Stop sit-up exercise

The sit-up is an effective exercise for anyone who wants to train both the abdominals and hip flexors. However, it’s also been shown to impose extremely large compression forces on the discs in your spine. That’s a problem.

Bend a wire coat hanger back and forth and, eventually, it will snap. You can’t predict in advance exactly how many bends it will take before it breaks. But you know it’s going to happen sooner or later. Likewise, the discs in your spine can only tolerate so many bending cycles before the accumulated damage manifests itself in the form of pain. Sit-ups may not damage your spine right away. But each set could be moving you one step closer to a crippling back injury that keeps you out of the gym for some time.

There are also better abs exercises to choose from. In fact, certain exercises have been shown, in some studies anyway, to work the abdominal muscles harder than sit-ups. These abdominal exercises not only work your stomach muscles but they increase the strength of your stability muscles and experts and users have found that these exercises work your core harder than abs crunches or sit-ups!

The Plank
Lie face down on the ground. Lift yourself up into your elbows whilst keeping your feet on the ground toes pointing to the floor. Keep your body aligned straight, pulling in your belly button inwards. Hold this position for 30 seconds and work your way up to 90 seconds as you improve.

This exercise works all the core muscles and keeps your spine stable and straight. You will be putting less strain on your back compared to crunches or sit-ups.

Mountain Climber
Go into the push-up position either on the ground or on an exercise ball. Bend one leg towards your chest, bringing your knee up, hold for a second and lower back to the ground while keeping your back straight.

Repeat again for the other leg. Do 20 reps where raising one leg to your chest is one set.

This exercise works your core muscles as with the plank exercises. You also increase the stability workout for the muscles in your core, arms and legs if done with a stability ball.

Roll Out With Exercise Ball
Kneel on the ground in an upright position with your hands out in front of you resting on the exercise ball. Roll the ball out in front of your so that your arms are extending. Roll out as far as you can and hold for two to three seconds. While keeping your stomach pulled in and your back straight at all times, pull yourself back to the starting position.

This exercise will work your core and lower back stability muscles as well as working your abs. Although your lower back is getting a workout, it is not put under any strain.

Jackknife
Roll yourself on your stomach over an exercise ball so that your hands are shoulder length apart on the floor and your shins and feet resting on the exercise ball. Keep your arms and back straight pulling your belly button in. Roll the exercise ball towards your chest raising your hips and rounding your back. Pull the ball until your feet are on the ball. Pause and return to the start position.

Russian Twists
Sit on the ground or on an exercise ball and roll yourself onto your back. Move your feet forward so that they are at 90 degrees. Clasp your hands together and hold your hands out in front of you with your arms straight pointing to the ceiling. Roll towards the right and then to the left. This is one repetition. Do 12-15 reps. You can increase the difficulty by holding a free weight disc or kettle weight.

These five alternative abs exercises that strengthen core muscles and help you towards flattening your stomach, but this alone is not enough to get the desired results. It requires changes to your lifestyle and there are ways that don’t even involve exercise. Here are a few tips to uncovering your abs:

Eat More Fat (The Good Kind)
While some sources of fat like hydrogenated oils and lard can lead to weight gain, other sources like extra virgin olive oil and walnut oil can have the opposite effect, making them excellent tools in any flat-belly arsenal. While Olive Oil increases blood levels of serotonin, a hormone associated with satiety, walnut oil’s high polyunsaturated fatty acid content is to thank for its fat-torching powers. The fatty acid has shown to increase diet-induced calorie burn and resting metabolic rate, the calories we burn to keep our body running.

On Green Tea
In addition to its great taste and long list of health benefits, sipping green tea can make the time you log at the gym more worthwhile. A recent three-month study found that those who sip up to five cups of the brew daily and log 25 minutes at the gym lose more abdominal fat than their non-tea-drinking counterparts who also broke a sweat. What makes the drink is such a powerful flab incinerator? It’s filled with an antioxidant called Catechin that hinders the storage of belly fat.

Focus On Lean Proteins
While dairy, fresh fruits, veggies and whole grains are important elements of a healthy diet, no other food group has as big an effect on weight loss as lean proteins. Low-fat meats like white meat turkey, chicken and pork chops have been shown to boost satiety, which can reduce your daily caloric intake, fueling weight loss. Lean meats also have a high thermogenic effect, meaning your body actually burns off some of the meat’s calories as it digests. For the best flab-burning results, consume 0.8 to one gram of lean proteins per kilogram of bodyweight each day.

Get More Sleep
Believe it or not, sleeping, dieting and training are equally important when it comes to sculpting a sick set of abs. No matter how many calories you cut or miles you log, it won’t get you anywhere near your goal unless you’re also getting enough sleep. In fact, losing a mere hour of shut-eye over the course of three days has been shown to negatively impact the body’s hunger hormone, ghrelin, increasing the number of calories you’re bound to consume each day. Researchers also say that skimping on sleep increases the odds you’ll wind up munching on junk food, especially at night, which can make it difficult to get chiseled abs.

Cut Down On The Beers
There no trainer out there that can help you out-train poor nutritional and lifestyle choices, and this includes drinking alcohol. When you down a drink, be it beer, wine or liquor, your body has to break down the alcohol before it can process all the other food in your system. This slows down the metabolic process, and can make it difficult to strip away the layer of fat that’s covering your abs.

What’s more, consuming just half a drink can significantly increase appetite and the number of calories you subsequently consume, even if you still feel stone-cold sober. The bottom line: Ditch the booze if you really want to see your abs shine through.

HIIT
Everyone has abs, even if you can’t see them because they’re hidden under a layer of flab. The best way to burn off the fat and carve out abs is to add high intensity interval training (HIIT) sprints to your weekly fitness routine. If you’re looking to shed some weight, combining high calorie burning HIIT workouts with a balanced diet comprised of complex carbs, healthy fats and lean protein is a must. Sprinting builds muscle, which helps burn fat quickly. Also, the action of driving the legs initiates the abs and core. The faster you go and the shorter your recovery, the more your abs will develop.

Mix It Up
If you think juggling multiple projects at the office is challenging, wait until you try multitasking at the gym. While it’s not easy, it’s an important aspect of the flat ab equation. I’m a huge fan of exercises that work multiple body parts because they allow you to cut down on the time spent working out, torch loads of calories and are more challenging than working one body part at a time.

Doing sit-ups in hopes of getting great abs is a lot like studying for a test with the wrong set of notes. Sure, you’re working your butt off, but your efforts are misguided.