Doing Sit Ups the Easy Way

Although sit ups are not the be all and end all of abs flattening exercises, they are a great way to tone the muscles around your belly button. The secret to success is simply to take it easy when you do them.

It's always a good idea to use an exercise mat when you do this exercise. You don't want to pick up dirt and germs from the floor, and you certainly don't want to catch something that keeps you away from work and stuck in bed--where you will probably gain more weight.

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On your exercise mat, stretch out comfortably. Keep your body in comfortable, straight alignment from head to toe. Left your knees flex just a bit. You don't have to bend them, although bending them is OK if that's the only way you can do this exercise.

Doing Sit Ups the Easy Way

With your hands at your side, simply move your arms until you can touch your toes with your fingers. If you can't reach that far at first, don't worry. You can build up to doing sit ups over time.

What you do not have to do is more and more of the same exercise. There is no benefit to doing more than about 200 a week, or more than 50 in a session. Moreover, resting 36 to 48 hours between workouts (of the same muscle) is critical. Muscles need time to build themselves up after workouts break them down. Muscles, including your ab muscles, need both complete protein and a tiny amount of carbohydrate to take in the nutrients they need, and they need this in the first 90 minutes after a workout. A low-fat snack at the end of your exercise routine, just 50 to 150 calories, helps prevent tissue degradation.

Sit ups can be easy. They just are never enough. You also need to do a variety of exercises to build up your lower back, the muscles in your lower abdomen, your lats, and your core. And even after you have built up all these muscles, people can only see them if they are not covered by fat. To get rid of fat, you will probably need to diet.

Doing Sit Ups the Easy Way