This action is more effective than sit-ups for weight loss

　　The U.S. military stopped doing sit-ups, saying it harmed the body

　　It is recommended to use plank support or abdominal crunches instead

　　The U.S. Army once released a message on its official website, claiming that it will begin to replace the previous "Army Physical Fitness Test" with a new soldier physical test standard called the "Army Combat Physical Fitness Test." The most eye-catching one is that the "sit-ups" exercise used by the Army for more than 30 years has been cancelled.

　　Later, the US military directly issued a ban and stopped the sit-ups event in the Navy's physical fitness test. The Canadian Army also stopped this project, saying that this exercise not only has no benefit to the soldiers' health, but may cause harm.

　　Cause waist and neck injuries and induce cerebral hemorrhage

　　Previously, a family in Taiwan media According to reports, a 25-year-old Taiwanese man felt weak from the neck down after doing several sit-ups in a row. He later became quadriplegic and became incontinent. After examination, the doctor diagnosed that the man's sit-ups with his head in his hands caused the blood vessels in his cervical spine to burst due to the continuous force exerted on him, causing blood clots to compress him. nerve , resulting in paralysis of the entire body from the neck down.

　　"Hangzhou Daily" also reported that a 36-year-old man usually rarely exercise , one day after going home from socializing, he foamed at the mouth and fell into coma after doing sit-ups. He was diagnosed with cerebral hemorrhage.

　　The harm is mainly due to the head-holding posture

　　When doing sit-ups, many people often use the traditional sit-up action - "head-holding pose". According to relevant surveys, in China, whether in primary schools or universities, sit-up training and examinations require students to cross their hands behind their heads and necks, which may cause neck injuries.

　　To avoid neck and spine injuries, when doing sit-ups, you may wish to place your hands against your ears, place them on your chest, or straighten them parallel to your side to avoid neck discomfort.

　　Professor Stuart McGill, emeritus professor of spinal biomechanics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, believes that potentially effective sit-ups require the body to lie flat, knees bent, hands placed on the waist for support, and the feet do not need to be fixed. Use your abdominal strength to gently lift your head and shoulders off the ground, and pause for a moment. Then slowly let your body return to its original position, but don't do it too fast or violently.

　　The spine is overwhelmed and the waist and abdomen are more likely to be injured.

　　The action of sit-ups is to lie flat on the whole body, rely on the strength of the waist to pull the body up, and then lower it. This process also puts tremendous pressure on the lumbar spine, making it more susceptible to injury.

　　According to the U.S. Occupational Safety healthy According to the research, straight-leg sit-ups will exert 3500N of pressure on the spine, and knee-bent sit-ups will exert 3350N of pressure on the spine. The lower limit of lower back injury is 3300N.

　　At the same time, frequent sit-ups will increase the risk of lumbar disc herniation. For people with bad waist, sit-ups are not the best choice if they want to exercise their waist and abdomen.

　　It is more recommended to do abdominal crunches and plank support

　　Research reports from the U.S. military and Harvard Medical School both recommend that if you want to exercise your core muscles, you can use plank exercises instead of sit-ups.

　　Plank support is the most popular exercise in recent years. It can exercise the core muscles and improve the body's balance ability.

　　However, sports experts also remind that the movement of plank support must be standardized, otherwise it may also cause cervical or lumbar spine injury.

　　Action points: Lie prone, support your elbows on the ground with shoulder width apart, keep your toes together, keep your upper arms and torso at 90°, try to keep your head, shoulders, waist, legs and buttocks on the same plane, and the hip joints cannot drop or tilt to both sides of the body.

　　In addition to planks, you can also try crunches. Compared with sit-ups, crunches do not involve a "sitting up" movement, which can minimize stress on the lower back.

　　When doing abdominal curls, be careful to move slowly and maintain tension throughout the process. Roll up one section at a time to feel the contraction and stretching of the rectus abdominis. Do not neglect the movement in pursuit of speed.

　　There are many ways to do abdominal crunches: half crunches, supine leg raises, bicycle crunches, and single-leg reverse crunches.