Proper situp form

Hello again BL

The exhales in Sit-Up serve good purpose. There is of course the cleansing effect of the forced breath. Your first exhale is functionally the most important. It is the one that helps you bring yourself off the floor to vertical: your “L-sit” position. It helps bolster support to your lower spine to get you up off the floor safely.

Because your abdomen is largely fluid filled you need to brace everything otherwise it is as if you have a whole lot of fluid sloshing around in there. When you ‘suck in your stomach’ there is hydraulic pressure of the organs against the lower back muscles etc (and you get some control over the effects in this area). The organs ‘sit’ firmly against these structures and lend ‘strength’. This a part of what we mean when we talk about your core muscles. Core muscles are more than that as they include more than just those muscles that ‘suck in your stomach’.

It takes training to involve those deeper core muscles – to activate the muscles around your perineum. Many people do that automatically or develop them to some extent through their Bikram Yoga practice. Perhaps the subject of another topic!

The second exhale happens from “L-sit” to the forward sitting position as you extend your lower spine and sit forward (with a straight back!).

As far as speed is concerned. You will probably find that when you break the movement up into 2 distinct parts your Sit-Up will be a little slower and more deliberate (safer, more beneficial and more enjoyable too). Those who fling themselves up bypass “L-sit” and use different muscles. Their Sit-Up is quicker, they have less support for their lower spine (less safe) and the double exhale occurs at non-specific points. Enjoy slowing it down a bit, reach up to the ceiling as you finish your first exhale.

Kind regards
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello BL

You are welcome! 😉

I don’t recommend bouncing your body at all. With 2 exhale breaths I recommend 2 coordinated body movements. The first to L-sit for vital core strength and lower back support, the second to grab the feet (fingers over the top of the toes contacting at the balls of the feet) with palms toward the floor. Keep your back straight and in doing so you may need to bend up your knees at the last moment as your grab your feet to preserve your nice long straight back. After all, you want to take every opportunity in class to counter the forward bends of your ‘outside’ life. Chin up look forward and feel that incredible stretch in your lower back as you lift your chest up against your straight arms. (Arms only bend if you have straight legs and back and is often seen in very flexible students.)

What I am telling you is sometimes a little contentious, challenged by a few Bikram teachers. The sit-up used to be taught in the way that I mention. And somehow the technique seems to have devolved into a less safe form where students are seen to fling themselves up off the floor without control.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Sure BL

Flex the toes back toward the face. Pull the toes back, push the heels forward, use straight arms (or bent to bring the body forward only when back is straight and legs completely locked out). With the chest lifted and the arms’ pull, you will have this beautiful traction you can feel opening up the body.

PS remember to bend up the legs if your back starts to round.

Would it be OK to pose the perineum question in an FAQ or similar area?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Wondering what you think about the position of the head at the end of the sit-up. The instructors at the studio I’ve been going to teach the class to place forehead on the knees at the end. I supposed this is to get constriction feeling in the throat and to round the spine. I don’t see this in your explanation….

Thanks

Jen

In Bikrams new book the sit-up is taught differently.

Inhale and then do sit up, first exhale going down and then another exhale. Forehead to the knees.

Also, when looking at old pictures of Bikram, one can see many differences in poses than it is taught today.

So, it seems to be a lot of inconsistencies. Which makes things confusing, as Bikram says it is very important to try the right way.

Personally I follow Gabrielles recommendations, as it feels better and makes more sense. Maybe Bikram himself is not the best expert when it comes to anatomy and how to do poses safely. Or he learned his stuff before science discovered more about human anatomy? He is not aware of the Ayurvedic approach to exercice and beleive all sports are bad, just because he himself used convential training methods (which is bad for the body) and got hurt.

I recommend him and everyone else to read John Douillards book “Body, Mind and Sports”. It fits perfectly with Gabrielles approach to yoga.

BTW, why is this site not called Bikram Yoga Doctor?

Hello Babz

Holding one’s breath in yoga is not generally the done thing! The only exception in the Bikram series is if you run out of inhale capability for your count of 6 in your Pranayama exercise before exhaling, or if you can’t exhale any more on your count of 6 before inhaling again.

What you are looking for is smooth continuous breathing. The breath depth will change from pose to pose.

So as you will read in my responses above you exhale AS you move to L-sit and then exhale again as you move through to your paschimottanasana style end to this non-yoga yoga pose! This is a safe way to guarantee (if you are fit for sit-ups in the first place) that you are creating the right conditions to protect your lower back. This is why you are usually asked to exhale twice.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi all,

My own concern with the situp is that I am really not sure what to make of the differences between the way it is taught in my bikram studio, the way Gabrielle teaches it, and the way it is taught in the book The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, which had been my main reference to understand the subtleties of the postures until I started Bikram yoga a little over a year ago.

In the Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, it is said that yoga situps start with the legs straight and contracted, feet flexed (until then everyone agrees), and THE LOWER BACK PRESSED AGAINST THE FLOOR (lumbar lordosis completely flattened, through the action of the abdominal muscles), which is how the lower back is to be protected. Then you SLOWLY roll up, BREATHING EVENLY, one vertebra at the time. You start with the arms extended and pointing toward the feet, and gradually work up to more challenging arm positions, which means higher and higher, until you are able to do it with the arms overhead, without loosing the flattening of the lumgar lordosis.

In hot yoga, we start right away with the most difficult arm position, which is extended overhead (many people are probably not ready for that), and at least in my studio, it is taught as a FAST move, not a gradual and controlled lifting of the torso. In my studio, some teachers tell us to hold the breath while lifting the torso (which does help to lift the torso as a solid unit, by increasing the pneumatic pressure above the diaphragm, but which is stressful for the heart, and personally I don’t do it for that reason), and then to kind of jerk the body forward toward the legs, while performing a double exhale.

Gabrielle teaches to lift the torso with the arms overhead and the spine straight, while exhaling (which is what is supposed to protect the lower back). Now, with this part, I am puzzled. How can exhaling increase the hydraulic pressure in the lower torso (below the diaphragm), since exhaling implies necessarily that the diaphragm moves upward, thus increasing the volume available???? Of course you are supposed to draw the stomach in by contracting the abdominal muscles, but even if you do that, the hydraulic pressure will still have a tendency to decrease throughout the movement, as the diaphragm moves upward continually throughout the exhale. While I agree that the most stressful moment for the lower back is in the onset of the lifting of the torso, I find it more difficult to maintain inner pressure in the torso as I exhale, especially if I am to keep my back straight while I lift! So, that would be my firts question.

Personnaly, before I was introduced to Gabrielle’s way of teaching the situp, I had worked out a kind of compromise between what is taught in the Anatomy of Hatha Yoga and what is taught at my studio: I flatten my lower back against the floor as much as I can before the lift (which is a challenge to do while keeping the legs straight and contracted, but I am continually working on it and it does become easier as my hip flexors gradually become longer and more flexible); I inhale as I lift my torso while still contracting my abs, which, I figured, helps create hydraulic pressure in the abdominal cavity, since the diaphragm is pushing down against the organs, while the abs keep them from going anywhere. At least, I have the impression that this does help me to lift my torso as a solid unit. Every time I try to lift my torso while exhaling, I feel weaker and more wobbly… But it is not as drastic (and eventually dangerous) as closing the glottis and thus putting all the pressure on the heart and lungs.

So, my second question would be: is that an acceptable technique? Does this make sense to anyone else but me?

And I was really wondering why no one in hot yoga seems to be concerned about flattening the lumbar lordosis as a way to protect the lower spine during the situp.

And as for the second part of the situp, I really don’t know what to think, since Bikram does not explain why we should throw our bodies forward while exhaling twice, and as the Ananomy of Hatha Yoga makes little reference to continuing the movement beyond the sitting position, except to say (in the beginners version when the arms are pointing towards the feet) to go as far forward as possible, but slowly and carefully, while breathing evenly…

I would really like Gabrielle’s take on these issues, or anyone else willing to contribute to my understanding.

Thanks a lot in advance,
Elsa

For the first time in my life, I have found a safe way of doing sit ups. Gabrielle’s way makes it “easy” to come up without feeling I am straining my back or my neck or my pelvic floor. Never thought I would ever say I enjoy doing a sit up!!

Thanks Gabrielle!

L