# modified sit ups, my sifu taught me



## wushuguy (May 26, 2009)

Here's the situp vid:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2fPNp00iAs[/yt]




 (i can't seem to see the vid here so i post the url too)

"Oh well... BTW, I know this is off-topic, but I_ did_ check out your blog. And right away I tried those sit-up thingies. No can do, and I've got a strong stomach (at least I thought I did). Anyway, they seem to require a lot of flexibility so you can bring your body up over your heels." -- comment by geezer

This is answer to geezer's question:
I'm not flexible like when I was younger. I can barely touch my toes now. And my stomach is only moderately strong, I'm not well defined anymore and now that I'm older my belly tends to hang out over my belt... I'm trying to correct that shape though. 
To do the situps correctly, it requires us to be able to change the direction of force and find our center of gravity. To be able to do the sit up, we need to move the center of gravity over our heels, this also requires rooting, to keep our feet on the floor while sliding our weight over the heels. Some people can do it by using momentum, that's not fully correct because if relying on momentum, we miss learning about balance. In wing chun class though, most people had to start out with partners, one does the sit up, the partner will hold the feet down and pull the calf muscles forward a bit to help the situp person get the feeling of how the center of gravity moves. After a while, no need partner. Hope that helps.  And let us know if you can do the sit ups!


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## Xue Sheng (May 26, 2009)

You sure you don't train sanda, that guy looks a little like my Sanda sifu 

Cool and thanks, I shall give them a try.


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## Tensei85 (May 26, 2009)

Awesome! I'm going to go home and try.


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## CuongNhuka (May 26, 2009)

Ohh, Chinese sit ups. Normally they're done with someone sitting on your feet and grabbing behind your knees and pulling towards there chest as you go up. That makes it much more possible.


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## Xue Sheng (May 26, 2009)

CuongNhuka said:


> Ohh, Chinese sit ups. *Normally they're done with someone sitting on your feet and grabbing behind your knees and pulling towards there chest as you go up*. That makes it much more possible.


 
Then what would the point be...other than damaging your knees that is


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## CuongNhuka (May 26, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> Then what would the point be...other than damaging your knees that is


 
It's still massivly harder then a regular sit up, and I don't see how it would damage your knees.


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## wushuguy (May 26, 2009)

Ahh, they're called chinese sit ups! That's why they're different. I never knew... we just called them sit ups. Thanks!

Since I've been doing them, I've never felt any knee discomfort, however if a partner is assisting you to do the sit up, then it could be dangerous for the partner if he doesn't move his face out of the way as you come up. the partner's grabbing behind the knee is to give you additional support, until your lower half is strengthened enough to do it on your own.


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## CuongNhuka (May 26, 2009)

wushuguy said:


> Ahh, they're called chinese sit ups! That's why they're different. I never knew... we just called them sit ups. Thanks!
> 
> Since I've been doing them, I've never felt any knee discomfort, however if a partner is assisting you to do the sit up, then it could be dangerous for the partner if he doesn't move his face out of the way as you come up. the partner's grabbing behind the knee is to give you additional support, until your lower half is strengthened enough to do it on your own.


 
I've also heard them refered to as Israeli Sit Ups, Diamond Sit Ups, and evil. but, what ever floats your boat


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## chrispillertkd (May 27, 2009)

Impressive video! (Although if he didn't have the arm motion it would be ever more impressive.)



CuongNhuka said:


> Ohh, Chinese sit ups. Normally they're done with someone sitting on your feet and grabbing behind your knees and pulling towards there chest as you go up. That makes it much more possible.


 
I've done this version, except the person holding your legs does _not_ pull them towards his chest. Nor does he sit on your feet, just close to them. This allows some stability but puts the bulk of the effort of the person doing the sit-up. Also, the arms are kept stationary, usually the hands are up by the ears. This prevents swinging the arms to create momentum.

Great work out for the abs. 

Pax,

Chris


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## dnovice (May 27, 2009)

I've got some questions.

What is the purpose of this kind of sit up? I'm serious. What muscle groups are you targeting? Are the better ways to target those muscle groups? 

I'm asking this because complicated and difficult doesn't mean efficient. These chinese push ups could be effective. I want to know thats why i'm asking. 

dnovice
-on a side not, for me doing the sit ups kills my bad knee. I tore a ligament about a month ago.


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## Xue Sheng (May 27, 2009)

wushuguy said:


> Ahh, they're called chinese sit ups! That's why they're different. I never knew... we just called them sit ups. Thanks!


 
Since your Sifu is Chinese it is likely he would only call them sit-ups much the same as he calls food in China food, where we call it Chinese food. But the Chinese language as compared to the English language has fewer classifications for things food as it likely also does for sit-ups


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## shesulsa (May 27, 2009)

My old gym teacher called these "standups" and I could do them when I was young, thin, fit before babies and damaged knees.

Righteous.


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## wushuguy (May 27, 2009)

dnovice said:


> I've got some questions.
> 
> What is the purpose of this kind of sit up? I'm serious. What muscle groups are you targeting? Are the better ways to target those muscle groups?
> 
> ...



Hope your knee recovers soon, take good care of it.

Anyway, from what i can feel when doing them, the sit ups work out the whole body in general, not specifically used to strengthen a set of muscles.
But the key seems to be it teaching us to use the body as a whole, kinda like training our bodies to have the feel of using power from the ground, to our ankles, knees, to the waist, then up the torso. this translates pretty good when doing strikes, because our body got trained to whip from the ground up, and coordinate the transfer of energy through the joints efficiently... or at least thats how it feels for me.
Relating it to Ng Mui theory, the first action is the compression of the midsection (dan tien), which is then travels down the legs to the ground as we reach maximum compression, then as the dan tien springs back out, the internal force bounces back up launching us forcefully from the ground to the endpoint of the technique.


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## mook jong man (May 27, 2009)

They look ok but I think I will stick with my AB-RIPPER DELUXE 2000 that I purchased in five easy installments.

 After just using it for 2 short minutes a day I have burnt off those ugly love handles , flattened my tummy , gone down several dress sizes and now look great in a bikini .
 I can't wait to hit the beach and show off my six pack abs .

Thank you AB-RIPPER DELUXE 2000

Only joking man , those sit ups look pretty hard , but I reckon they would be more of a cardio type of movement like Burpees . I think there is probably too much momentum involved to isolate the abs properly but as a general conditioning exercise they would be great.

Personally if you have a pull up bar , I think strict hanging leg raises done very slowly and bringing your feet up to touch the bar are one of the best ab exercises , not only that it works your grip strength and stretches your spine out at the same time .


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## Tensei85 (May 29, 2009)

I tried the sit ups. And as expected I need a lot of work...


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