How to Do a Basic Sit Up

Co-authored by Laila Ajani

Last Updated: December 18, 2023 Approved

Doing sit-ups is a quick way to get stronger abdominal muscles. However, they must be done properly to avoid any injury to your spine and the neck and head muscles. In addition, sit-ups are about using the abdominal region (the abdominals). Therefore, close attention must be paid to ensuring that you are not compensating by using other parts of your body to perform sit-ups, as this will diminish the effectiveness of the sit-up and may cause injury to your body. It is not as harsh as it sounds - always, always focus on the abs and you are most of the way there.

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This allows you a central rising point.

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Keeping your heels on the ground and your toes flat to the ground, slowly and gently lift your head first, followed by your shoulder blades. Focus your eyes on your bent knees, all the while gently contracting the abdominal muscles. Pull up from the floor until you are at a ninety-degree angle, or when the elbows are on, or past, the knees.
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Slowly bring the torso back to the floor but try to keep it slightly elevated off the ground. This means not to place your back flat to the ground but to keep a slight, yet relaxed, arch.
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Only do two to three if you are a beginner and slowly build up the amount over time, as your strength increases. Then hopefully you will lose weight, too!

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Do you have any advice for doing situps without hurting my tailbone?

Laila Ajani
Fitness Trainer
Laila Ajani is a Fitness Trainer and founder of Push Personal Fitness, a personal training organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. With over 13 years as a trainer and exercise specialist, Laila has expertise in competitive athletics (gymnastics, powerlifting, and tennis), personal training, distance running, and Olympic lifting. Laila is certified by the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA), and USA Powerlifting (USAPL), and she is a Corrective Exercise Specialist (CES).

Laila Ajani

Fitness Trainer

Expert Answer

Here are two important tips for performing sit-ups without causing discomfort to your tailbone: Firstly, ensure proper body positioning. Instead of initiating the sit-up by lifting your upper body immediately, focus on tucking your hips in. Imagine bringing the front part of your hips closer to your chin, rounding your back. This adjustment activates your abdominal muscles and safeguards your tailbone. Secondly, concentrate on using your abdominal muscles and keeping your back against the floor as you rise, preventing any arching that might undo the initial hip tuck. Following these steps will help protect your tailbone during sit-ups.

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Tips

If you're having a hard time keeping the balls of your feet or heels on the ground keep at it, try asking a friend to keep them down. You can also find a heavy object (such as a sofa chair) and place your feet under it. This will give you support when attempting to bring yourself up.

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Moderation is the key to any abdominal exercise since the abs are literally the center of the body. If you think about it, in everything you do in daily life (walk, run, sit, stand, reach up for something, etc.) you have movement at or through your abs. With that in mind, be aware that if you overdo the sit-ups (or any abdominal exercise) you run the risk of ruining your next day with pain in the abdominal region. If you are a beginner, start out slowly and gradually do more.

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If you need help getting up ask a friend or a family member to stand on your feet. Tell you family member or friend to not stand too hard.

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Warnings

Avoid doing sit-ups if you have been diagnosed with osteoporosis. Bending your spine in the sit-up position places increased stress on your bones and can put you at risk for a stress fracture.

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Do not commit the common mistakes of sit-ups:
- If you choose to get your hands out of the way by putting them behind your head, make sure you don't push your head forward while lifting your torso. There is a natural tendency to do this since it helps you lift up and the tendency will increase as your abs get tired. However, the push on your head will strain the muscles in the neck. If you deal with your arms in another way, still try to keep your head out of the exercise.
- Don't try to put your forehead on your knees. The higher you come off the ground the better, but only to a certain extent. If your back is starting to curl (namely, you could be considered as being in a humpback position if you were standing), you will be placing too much strain on your lower back.
- If you can't keep your feet on the ground and haven't secured them properly, you will be spending extra effort to do so during the sit-up. Unfortunately, this effort will originate in the thighs, which isn't the target of a sit-up. In some people the thighs might give up before the abs, rendering the whole exercise completely useless.
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Keep in mind that the only way to build muscle is to push the muscle beyond its endurance limits. But if you do so many sit-ups to the point that you start to feel a stinging sensation on your abdominals, you have done too much. Your form will start to deteriorate and you won't be performing a proper sit-up.

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