Sit-ups were the preferred abdominal exercise for decades but seemed to fade
away in favor of crunches in recent years. The downfall of the sit-up is just as
much due to our expanding waistlines as negative aspects of the exercise so
whether or not you benefit is dependent upon your fitness goals. If your fitness
goal is to improve the strength or appearance of your abdominal muscle then abs crunches
are the way to go. If you require the strength needed to sit up from a
lying position, sit-ups are going to be your best bet.
If regular sit-ups on the floor are becoming easy for you, cable sit-ups
increase the challenge by adding resistance from a different angle. The
resistance coming from an angle which is pulling horizontally backwards is more
difficult to overcome than the resistance of a weight plate as with
plate-sit-ups. In addition to adding resistance to the abdominal muscles
during the sit-up, cable sit-ups can involve a chest/shoulder press for the
chest shoulders and triceps.
Because of the high difficulty level of this exercise which is compounded
with the awkward angle, cable sit-ups should be performed at the beginning of a
workout before fatigue has set in. It is worth mentioning again: If your primary
fitness goal is to strengthen or aesthetically improve abdominal muscle,
exercises like the BOSU
crunch are far superior to any form of sit-up but if your goal is to
improve the power of sitting up from the floor, these cable sit-ups are a great
choice in your
workout routine.
Equipment Needed
