by Edward Scaduto, Colorado Springs Personal Trainer and Owner of Precision Fitness

One of the biggest “take home” messages I took from the NSCA conference this summer is to omit sit ups from my clients exercise programs. Honestly, the exercise has been under my scrutiny for some time but after hearing Stuart McGill speak in person, it got the axe, figuratively speaking.

According to Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, “There are only so many bends in your spinal disks, if you keep flexing your spine and bending the disk over and over again, that nucleus slowly breaches the layers and causes a disk bulge, or a disk herniation.”

A herniated disk is no fun, and can cause persistent back and leg pain, weakness, and tingling. In fact, as I look back to my time in the PT clinic, disc herniations can be down right debilitating. It’s not a situation you want to go through, trust me.

That’s why you’ll be hard pressed to find sit-ups in any of the exercise programs at Precision Fitness.

I’ll be writing more about sit-ups and healthy alternatives in an upcoming article. Until then, though you may be tempted, avoid the sit-ups and save your back.

Committed to your health,

Ed Scaduto