John, do you do Roman Chair Sit-Ups

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

A friend has privately e-mailed me and asked if I perform Roman Chair Sit-Ups. He states that he has read elsewhere that they are ineffective as an abdominal exercise. So Do do I or don't I?


Answer: I most certainly do! There have been many writers over the last 30 years that have stated that Straight Leg Sit-Ups, Straight(leg) Leg Raises, and Roman Chair Sit-Ups (All staples in Charles Atlas's Dynamic Tension, my Transformetrics Training System, and Big Jim's PowerFlex Training System) Don't effectively train the Abdominals. In every case they are wrong! In 99% of all cases these 'experts' have gizmo's and other gadgets to sell. For instance, some of you may remember the 'Legendary Abs' course that focused on Hanging Leg Raises and Hanging Knee Ups. Both are good exercises but 95 % of all men don't have a strong enough grip or abdominals to do them correctly and as a result use slings which make the exercise far less effective. Bottomline: it was novel BS and mis-information used to sell courses.

Bottomline: Atlas Full Range Sit-Ups (with feet not held down), Atlas Full Range Leg Raises(toes touching floor behind head), Atlas Vertical Leg Raises (to the vertical with opening and crossing the legs), and Atlas style Roman Chair Sit-Ups, are each 'synergistic exercises that exercise the hips, glutes, lower back, and legs together with the abdominals. They stretch and strengthen as no other exercises do. And as a result protect the lower back. Crunches are great for isolating the front abdominals but for athletic strength and conditioning that enhances your ability to twist and turn one needs to exercise the muscles in 'Synergy' and not Isolation. That is exactly what Atlas's Abdominal exercises (same exact one's used by me and Big Jim) accomplish.

At age 56 I have a 29" ripped waistline (just exactly like you saw in PYTP) and just exactly like I had at age 18 when I was a senior in High School. I have a pain free and flexible spine as a result of daily practice of 100 Atlas Sit-Ups(touching chin to knees on each rep X 1 set of 100), 100 Atlas Full Range Leg raises(touching toes behind head), 100 Atlas Vertical 8 count leg raises (1-raise to vertical, 2-open legs to wide V, 3-cross legs right over left, 4-open to wide V, 5-cross left leg over right, 6-open to wide V, 7-close legs, 8-lower to 6" above floor and continue (trust me, this is my toughest ab exercise and that is why I do it first.) 100-Atlas Style Roman Chair Sit-Ups and three other daily Ab exercises. Narturally, I perform my crunch sequence from PYTP from time to time as well as hanging leg raises and knee ups but the exercises listed here are my daily core exercises for the abs.

---John Peterson

P.S. Hyperlordosis (an exaggerated arch of the lower back) is rampant in the USA. Roman Chair Sit-Ups can help fix that condition.

[gruntbrain]

The grip issue with performing ab work from a highbar can easily be eliminated. It's OK to "cheat" with grip support so you can fully engage your abs. Even consider homemade Ab Slings.

2 thumbs way up from Roman Chair situps for those without lower back iisues. Note playground Monkey Bars allow for the performance of Romans; use some padding

[Greg Newton]

Whew,

Spoken by a true life long Atlas student. Reading that was strong motivation for my workout tonight. I think sometimes in search for short cuts and the magic routine, we forget it is just as easy to do the exercises and work on increasing (slowly and consistantly) the volume.

[BradJohnson]

I could not agree more. I love the "synergistic" core exercises!
Brad

[blackbelt]

100 Atlas Vertical 8 count leg raises (1-raise to vertical, 2-open legs to wide V, 3-cross legs right over left, 4-open to wide V, 5-cross left leg over right, 6-open to wide V, 7-close legs, 8-lower to 6" above floor and continue

Has anyone else given these a try?

(trust me, this is my toughest ab exercise and that is why I do it first.)

I did a whopping 10 of these either yesterday or Saturday. And, even after just that measly number, I fully understand what John is talking about. Personally, I even felt them in my hips quite a bit.

Now, I’m wondering if an initial break-down would be helpful. By that, I mean alternating between the leg lift movements, and the criss-cross movements. Then, after being able to achieve a respectable number of each movement, I can re-combine them.

Any thoughts on this????

[John Peterson]

Hey Blackbelt,

What you state is the way Atlas taught the exercise. That is alternating left over right and then right over left on alternating reps. I turned it into an 8-count exercise on my own and it works incredibly well for me. I personally feel that this is the single best waistline flattening exercise that one can do. And just so you know, there is nothing wrong with 10 rep sets.


---John Peterson

[jan]

This thread came just in time for me, since I will be adding the abdominal exercises to the PYTP routine :act-up:

Jan

[blackbelt]

Hey John,

I thought that version seemed familiar for some reason. However, what I was referring to would be slightly different.

It would go something like this:

-Vertical leg raises: x number of reps
-Criss-cross motion: x number of reps

I’m thinking that splitting the movement up like this would aid in the conditioning of the muscles before re-combining them. My initial thought is to do a week or two of the movement split, before going back to the 8 count version.

And, thank you. I very much appreciate the support for the 10 rep sets :)

[Greg Newton]

Rob,

I started doing these a couple of days ago. Like you, I feel them in the hips, and they are tough. However, I believe they are a definite keeper for the hips, thighs, and abdominals. I had to be careful in trying to force out the higher reps at first, because I felt a twinge in my groin when I tried to go over a certain number. However, I think this is an excellent one for overall "core" strength and mobility.

I'd never really put much time into these before, but the eight count makes sense and it keeps you in a steady rhythm. I've mentioned this recently in some other posts about abdominal exercises, but over the years in bodybuilding and strength training, we have foolishly focused on muscle isolation at the expense of strengthening our bodies in a synergistic fashion.