Do you really know how to do sit-ups to reduce belly fat?

Everyone wants a flat and firm belly, but the fat on the belly is rather stubborn. Sit-ups are a form of exercise that trains the abdominal muscles, so many men and women who want to lose belly fat will use sit-ups to lose weight. So how many sit-ups are appropriate?

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 place their hands at their sides to make getting up 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

To meet the physical education standard, one must do 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. Remember to exhale when you stand up, 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".

Therefore, sit-ups are not necessarily more effective the higher you stand. The correct way is to pause for a while at about 45 degrees, then slowly return to the original position to fully exercise the rectus abdominis.

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.