It has been ingrained in us since grade school (see the Presidential Fitness Test) that the sit-up is the most important ab exercise you can do. If you have lower back pain however, I would avoid the sit-up like the plague.
"Blasphemy!" my gym rats bro-science experts will say. "You need a strong core!" First off, what do you consider your "core." Secondly, relax, this is just an article written by a guy who thinks the movie Borat is my generation's Citizen Kane. I digress. When you say core, I are assuming that you are talking about the muscle that support all ranges of motion of the trunk/pelvic AND your ability to respire (breath in and out). The sit-up, that targets the rectus abdominis, does a pour job at both these objectives. The rectus abdominis's primary motor function is controlling spinal flexion in the sagittal plane (back to front bending), and it actually has an insertion point that is anchored to the sternum, preventing the sternum from elevating during inhalation when active (that's bad). It's like watching Chris Farley wearing a jacket that's too small.
Your sternum gets pinned down by your rectus and without the expansion things get ugly really quick. You are soon compensating by extending the lower spine, further exacerbating stress on the lower vertebrae and muscles.
If you have lower back pain, and the sit-up is your primary core strengthening exercise, do yourself a favor and give the sit-up the ol' 86!
In future posts, I will be writing about my favorite ab exercises for alleviating lower back pain. You don't want to miss out, so make sure you click the link below to join our mailing list.
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