Doing Ab Mat Sit Ups for Strength Training Exercise

Video Transcript

"MICHAEL ROSENGART: Ab mat sit ups. We're basically going to make crunches a lot harder. Take an ab mat and as you can tell, it has a curvature to it, and then it's all foam underneath. We're going to take the ab mat. Jonesy is going to demonstrate the sit ups for us. We're going to take the ab mat and put underneath us so that it will fit right into the curvature of our spine. And that's going to give us a larger range of motion for the abdominals. Basically, if you need to, you could try to make an ab mat at home with a towel. And basically, you just try to fold the towel so it fits underneath the curvature of your back. Now, Jonesy is going to start it right now with the sit up and he's going to start with the beginner level. As his arm comes forward, reaching for his ankles and you'll also notice that his knees are out to the side. What we're doing is making the hip flexors out of the scenario of the exercise. With the arms in front like this, the resistance is a lot less. With Jonesy now moves to the intermediate one, brings his hands up towards his shoulders. Now, there's a little more weight to it as he's coming up. So, it gets a little harder. And then if he really wants to try it a little harder, he's going to bring his hands up to his head, and bring it up like that. There we go. Good. So, try these, and as you're trying them, work for tempo, right? Make sure that you are also working with good rhythm that you really feel it in your abdominals. Try not to cheat, okay? You want to be nice and smooth like he is, but work as quickly as you can. Good job. JONESY: You get it?"