Incline Sit-Up - Abdominal Exercise

The incline sit-up is an exercise that trains your upper and lower abdominal muscles. If you don't have an incline sit-up bench, you can use a normal flat bench, elevate one side and ask a training partner to support your legs. Find more abdominal exercises at weight training and bodybuilding.

• Sit onto the sit-up bench and hook your feet under the foot pads. Put your fingers around your ears. Don't pull your head with your hands. The fingers just rest on the sides of your head or support your neck a little. Start with your upper body close to vertical level and round your back. Your back remains round throughout the entire exercise.
• Now lower your upper body, keep your back round and your abdominals tight. Stop shortly before you reach the point where you can't keep your back round anymore. For most people that's just before you reach horizontal level. However, some people are able to move down until the lower back touches the bench. Keep in mind that your upper back and your shoulder blades should not touch the bench. Never hollow your back. Move down slowly and inhale at the same time. The down-motion should be a little slower than the up-motion.
• Then move back up again and exhale at the same time. Shortly before you reach vertical level, round your back even more, squeeze your abdominals and eject all the air you have in your lungs.

Advice

• Never hollow your back.
• Don't press air when you do incline sit-ups.
• I recommend 3 sets of 15 to 30 repetitions. If it's too hard for you to do more than 15 repetitions, you can cross your arms on your chest or put your hands on your hips. If you think you can easily do more than 30 reps, you have to move slower or lower. It's usually not necessary to hold a weight on your chest.
• Squeeze your abdominals at the highest point of the movement.

Suggestions

• Abdominal Crunch
• Cable Abdominal Crunch
• Leg Raise
• Air Bike for the Abdominals
• Barbell Side Bend
• Dumbbell Side Bend
• The Abdominal Muscles

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