Situps

[Fender104]

Id first like to introduce myself im Poolie Graczyk i enlisted June 11 and I leave for san deigo on january 12. Im a senoir in high school and im graduating early so i can leave sooner. I couldn't wait till the end of the school year to go.

My Question is when doing situps dose your butt have to be at your feet or can you scoot away from your feet. The reason I ask is for some reason even though im very fit I have problems doing sit ups On my last IST i got 50, sad i know and I am working on it. I find it easyer if by butt is like a foot away from my feet is that ok.

Thanks

Poolie Graczyk

[MarinesFTW]

Well when i did my last IST people had asked and you can do it any way as long as your hands are over your arms and when you go up they touch your legs.... i dont understand how farther away could be easier??? Your making it harder on you if you do it right and your feet are right next to your butt it takes no effort at all to do sit ups.. Hell i have a gut and i can crank out 94+ every time.....

[rickyracer]

If you do them wrong,,

It will not take long before you are told that is wrong!!

[SlingerDun]

i dont understand how farther away could be easier???Here's a few reasons fish: When your legs and back are stiff and sore from hard work, when your knees ache from excessive squatting and ground pounding and when your back is out from all the above and more. When there is a WOW or lateral curve in your spine its hard to pull yourself in tight without discomfort, Sabes????

[oz-13-ms]

My name is poolee Moss, if your looking to increase your sit ups, move your heels closer to your but and hold your bisceps as far down as you can go. relax your upperbody as much as you can. (having a tense upper body will waste energy) Using this method and regular practice you can easily increase your sit ups. Practice makes perfect ofcourse so keep at it. Using these methods i cranked out 140 in 2 min without getting too tired. Strive for perfection, except nothing less then 100 sit ips in 2 mins.

[dizark]

The Cpl that is currently assisting at the recruiting station said if you want to do 100, then do 100 each night, but don't time yourself. If you do 50, then rest for a bit do 50 more, and just keep at it, you're abs will build up and you'll knock 100 out in 2 minutes.

I've started this method, and did 100 tonight. Nothing like feeling a little burn in the abs from neglect :P

[Fender104]

Yeah, Im gonna keep up just doing alittle more each day for instance today i didnt stop until i did 60 tomm i wont stop till i do 65 i try to do 3 sets a day but iv been lacking recently i should get them up hopefully to atleast 100 by the time i go to boot camp.

[brian21johansen]

Do whatever is most comfortable for you. I was always told that if you bring your butt closer to your feet that sit ups will be easier for you....well maybe that method is easiest for some people but not me. My butt is almost a foot away from my feet and I easily crank out 100 during each PFT. The same rule applies to pull ups....people say that doing them with your palms facing you is easier...well for me I can do more with my hands facing away from me. Just because one person finds a certain technique comfortable doesn't mean it will be comfortable for you. Also when doing crunches I will bang out about 35-45, rest long enough to take 4-5 deep breaths in and then bang out another 25. Then I'll rest for another 5 deep breaths and bang out whatever else I have to. Learn to pace yourself...try different techniques until you find something that works for you.

[Achped]

In the fleet, if you don't get 100 crunches, its your buddies fault ;)

However, if you don't get 100 crunches, thats pretty weak by itself. I'm telling you crunches are all about form, if you get the technique right, you will be able to crank out 100 with barely any effort on your abs. Be forewarned in the fleet you will have to grab your biceps, making the distance farther.

I agree with the poolee's cpl assisting on RA, just do 100 every night, and try your hardest not to lay down and rest, just keep a steady rhythm. I started at like 60 or something, now 100 crunches is nothing.

When I was a poolee, I would listen to a moto song, like "Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty, start the song, wait 6 seconds, then start the crunches. I'd memorized the exact second that 2:06 was in the song and that way I knew 2 minutes was up. That way I wasn't wasting time looking at my watch. Before I knew it I was at like 180 crunches in 2 minutes or something ridiculous. In boot, I was done with all my crunches before the 1 minute mark every time. There's no reason you shouldn't either.

Work on the technique. Is what I do instead of lifting my back I just try to "Crunch" my stomach and push my arms to my thighs. HArd to explain, easy to do.

[Fender104]

So dose that mean you can do pull ups any way. I was told that you can but during boot camp that its "recommended" that you do your pull ups palms way form you?

[Achped]

Do pullups whichever way nets you the most pullups. That seems like common sense to me...

[Matt Brzycki]

When you guys talk about doing 100+ sit-ups in 2 minutes, are you talking about SIT-UPS or CRUNCHES (essentially, a partial sit-up)?

When I served, we did sit-ups. I'm not even sure that there was such a thing as crunches. It certainly wasn't an option. I think the PFT now gives the option of sit-ups or crunches. Is this correct?

At any rate, doing 100 sit-ups or more in 2 minutes was pretty uncommon when I was younger. In high school, I competed in the YPF (Youth Physical Fitness) Program and you got 100 points for doing 100 sit-ups in 2 minutes. The USMC PFT gave you 100 points for 80 sit-ups in 2 minutes. (The rule for a sit-up to count, BTW, was that your forehead hadda break the imaginary plane between the top part of your knees at the top of the repetition and the bottom part of your shoulder blades hadda touch the ground at the bottom of the repetition.)

Again, it wasn't too common for someone to do 100 SIT-UPS in 2 minutes (as described above). Yet here, it seems as if everyone and their brother can do 100+. That's why I ask if this is sit-ups or crunches.

As far as placement of the butt, I'm thinkin that if your butt is too close to your heels, it makes it more difficult to do a FULL sit-up. It might make it easier to do crunches where there's no rule in having your forehead come between your knees but not in sit-ups.

Matt Brzycki
Sergeant (1975-79)

[SlingerDun]

When you guys talk about doing 100+ sit-ups in 2 minutes, are you talking about SIT-UPS or CRUNCHESIt's a hybrid but more of a crunch. When the experts say this style is better for avoiding future back problems i agree, i got them anyway but i agree. 100 MC crunches in 2 minutes is often obtainable but form suffers a bit for the sake of speed and in your day on the drill field i recall it was 80 'sit-ups' in two minutes for a perfect score. And looking back it seems form and function also suffered in favor of speed
When I served, we did sit-ups. I'm not even sure that there was such a thing as crunchesYes, guys like Arnold, Franco Columbo and Lou Ferrigno practiced crunches up the road at Gold"s Muscle Beach.

--->Dave

[Fender104]

Heres another problem i have with situps.. My tailbone gets really sore and raw i do them on carpet. any way to stop that problem..

[dizark]

wear pants.

haha on a more serious note, not sure why it is. Maybe doing it improperly. I can't recall my tailbone getting sore doing them on carpet.

[Fender104]

haha.. yeah i dont know why either.. it kinda sucks though because i cant do them alot because of it.. i dont want to start bleeding out of my butt that wouldnt look good..

hey Dizark are you goin to san deigo?

[dizark]

No I'm going to PI.

[Scottie0417]

A good tip for crunches is to do 200 at a time when you work out. That way, when you do a PFT, 100 is easy stuff. Also, when doing pullups I found it easier to do them as fast as I could. I always do mine palms facing me but once I'm tired and can't do anymore I switch my grip with palms out and can usually bust out one or two more. That's a good strategy if you're having trouble getting your 20

[Hologram]

Heres another problem i have with situps.. My tailbone gets really sore and raw i do them on carpet. any way to stop that problem..Really bad form. The best way to fix form is to do crunches. A lot. In fact, do full blown sit-ups until you're hitting your head on your knees. Remember to breathe and stay relaxed. Also try to keep your back bent forward as much as possible so you don't waste energy hitting the ground all the time. Let your back roll back to your shoulders then roll back up to your knees and just keep doing that.


As for pullups, the argument between hands facing you and facing out is that beginners tend to prefer hands in because their biceps are stronger than their upper back and they can therefore do more that way, usually. However, it takes forever and a half for your biceps to build up in comparison to your back, where more muscles are involved and therefore is relatively easier to build up. I used to do the inward grip because I could do more that way, but when one of my friends came back from boot and told me that I could improve faster with the outward grip I immediately switched over and have seen much faster improvement, just as he said.

In the end, it's totally your choice, and people get perfect scores doing it both ways. You just gotta figure out which way is right for you.