Ok on the official IPPT website, this is “station 1” so we will cover it first. The stated aim of the sit-up test is to test the “endurance of the lower abdominal muscles”.
The way to perform a passable sit-up during the IPPT test is:
* Lie down with legs bent
* Hands cupping ears
* Elbows touching knees
* Back touches the mat on each repetition
* Hips stay on the ground
I believe the army actually wants to test the function of the torso muscles. Rightly so. The torso muscles are critical. They are often referred to as core muscles.
If we are talking military fitness, the torso or “core” muscles are involved in every combat activity.
When running, and carrying combat loads which can be especially heavy and cumbersome, the core muscles are super important in protecting the spine from damage.
When shooting a rifle these same muscles control breathing to get an accurate shot.
And a strong core has obvious advantages in close combat and hand to hand situations.
The sit-up seems to be a good way to test this core strength. But remember it is just a test. It is not the way we are going to train.
Here is why…
Firstly, sit-ups target the hip flexor muscles (which lift your knee upward to your chest) much more than the abdominal musculature which they are supposed to test. The hip flexor is a set of muscles that is already short and tight in most people so excessive training of it (making it even shorter and tighter) is not the best idea.
Secondly, sit-ups place high compressive loads on the spine which actually exceed the guidelines given by most back health specialists and organizations for worker back safety.
Thirdly the sit-up is not the way to train the main function of the core muscles. That main function is stability of the lower back. If the main function of the core is stability, we should train it as such instead of doing exercises such as sit-ups which are making the lower back move around a lot leading to back problems.
Here we have a dilemma. We want to do well in the sit-up test, meanwhile, sit-ups aren’t very good for us! Uh oh.
Do not fear, we can do well in the test and at the same minimizing injury risks. Here is the general idea how…
For most of the training period (which should be all year round!) we train the core in the way it was mean to be trained. Which is Stability, Stability and even more Stability. This makes our torso super strong and injury proof.
Then, closer to the test (about 4 weeks away) we train the sit-up specifically for the test situation. Because we are already stable and strong, we can get away with sit-up training with no injuries. Yay!
NOTE: we are not going to do many crunch like movements either. Crunches make the rectus abdominus (the 6-pack) shorter and that leads us into a slouching posture because the rectus brings our ribcage toward our hips. Too many people already are slouching and we don’t want to make it worse.
The way to train sit ups is to do some stability work like front and side bridges/planks/hovers for a few weeks to make sure the core muscles fire correctly.
Yes. Believe it or not, this is abdominal training!
After that, the core is best trained with heavy lifting! Thats right, things like squats, deadlifts and strongman training like farmers walks and super yoke, are excellent core exercises.
4 weeks from the test, just do 1 min of situps 2x per week and you will be good to go!
I know this segment sounds too simple compared to the SBJ/Shuttle run segments but it truly is:)