Tip du Jour
I am sure any of you who so sit-ups of any type have heard someone say "keep your lower back on the floor"...
This is more important than you may realize, although once you start really managing it, you will see why! You get a MUCH better workout. Anyways, instructors and trainers often say this, but don't really explain necessarily how to do it, and there is no way to check if you are doing it right from the outside. Because you need to do more than just have your back on the floor - you need to actively press the lower back into the floor with each crunch, or with each lowering of your leg/s. It takes a lot of concentration!
Here is a way to get the feeling... Lie with your legs bent at the knees and your feet on the floor. Then do what is known as a pelvic tilt: arch your back up (rock your tail bone back towards your shoulders, push your navel up, tilt your pelvis down, however you think about it). Then roll it back the other way; pushing your lower back into the ground, push your tailbone up to the sky, pull your belly button in. When you have done this to the extreme you can, THAT is what it means to have your lower back pressed into the floor! Do it a couple times to get the feel; this is a good core workout in itself.
(Women, there are other muscles involved in this exercise that you need to work, so pay attention to using those as well as you do this.)
So, every time you crunch or whatever, think about that back going down and that tailbone up, while keeping the back on the floor. You will feel a difference, and you will work those internal core muscles that are really important.
This is more important than you may realize, although once you start really managing it, you will see why! You get a MUCH better workout. Anyways, instructors and trainers often say this, but don't really explain necessarily how to do it, and there is no way to check if you are doing it right from the outside. Because you need to do more than just have your back on the floor - you need to actively press the lower back into the floor with each crunch, or with each lowering of your leg/s. It takes a lot of concentration!
Here is a way to get the feeling... Lie with your legs bent at the knees and your feet on the floor. Then do what is known as a pelvic tilt: arch your back up (rock your tail bone back towards your shoulders, push your navel up, tilt your pelvis down, however you think about it). Then roll it back the other way; pushing your lower back into the ground, push your tailbone up to the sky, pull your belly button in. When you have done this to the extreme you can, THAT is what it means to have your lower back pressed into the floor! Do it a couple times to get the feel; this is a good core workout in itself.
(Women, there are other muscles involved in this exercise that you need to work, so pay attention to using those as well as you do this.)
So, every time you crunch or whatever, think about that back going down and that tailbone up, while keeping the back on the floor. You will feel a difference, and you will work those internal core muscles that are really important.