Why do they call them "girls" situps?

They cal them girl situps because they (the men) are so jealous that girls figured out the right way to do it; so they demean this way because, well, that’s how stupid people deal with these kinds of things.

People should leave gender out of calisthenic exercises.

I’ve been doing bent knee sit-ups for most of my 63 year life including 18 years of the U.S. Army and I’ve never heard them called “girl sit-ups”. That is absurd .

Also I don’t like it when people call knee push-ups “girl push-ups”. Implying that push-ups done on your toes with straight legs are men push-ups.

When I was in elementary school (45+ years ago) girls’ situps were definitely different from guys’.

I always thought that it was because the powers that be didn’t want girls to accidentally stretch or break their hymens, or crunch their abdominal organs in a damaging way, so they didn’t require girls to do the same as boys. (I guess our valuable sexual organs weren’t worth protecting)

Remember that this was the ‘60s. And notions of female equality weren’t what they are today, and more to the point, women were to be “protected”.

But then, my theory might be totally bogus.

I’m from the same (or older) generation as @elbanditoroso.

“Boy situps” were done with the hands clasped behind your heads and your legs flat on the floor. The legs needed to be extended or the the torque would make them fly up. We had to touch our knees with our elbows. If we were going for speed we would have a partner hold our legs down by the ankles to see how many we could do in 15 seconds.

“Girl situps” were done with the knees bent and the hands folded across the chest. ~(demurely covering the boobs. :-) ) I don’t remember if they had to touch their knees or not. Girls were never speed tested.

It was much more difficult to do 20 boy situp vs 20 girl sit ups. (Try it.) I’m guessing here (but I am probably not too far off) 20 boy situps will make you feel as tired as 40 girls situps.

An interesting fact….Using BMI as an indicator, In 2008 the obesity rate for children ages 2–19 was about 18%. In 1960, it was about 3%. Source NIH.gov

@LuckyGuy – did you have to alternate knees? We had to touch the right elbow to the left knee, and then the left elbow to the right knee.

@elbanditoroso Yes! We did have to cross over and touch our elbows to the opposite knee. I had forgotten that. I do remember during the speed test, occasionally hitting my knees so hard my teeth would rattle.
Only boys had to do that. Girls did not have to twist.
Thanks for the reminder.

Do you remember how your abdomen hurt the next day?

@LuckyGuy I clasp my hands across my chest, but has nothing to do with hiding my boobs. Clasped behind the head makes one tempted to pull up on one’s neck which can hurt your neck AND reduce the efficiency of the sit up because, to some extent, you’re using your arms to pull yourself up.

I tested a little yesterday @LuckyGuy but I’ll take it to 20 today and get back to you. If it IS harder, I’ll start doing it with flat legs.

@elbanditoroso Twisting works the muscles in your waist and side.

@Dutchess_III I was joking about hiding the boobs. :-P The arms held across the chest brings the center of mass closer to your waist. There is less of a lever arm to lift. (Less torque required)
Try this thought experiment. Hold a yardstick horizontal by one end and twist your wrist to make it stand up. (Think of the yardstick as your torso with your head at being the far end of the yardstick and your wrist being near your waist.) Put it flat again and put a 1 pound weight on the stick near your wrist. Now twist your wrist to make it stand up. Easy. Next try putting the weight at the middle of the stick and repeat. It is harder. Now put the weight at the other end of the yard stick. See how much harder it is to lift? That is lever arm.

Well if your legs are flat on the floor, it’s a “roll up” not a “sit up.” Proper sit-up form calls for knees bent and feet flat on the floor with your hands behind your head (so you don’t use your arms to sit up; no pulling on the head or neck allowed). Sit-ups are useless, so I don’t do them, but if I did, I’d do them with feet flat on the floor. There’s no such thing as a “girl sit-up.” I’ve never heard anyone say that.

Now, I have heard people call what is correctly referred to as a “half push-up” a “girl push-up,” meaning on your knees. I usually do half push-ups during workout routines because I can do more of them. However, I’m working on mastering more than 5 full push-ups in a row. “Girl push-up” is probably pretty accurate, as women tend to have weaker chest and arm muscles than men. That’s not always the case, though.

I can promise you that sit ups are not worthless. I used to do 80–100 a day. I had pretty close to a wash-board stomach, and that was after having 2 kids. I started doing them again about 2 weeks ago. Up to 25 now, and there is a difference.

If you cross your arms over your chest and grab the side of each arm, and hold them close to your body you can’t use your arms to assist. That way you don’t have to worry about pulling on your neck.

@Dutchess_III I’m not saying sit-ups are worthless from personal experience.

“Traditional sit-ups emphasize sitting up rather than merely pulling your sternum down to meet your pelvis. The psoas muscles run from the lower back to the front of the thighs. This muscle action is to pull the thighs closer to the torso.

This action is the major component of sitting up. Because of this, when you are doing sit ups your psoas muscles are the primary muscles being engaged and not your abdominal muscles.

So, sit-ups are a pretty useless exercise if you want to get your abs in shape. Instead, use crunches, because they directly work your abs.”

That’s from bodybuilding.com, but there are plenty of other sources as well that concur with this.

In the end, you can’t spot treat. You can’t get awesome abs from just crunches or sit-ups. There are people (perhaps you are one of them) that are lucky enough to have good abdominal strength/muscle without having to do much of anything, thanks to their genes. My husband’s aunt has a 6-pack and the woman doesn’t work out…ever. I suspect a little too much testosterone, but none of my business. You can do crunches or sit-ups until you’re blue in the face, but if you have extra fat covering the muscles, those exercises won’t help. Even after weight loss, sit-ups and crunches are pretty useless. Compound exercises that engage the core as well as other muscle groups are the most effective way to tone your body.

Good for you with your washboard abs and all, but doing 100 sit-ups a day alone isn’t going to give most of us killer abs like people seem to think. Plus, there are SO many core exercises that engage those muscles as well as your entire core (including obliques, lower back, upper and lower portions of the abdominal sheet) – crunches, reverse crunches, side hip raises, leg raises, etc.

And planks. Planks are probably the most effective exercise for strengthening your core. Standard planks, high planks, single-leg planks, side planks, hip dips, etc. Fantastic full-body move, as it also engages your shoulders, quads, lower back, and obliques.

Maybe “useless” is a strong word, but sit-ups are FAR from the best abdominal workout.

@LuckyGuy I think that the crossed arms/hands have nothing to do with modesty. If you clasp your hands behind your head or neck, you’ll unconsciously use them to kick-start your sit-ups. If you can’t pull and lift your head off the ground, your body will work harder.

@SadieMartinPaul You missed my ”~ ” before the modesty comment. I was kidding.
Moving your hands from the back of your head to your chest moves the center of gravity. closer to your waist, the fulcrum making a situp easier.
Try this experiment. Try doing situps with your hands folded across your chest. Now compare doing them with your hands on the top of your head. (That would satisfy your requirement of not kickstarting the situp.) Which is harder? It makes a big difference.

It’s harder with your hands behind your head, but it’s difficult to resist “kickstarting” with your hands behind your head, especially when you’re on sit up # 57 and above! Have yet to check the “legs straight” vs “legs bent” experiment tho….but hey. I can button my jeans now!!!! Two weeks ago I couldn’t, and I was getting pissed at the thought that I’d have to spend money on new jeans just because I was LAZY!!