Situp is a great exercise for our abdominal area, which often gets neglected. Many army regiments around the world have situps in their recruitment test along with running and pushups.
So, this tells us that situps are a great exercise. But one question that pops up, in the beginning, is how many situps should I do in a day. Should you do 1000 sit-ups to get some abs gain or 100 situps is good?
Well, if you have these questions in your mind then don’t worry in this article you will get all the answers to these. So, let’s start…
How many situps in a day?
How many situps in a day depends on person to person and their fitness level.
- A person with a strong core can do 400 situps in a day, whereas a beginner can only be able to do 100 situps max.
- But as an average, if you are a beginner anything above 50 is a good number for you.
The numbers matter less in situps than a proper form.
One can do 500 situps in a day but he might get tired in 200 but did an extra 300 anyway with the wrong form or momentum.
The number of situps also depends on whether you do them daily or you do them twice or once a week with other exercises.
So, let’s discuss how many situps you should do if you are planning to do them daily.
However, I don’t recommend doing situps daily as might overtrain your abs.
- But if you are doing situps for some other purpose or training, then it is the best idea to start with low numbers but good form.
- You can start as low as 40 situps in a day with proper form. The key here is to maintain the form and you can do that by cutting down the reps in sets.
But here comes the main part.
- If you do situps daily, then it is important to prevent your body from the same motion and reps.
- It means, that on the second day, you can increase the number of situps. You don’t have to double your situps, increasing 5 to 10 situps daily will do the work.
“It doesn’t matter how you get the reps, it can be by adding an extra set of 10 reps or adding 2 reps more in every set. All that matters is to increase the reps to not let your body used to the same quantity, else it will not shock the muscles.”
Remember, you don’t have to do all reps in one. All that matters is form and increase in reps, it doesn’t matter if you increase 5 reps every day.
Now let’s talk about how many reps you should do if you do them twice a week.
- I’m assuming that you have slotted a specific day for training your abs with other exercises.
- Situps are not the only exercise to train your abs. Situps can only target your upper abs. But still, you have to do other exercises to hit the lower abs.
So, if you are giving a specific day to your abs then situps should not be the only option in your workout plan.
The best thing is that if you do other abs exercises along with situps, your reps and core strength will increase.
But lets focus on how many reps you should do.
- Well, you can go as high as 400 reps for situps on abs day, 200 is the sweet spot as it can leave you some fuel to do other exercises.
- Most people should stick with 200 reps of Situps. Going over that makes no sense if you are doing other abs exercises as well.
- 400 is only good if your core strength is super strong and you don’t break much sweat in 200 reps.
- However, do know that doing more reps is a waste of energy if your form is incorrect.
Related: Floor exercises for Abs : 13 effective exercises
Do you get abs by doing more situps?
Many people think that doing more situps will get you those abs. Well, the truth is it doesn’t. But why?
- The main reason is that doing sit-ups will make your belly wide but the fat around your belly will be there even after doing sit-ups.
- The only way to get abs is by reducing body fat percentage below 10. If you have a body fat percentage of more than 15%, then you can not see those abs even if you decide to do 400 sit-ups daily.
On top of that, situps only burn a few calories and the only way to reduce fat is by going through a calorie deficit.
You can check most situps world records here- World Sit-ups record
So, the only way to see those abs by doing situps is if you eat a balanced diet, reduce your calorie intake, and do other exercises along with sit-ups.
- It is a myth that you can lose weight on a specific part of your body by performing a specific exercise for that exact part.
- But in reality, your body burns fat when you do an intense workout, and it doesn’t matter what type of exercise you are doing, whether it’s bench press or lifting heavy deadlifts, you will lose fat from everywhere and not from a specific part of the body.
- Our body burns fat from the entire body. However, sometimes fat gets stored in specific parts of our body, for example on the belly if you are a man.
- This stored fat takes more time to burn. But it will burn if you continuously involve yourself in intense workouts, and eat well.
But you might be thinking what is the benefit of doing situps if does not do anything?
- Well, that is not actually the case. If you do everything correctly then situps can help your abs to be more visible and can make them thick.
- On top of that, your core strength will increase which ultimately means good posture.
- You will also get help in lifting weights if you have a good core. Exercises that include heavy lifting, can become easy for you if your core is strong. You will be more likely to lift a deadlift without bending your core.
On the downside, doing situps in the wrong way can really mess up your spine or lower back.
- Most people force themselves or take advantage of the momentum to complete situps, which is a completely wrong way.
- By doing this regularly you can really put your back in a bad situation.
So, let’s discuss how can you perform proper situps.
How to perform proper situps?
Here are some things that you should consider before doing sit-ups.
- First, make sure to get your feet stable. You can put a dumble on your feet or taking the help of a person is always a good idea.
- Now, lie down with both feet at a normal distance. Make sure your feet remain stable during a movement else it will ruin your form and can lead to rubbing of your back.
- Now, make sure your core is tight. Never start doing situps without making your core tight. If you are finding it hard to tighten your core, then practice by doing planks.
- Now, go up with your hand beside your head. You can also leave your hand straight if you want. The key here is to keep your neck, head, and back absolutely straight. Don’t, bend your back or perform the rep by using momentum, else it will lead to back problems in the long run.
- You can perform the rep slowly, but never bend your core or back, neck, and head when you do Situps.
- Lastly, breathe in when you come down and exhale when you get up. Always avoid resting between the reps. Never rest at the top or when you lay down, you have to keep your core tight during a whole set.
