Sit-ups Vs curls, which is more abdominal training?

It is often said, "fitness training abs, do not do sit-ups, to do curls!" Where exactly are these two different? You will not say just the name it ......

A difference between sit-ups and curly belly

01. posture difference

The first thing to understand is where the difference between sit-ups and curls.

The sit-up is up when the upper body is completely off the ground, as students who have taken sit-ups as children know, simply by the abdominal muscles to bend the torso, can not completely sit up.

This leads us to do sit-ups with the strength of the legs and iliopsoas muscles to sit up, or even hold our head with our hands to rely on the strength of our hands to lift the upper body.

The curl, on the other hand, requires the lower back to be on the ground throughout the process, thus giving the upper body a feeling of curling upward, hence the name curl.

The biggest difference lies in whether the hip joint is fixed or not.

In terms of movement, when doing sit-ups, the entire back is off the ground, as if lifting the chest towards the knees, while when doing curls, only the upper back is off the ground and the hip joints are kept fixed.

02. The degree of damage to the body

When comparing the two, there is no doubt that sit-ups cause more damage to the body than curls.

Because if you do sit-ups with the legs, it will increase the burden on your back.

Even with bent legs to do, the pressure on the lumbar spine will be much higher than the curl, and long-term training will inevitably lead to damage to the lumbar spine and other places.

And the traditional sit-up position is to hold the head with both hands, so the abdominal weakness of the hands will involuntarily press the head forward, thereby increasing the pressure on the neck.

And rolled abdomen because the lower back waist against the ground, so will not produce much damage to the lumbar spine. Hands-on the ears or the chest will not give pressure on the neck.

03. the degree of training for the abdominal muscles

Many people like to do sit-ups when the feet are fixed (let others press or find something else to press) so that the thigh muscles and hips will be involved in the movement, resulting in a reduced force on the abdominal muscles.

And the displacement of the sit-ups is too long, and some of the movement trajectories will allow the pressure to transfer from the abdomen to the hips, resulting in the abdomen is not the whole force, reducing the difficulty of training.

Curls require the upper back to be off the ground the whole time to better train the abdominal muscles. Of course, if the force is exhausted, restoring the back to the ground is also possible.

Second, curly belly how to do

If you want to train your abs vest, honestly, it is almost impossible to rely on a single movement.

But for the lack of exercise and lack of waist and abdominal strength, to improve abdominal strength, you can start with the basic abdominal roll.

01. posture analysis

Supine curl posture analysis: the same as the sit-ups, first lying flat on the ground, the back is always close to the ground, only the shoulder blades off the ground, and the upper body rolls.

Training process: under the premise of ensuring that the lower back is close to the ground, the upper body will be bent to the limit after a pause of one or two seconds to resume the flat position, to ensure the efficient contraction of the upper part of the rectus abdominis muscle, remember to curl and exhale during the process, resume lying flat when inhaling, so repeatedly practice.

Training response: the whole action is completely driven by the contraction and extension of the abdominal muscles to complete, really focus the power on the abdominal muscles. You will feel strong abdominal contractions and the feeling of soreness and swelling.

02. curl misconceptions

(1) curl the abdomen to the lower, pay attention to maintain the continuous contraction of the abdominal muscles, slowly put down, and do not the whole body weight "smashed" to the ground.

(2) curl when not fast and furious force, to increase the difficulty can hold the weight in front of the chest, otherwise easy to injury.

03. points to note

1) bend the torso

Can not be a straight waist curl to ensure that the bent torso, is not a straight waist. Because straight-waisted sit-ups do not use the abdominal muscles.

2) bend the legs

Curl you need to flex your legs because this is a better training effect on the rectus abdominis and lower abdominal muscle groups

3) Legs not fixed

The legs are not fixed curl, and the training effect on the rectus abdominis upper, rectus abdominis lower, and lower abdominal muscle groups, are much better than fixed.

Three, Q & A

Q: Why do I do so long abdominal training, but still can not see the abdominal muscle?

A: This may be a problem that many people encounter, it is likely that there is too much fat on the abdomen to cover the muscle, resulting in the abdominal muscle line can not appear.

So you don't just need plyometric training for the abdomen (plyometric training only makes the abdomen firm, not the belly), you also need to work with cardio and diet to lose fat.