Thread: Any tips on increasing situp numbers?

I am doing pretty good, currently at 46 situps, but I have absolutely reached a plateau. I am not burned out at the end, I can keep going and do 60 or so, but not in that 60 seconds. I feel that my technique is pretty good: I sit up to 90 degrees, and then fall back down instead of lowering myself, and repeat. Does anyone have any tips to increase my speed, so that I can pull out more than 46? I'd love to be in the 50+ range.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Do them with a 5 lb plate held to your chest and work up to a 10 lb plate. After a couple of weeks, test yourself again. You should see some improvement!

Don't go over 20 lbs as you don't want any injuries.

Originally Posted by dmclark

Do them with a 5 lb plate held to your chest and work up to a 10 lb plate. After a couple of weeks, test yourself again. You should see some improvement!

Don't go over 20 lbs as you don't want any injuries.

That's a great idea, I never considered adding weight. Thanks!

Implement "muscle confusion." Google the term and look for variations on sit ups. I used the P90X sit up progam. It worked wonders.

Along the lines of the muscle confusion advice, you may want to add inclined situps to your workout rotation, as well as crunches and other ab exercises using an exercise ball or other equipment that allow for more extension than a regular situp. I'd also work on superman exercises and back extensions. Variety and working a wide range of ab muscles, along with adding light weights into the mix on your situps, should do wonders for you. Like anything else, moderate gains are what you want rather than injuring yourself by adding extreme amounts of weight or range of motion.

Learn to throw yourself back down while keeping your butt anchored to the floor. Your reps will get much faster as your cycle time per rep decreases and you get some rebound off the floor.

Do sets of setup sprints. Go all out for 20 seconds, rest for 10. Repeat 5 times. Build from there.

Last night I went 100% all out, and stuck at 45 again, but then I followed it up 1 minute later with 61 pushups, so at least they are both decent numbers. I will take the advice in this thread, and general increase my situp workouts to try to have that number crest 50.

You can do that! Remember, you're looking for incremental additions. The last thing you want is a pulled groin muscle or worse. Train hard, but train smart. Keep us updated!

Lots of people fail to keep their knees at 90 degrees. That's really the optimal position. Too tight and it is hard to finish the rep, too open and it is hard to start it. Make sure you keep that angle.

Great idea on form. Nothing is more disheartening than hearing the monitor saying 22, 22, 22, 22. They just won't count those that aren't done to protocol!

grunt, I took your advice and focused on slamming my back down, pivoting on my butt, and it seemed to work well. I just did 4 sets of 25, at full speed.

One question on this, when I train, I use a yoga mat, to help absorb when I'm slamming my back down, as well as protecting my lower back/tail bone. Are we given this luxury during a PFT, or is it absolutely going to be on a gym floor or other rock-hard surface? I am pretty sure grass would be fine, but it's going to suck slamming my back down on a hard floor. I guess for 60 seconds of my life, I'll just deal with it if need be!

At Quantico you will have a mat for situps. Pushups may be conducted on a less comfortable surface. I'm not sure because they have built some new facilities since I was there.

Im sure the guy counting your sit ups was in your shoes at one time big dog and nobody wants to slam their head off a gym floor or concrete. Im sure a mat or some grass will be where it takes place. Now for your sit up problem. Try this alright because in the Corps you need a 100 in 2 mins and I get it everytime. You want 60ish in a min. Set up 20 20 and 20. Do 20 focusing on your left abs 20 on the right then use both sets for the remaining 20. Make sure when using this teq. that you touch both shoulder blades down and elbows touch your knees. Dont cheat yourself. Its not about how strong you are its the teq you use because we got some gym rats here and they only get 70 or 75. Work on whats best for you.

One caveat to the above, you have to push your elbows past your knees on the FBI test or you will never get the base of your neck past the base of your spine, which is the standard.