IPPT training part 1 - situps
Ok... lets get started. Firstly there has been some debate as to whether the sit up is a safe exercise. Well... all exercises have some form of risk and the way that I see some people do situps, yes they are unsalfe. they look like a fish who has just been thrown out of a fish bowl, flopping wildly on the mat. This is bad for the back and of course slaming the head back and forth like that...can give neck problems as well. Now... there is one key to managing the risk of the situp (besides doing them in a controled fashion). Its called... abdominal bracing.
Time to practice. Imagine you are opening a jar of your favorite peanut butter and its TIGHT, what do you do? you breath into your belly and grunt louldy as you try to open it right? another example is to imagine somebody is about to punch you in the tummy what do you do? you brace your abs as big and as hard as possible. Thats what we want here. Breathe into the belly and flex EVERYTHING. Abs, obliques and even the lower back muscles. Now yout lumbar spine is safe(er) - as safe as it can get actaully:). This is the way you should feel througout the situp station.
As for training, there are 2 things you will need to do. (most people train 1 or the other)
1. Get stronger
2. Build strength endurance (last longer)
We will do each of these things 2x a week. So you will "train" the situp station 4x a week. This leads to more recovery as well as better progress than killing yourself 1x a week.
Mon and Thrus we will GET STRONGER in the abs and lower back.
Choose 1 of these exercises and do 3 sets to within 2 reps of failure (if somebody is pointing a gun to my head i can do 2 more reps...but dont do it in trainining) keep the weight/difficulty high enough that you can only do 10 reps max. If you can easily do more, then that is too easy for you.
Hangning Straight leg raises
Weighted crunches
Roman twists
Reverse crunches
A more exhaustive list is here. do the WEIGHTED stuff:)
Pretty much anything that is safe (for your injury history) and is FAR more difficult that a regular situp. Remember to brace the abs all through the exercises.
Wed and Friday we get "better"
2 other times in the week, do 1 set of 45 sec of regular situps with perfect form, (braced abs, no jerking, etc). Just do it at about 80-90% of your best pace. No need to set records. but do try to improve each time by 1 -2 reps.
Whats the grand idea? The idea is to train your body to be strong so that the regular situp becomes "easy" and then also to train the regular situp so you become "good" at it. Its not just about strength, its also about efficiency so you can get the required number of reps easily. In the IPPT, you dont want to tire yourself out too much in the situp. It taxes your core, your hip flexors and your glutes even. you will need these for the other stations.
Total time needed: 3 sets 2x a week + 2x 45sec situp practices... well thats a grand total of...what? 5 mins? done over 12 weeks... thats... a total of only 60mins on this station...surely there cant be any excuses.
posted by Coach Jonathan Wong @ 10/26/2006 11:23:00 AM
Comments: 2
