Steve Maxwell's Roman Chair Situps.

I like Roman chair sit-ups, here are some of my favorite techniques

From: Steve Maxwell
Subject: Fitness
Date/Time 2005-02-27 11:33:44
Remote IP: 68.82.80.46
Message

I do them as part of an over all spinal mobility and flexibilty routine. I use a footstool with my feet anchored under the sofa. My foot stool is the perfect height to allow my shoulders to touch the floor flat so that I am in a shoulder bridge position each rep. At the end, I stay there in the supported bridge for a great hip flexor stretch. I also enjoy using a stability ball. The stretch on the ball is more like a yoga back bridge. I take care not to spread my knees to far apart so that I can maximize my flexibility. In fact , I strive to keep my feet and legs close together, which makes the exercise more difficult. I also use a breathing technique Pavel showed me. It's called inverse paradox breathing. It creates much more abdominal tension and makes the exercise more difficult, but allows the spine to release more tension in the extended position. As you lower back, you exhale through the mouth slowly to release the spine and hip flexors. As you sit back up, you inhale through the nose into the lower abdominals (as if inflating a balloon). This creates a lot of abdominal tension and is much harder to sit up. It's a really good exercise for combat athletes and grapplers.

Steve Maxwell