat? if so i find normal exercise does this fairly well... genetics would probably play apart in how much excerise and how much diet you need.