Sit-Ups

A classic abdominal exercise with a full range of motion.

Core · Bodyweight · Beginner

Sit-Ups — start position, flat illustration — start

Sit-Ups — peak position, flat illustration — peak

Muscles worked by the Sit-Ups

Primary

Hip FlexorsHip Flexor Muscles

AbsRectus Abdominis

Secondary

ObliquesOblique Abdominals

Also called: hip flexor, iliopsoas, psoas, iliacus, hip flexors, abs.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Sit-Ups

Lie on your back with knees bent and feet anchored.
Cross your arms over your chest or place hands behind your head.
Sit all the way up until your torso is upright.
Lower back down with control.
Repeat.

Form tips

Avoid pulling on your neck when your hands are behind your head.
Roll up through the spine rather than jerking with momentum.
Exhale on the way up to reinforce the abdominal contraction.

At a glance

Body part	Core
Category	Strength
Force type	Pull
Mechanic	Compound
Difficulty	Beginner
Equipment	Bodyweight
Goals	Hypertrophy, Endurance
Tags	Core, Knee safe, Shoulder safe, No axial load, Lower back safe
MET	5.0 (metabolic equivalent, for calorie estimates)
Unilateral	No
Bodyweight	Yes
Dataset id	sit-ups

Sit-Ups in German & Spanish

German	Sit-Ups
Spanish	Abdominales

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "sit-ups",
  "name_en": "Sit-Ups",
  "name_de": "Sit-Ups",
  "name_es": "Abdominales",
  "description_en": "A classic abdominal exercise with a full range of motion.",
  "description_de": "Eine klassische Bauchübung mit vollem Bewegungsumfang.",
  "description_es": "Un ejercicio abdominal clásico con rango de movimiento completo.",
  "category": "strength",
  "force_type": "pull",
  "mechanic": "compound",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "core",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "hip_flexors",
    "rectus_abdominis"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "obliques"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "hypertrophy",
    "endurance"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "core",
    "knee_safe",
    "shoulder_safe",
    "no_axial_load",
    "lower_back_safe"
  ],
  "variation_group": "crunch",
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Lie on your back with knees bent and feet anchored.",
    "Cross your arms over your chest or place hands behind your head.",
    "Sit all the way up until your torso is upright.",
    "Lower back down with control.",
    "Repeat."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Lege dich auf den Rücken mit gebeugten Knien und fixierten Füßen.",
    "Verschränke die Arme vor der Brust oder lege die Hände hinter den Kopf.",
    "Setze dich vollständig auf, bis der Oberkörper aufrecht ist.",
    "Senke dich kontrolliert zurück.",
    "Wiederhole."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Acuéstate boca arriba con las rodillas flexionadas y los pies anclados.",
    "Cruza los brazos sobre el pecho o coloca las manos detrás de la cabeza.",
    "Siéntate completamente hasta que el torso quede erguido.",
    "Baja con control.",
    "Repite."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Avoid pulling on your neck when your hands are behind your head.",
    "Roll up through the spine rather than jerking with momentum.",
    "Exhale on the way up to reinforce the abdominal contraction."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Zieh nicht mit den Händen am Nacken.",
    "Rolle Wirbel für Wirbel auf und ab.",
    "Atme beim Aufrichten aus und beim Absenken ein."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "No tires del cuello con las manos al subir.",
    "Exhala mientras subes para mantener el abdomen activo.",
    "Si notas tirantez lumbar, reduce el rango de movimiento."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "start": "images/flat/sit-ups-start.webp",
      "peak": "images/flat/sit-ups-peak.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "sit-ups");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.