How to Do Sit Ups CORRECTLY for Ripped, Powerful Abs

Abs! Everyone wants them. And we do all kind of need them. After all, without them, we would instantly snap backwards under the force of our spinal erectors. Which would be horrific and disgusting.

But how do you get them? That is: how do you get developed looking abs that would be at home on the cover of Men’s Health. Or Women’s Health.

A lot of people will tell you that the answer isn’t sit ups. In fact, they’ll be quite vocal about it and may claim you’re going to injure your spine or just waste your time.

They would be wrong. There’s a reason that the sit up is the first thing that comes to mind when most people think of ab training. You’ve just got to make sure you do it right.

Are Sit Ups a Good Exercise? Yes.

Let’s start by defending sit ups. Why is it people don’t like them, to start with?

One issue, is that the sit up appears not to train the abs in the most sensible way. When people talk about “ab training” they are typically referring to the rectus abdominis – the sheet of muscle covering the center of the core that is segmented to give the appearance of a six pack.

The thing is, this muscle actually works all day to keep the body upright. As I alluded to earlier, it’s primary function is not to flex the spine but rather to keep it straight via an equal push-and-pull with the spinal erectors. Therefore, the claim goes, the best way to train the core is with bracing exercises like your planks, your cat-camels, your dead bugs, your hollow body holds.

I’m not against this kind of training. In fact, I like it! But I do both. Because this exclusionary line of thinking is flawed in a number of ways.

For one: the fact that your core spends all-day bracing is precisely why doing more bracing isn’t going to give you dramatic results. Sure, planks and side planks and what-have-you are excellent for creating beneficial movement patterns and learning good movement mechanics. Have issues with your pelvic alignment? Not contracting your glutes? Then this stuff is great.

By training your transverse abdomens, which wraps around your core like a brace, they’ll even give you a flatter stomach. But they won’t give you that six pack look.

Only by taking your abs through a range of motion against greater-than-usual resistance will you see some changes. And this is why you can feel the abs burn after doing enough sit ups.

And this also translates to a ton of useful movement. You flex your abs rapidly during flips for example – you’ll feel it if you ever spend a day training backflips. You also use your abs when pushing or pulling. And when throwing, or throwing a punch. You don’t just brace the core: it contributes force.

And for those saying that “you just have to lose weight to see your abs…” this is also flawed. I can prove in one second that bigger, stronger, abs will give you a more visible six pack. It’s the difference between contracting and not contracting in front of the mirror.

Sure, your abs might be somewhat visible if you have low-enough body fat. But the same is true about your bicep. Everyone has biceps and if you have sub 10% body fat, you might even get a bicep vein or two. But if you want powerful looking arms, you still need to curl. Same goes for abs and sit ups. I can’t remember who said this first (sorry) but it’s a great point.

Are Sit Ups Bad for You?

The other criticism that people level at the sit up is that it must be bad for your spine.

Part of this argument is that sit ups involve flexing the spine under resistance. A lot of people assume that’s bad, because they assume anything involving the spine is highly dangerous.

This is, of course, nonsense. The spine is meant to flex and we actually flex it all the time. Even the best deadlifter in the world is going to round their back a little when picking up a kid or a box.

And, like I said, all manner of gymnastics activities involve flexing the spine. Try doing a backflip without bending your back! The rapid force of bringing the legs to the chest here is precisely the same as a sit up.

A slightly more legitimate argument is that sit ups encourage you to hoist yourself up with momentum, often by placing unnecessary load on the lower back. And, often, completely missing the point by engaging the hip flexors instead of the core. There’s also a risk of pulling on your neck and hurting yourself that way.

This is also why you’ll hear a lot of people claiming that the sit up is really “easy.” Anyone advanced can do hundreds of sit ups… right?

How to Do Sit Ups Correctly

None of these things are issues with the sit up itself. Rather, they are issues with doing it incorrectly.

This is the root of the problem. Watch most people doing a sit up and they’ll do it by hurling themselves upward from that bottom position. Momentum carries them the rest of the way – the strength curve, here, is completely botched.

So, next time, try removing momentum entirely. Instead, get into the sit up position and lower yourself by unfurling (what a great word) one vertebrae at a time. Then do the same thing in reverse.

Use your abs and NOT your hips. One way to know if you’re overly relying on your hips is if your feet are coming off the ground. Keep your feet down flat, control the movement, and contract your core as you go.

Let me guess? It’s not so easy now, is it! Now that is a sit up.

Suddenly, Mr “I can do thousands of these!” Might not be so cocky.

In fact, you might not be able to do any like this. In that case, you can straighten your arms in front of you to make it a bit easier. OR you can do a crunch instead. A crunch is simply a sit up where you’re focussing more on rolling your abs and less on bringing yourself all the way up. Once you can crunch no further, that’s a rep.

Sit Up Progressions and Variations

If the sit up is still too easy… no problem! There are plenty of ways you can make it harder, still. One is to hold a weight of some sort. At the gym, you can use a cable machine and crunch down against resistance. Or use the ab crunch resistance machine.

Trust me: this strategy will give you abs MUCH faster than various holds. It’s the difference between holding a light dumbbell at 90 degrees or doing 12 sets of heavy dumbbell curls for the biceps. No brainer.

One of my favourite variations is to put a stick behind my head but infront of my hands. The focus is NOT to pull on the head. This isolates the abs by removing any momentum you can create with your arms and it’s diabolically difficult.

Fun fact: when I met my ex-military bodyguard step granddad – who got me into this kind of training – this was one of the first challenges he gave me. That was the start of a beautiful Mr Miyagi-and-Daniel type relationship.

You can also do this on a decline bench, legs wrapped around the top, and maybe throw in a twist as well to hit the obliques. I’ve seen Sylvester Stallone do this one, too!

Another beastly option is to hang completely upside down. This is challenging, yes, but it also changes the strength curve meaning you have more resistance at the most flexed position – rather than the halfway point as normal.

Conversely, you can lean over a Bosu Ball or similar in order to get a larger range of motion and contract the abs at a more extended position. This is called a Myotatic Crunch and I first learned this one reading Tim Ferris’s. It can double as a nice form of mobility training for the thoracic spine.

So, yeah. Leave the sit up alone. The sit up is beautiful.

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