Some fitness questionS...?

Question

1)When I do sit-up's, my lower back hurts sometimes, should I continue some more until my ab muscle hurts? which one should I risk, my back or the muslce? is there something i can do to reduce the strains?

2)To do reverse sit-up, I think I got the intructions wrong, can someone explain that one again?

3)My chest sometimes hurt after sit-up.. and I suspecting my rib bones interract my heart or something... very complicated to explain. Did I do something worng with my sit-up that may cause these problems?

4) Why do I feel hungry after doing situp? :P

Well...
is there a website that have demonstrations on the exercises?
and Now I am sure I did something wrong

Answer 1

You might want to talk to a doctor or a personal trainer at the least.

1. Are you keeping your stomach muscles tight when you do your sit-ups? They support your back. Tense your abdominal muscles tight (as if someone were punching you in the gut) while you do all ab workouts. Also, if you are experiencing back pain you should try doing crunches rather than full sit-ups. Also, don't pull on your head with your hands....pretend there is an orange between your chin and chest....don't squish it as you raise your shoulders off the ground.

2. Reverse sit up....That is when you are laying on your back with your legs bent at both the hips and knees (kind of in a ball shape) and you crunch your knees toward your shoulders instead of lifting your shoulders off the ground. REMEMBER: ab muscles tensed the whole time.

3. This is a little scary....if you have heart pain you should discontinue the exercise and consult a physician. Also, make sure you are not holding your breath and "bearing down" (like when you have a bowel movement). That causes a lot of intraabdominal pressure which can be bad for your heart.

4. I don't know....we all react differently to various workouts.....;)

Answer 2

1) You should know the difference between a good pain and a bad - and I am guessing the back is a bad pain. If this is true, you are doing something wrong and STOP! You dont need to kill your back in order for abs. Try keeping your lower back on the ground. You dont need to go all the way up to get the abs working.

2) http://www.abmat.co.uk/ex_drev_crunch.htm

3) You are probably doing something wrong...do you know how to do a sit-up properly? Talk to a doctor, or personal trainer at a gym - something isnt right.

4) Not sure - depending on how long and vigrous you do sit-ups you could burn quite a few calories. Like any time after working out, you burned calories and your body wants you to refuel.

Answer 3

1. skip situps and do lying leg raises
3. 1 will fix that
4. Not sure

Answer 4

Hi. I good trick to stop the 'lower-back pain' is to hold your breath when you come up. Take a breath, hold it on the way up, then release it once you're up. Seems to work for me anyway.