Sit-ups are an important part of physical exercise, and some people even misunderstand them as helping to reduce abdominal fat.

The main function of sit-ups is to strengthen abdominal muscles. If done correctly, sit-ups can not only improve the elasticity of abdominal muscles, but also protect the back and improve the posture. On the other hand, if not done well, sit-ups are not only a waste of time, but even harmful.

According to Stamford (1997), the correct way to do sit-ups is to lie on the floor mat, with your knees bent about 90 degrees and your feet flat on the ground. Don't fix your feet on the flat ground (for example, your partner presses your ankles with his hands), otherwise the flexors of thighs and buttocks will also join the work, thus reducing the workload of abdominal muscles. Furthermore, straight leg sit-ups will increase the burden on the back and easily cause damage to the back. Determine the position of your hands according to the strength of your abdominal muscles, because the closer your hands are to your head, the more difficult it will be to do sit-ups. Novices can put their hands on their sides, and when they get used to it or improve their physical fitness, they can cross their hands on their chests. Finally, try to cross your hands behind your head, but each hand should be placed on the shoulder on the other side of your body. Never cross your fingers behind your head, so as not to strain the neck muscles when exerting force, and this will also reduce the workload of abdominal muscles.

Use a slower speed, just like slow-motion playback. When the abdominal muscles pull you up, you have to exhale, so as to ensure that all the muscles deeper in the abdomen participate in the work at the same time.

After the body is off the ground 10 to 20 cm, tighten the abdominal muscles, pause for a while, and then slowly lower the body back to its original position. When your back touches the ground, you can start the next cycle. In the process of sit-ups, the abdominal muscles actually only participate in the work at the initial stage, and then the hip flexors will replace the task. Similarly, turn your body in the final stage of sit-ups (right elbow touches your left knee, left elbow touches your right knee, etc.). ) not only will it not help to strengthen the abdominal muscles, but it will even cause trauma to the lower back due to the compression caused by rotation.

Beginners should avoid doing sit-ups too many times at a time. At first, they can try to do it five times, and then add it once in each exercise until it reaches about 15 times. At this time, they can try to do another group until they reach three groups.

Liu Shu, an expert from Shaanxi Institute of Sports Science, believes that partial weight loss, who only exercises abdominal muscles, has no scientific basis. The idea of ordinary people is like seeing a doctor, mistakenly thinking that "treating headache and foot pain" can cure the disease.

Losing weight requires consuming whole body fat.

From the point of view of exercise, weight loss requires overall and systemic fat consumption, and simply strengthening abdominal exercise can not achieve the purpose of losing weight for the stomach; Thin people should adhere to the whole body exercise, on this basis, increase abdominal exercise, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing stomach.