Being a big fan of both the GHD sit up and the Janda sit up I wanted to share some info today. One of the reason’s we do sit ups is to help strengthen our core….. A stronger core means less back pain. In our quest to do this SOMETIMES we can actually injure the spine. Take for example the GHD sit up. This is a common exercise instituted with CrossFit. The challenge with this sit up is not to injure the spine.
In a 2014 interview for Stack, Stuart McGill, an expert on low-back disorders, describes how the discs in the low back are vulnerable to damage when they are put into position in the GHD sit up. As told to Stack.com:
With repeated full range motions, combined with the loads experienced in this type of exercise, our work shows the fibers of the disc slowly delaminate, accelerating degenerative disc disease. The scaffolding holding the fibers together soften with each repetition, reducing the resilience of the disc to loading…There’s quite a high velocity and substantial force through a big range of motion in this exercise. You can’t perform exercises with high spine power and expect it to stay healthy. When you repeat high force and velocity through collagenous disks, they will delaminate and bulge.
The video today explains the proper way to do the GHD sit up and my favorite the Janda Sit up.
