Weighted Sit-Up

Setup

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat or anchored, holding a light dumbbell against the chest.

Execution

1. 1Brace the core and curl the spine up segment by segment
2. 2Continue flexing through the hips to come all the way up to sitting
3. 3Keep the weight controlled and close to the chest throughout
4. 4Pause briefly at the top
5. 5Lower with control back down, reversing the sequence

Key cues

• Curl up like rolling up a mat, one vertebra at a time
• Weight stays close to the chest
• Exhale on the way up
• Control the descent, don't just flop back down

Common faults

• Using momentum or hip flexor yanking instead of a controlled curl
• Weight drifting away from the body
• Anchoring the feet so aggressively that hip flexors dominate over abs
• Rushing the eccentric lowering

Tweaks

• Reduce weight as a regression
• Progress to GHD sit-ups for more range
• Slow the tempo for more time under tension

Muscles

Notes

FLEXION.

Sources

• NSCA Full Range Trunk Flexion Training
• Stuart McGill on Sit-Up Risks and Alternatives

Attribution: Classic S&C canon; McGill flags full sit-ups as higher spinal load than curl-ups