What's up guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.COM.
We're going to have a little bit of fun today.
I'm going to lay the challenge at your feet.
I want to know who out there can do the Impossible Sit-Up.
This Impossible Sit-Up got it's name for a reason.
This is quite a feat of strength of your Abs if you can pull one off.
And I can tell you, if you do, that will be one more than I can do.
Because I still have not been able to crank out even a single rep.
The problem with this exercise is it looks so damn frustratingly simple.
But as you see and as you will see, most of you, it's really really hard to do.
So let me show you the important thing here on how to get set up to do this exercise,
and then really, I want to see if you can do one.
Alright so here's the setup, it's really really easy and as I said it can be frustrating because
it looks so simple but it's anything but.
You lay back on the ground like you're going to do a regular Sit Up.
You put your knees at 90 degrees.
You put your feet flat on the floor, this is the key.
They've got to stay flat on the floor the entire time and I'll tell you why in one second.
Your toes can not come off the ground.
Your hands go up behind your head.
And all you're going to try to do is lift your Torso up against the force of gravity.
Now why is this so difficult?
Because we're reciprocally turning off our Hip Flexors.
And our Hip Flexors are the muscles that actually allow us to overcome the inertia, the first
movement of the Sit Up.
They're the ones that actually anchor us in place and give us something to pull against
so that our Abs can pull us up all the way.
But if we turn them off, if we take them out of the equation, now we've got to make the
Abs do all the work.
So you can do that by taking your feet flat and sliding them back against the ground without
actually letting them move.
So you can see right here, I'm trying to do this, this is the force I'm generating with
my legs, but I'm not allowing them to move.
So I've activated my Hamstrings isometrically, I've got my Glutes squeezed and working and
the one last thing I want to do is
just to make sure that my back is flat against the ground here by posteriorly rotating my
pelvis.
So if I've got the posteriorly rotated pelvis and I'm pulling back here actively on my feet
against the ground.
Now all I've got to do is just try to get up.
And again, I can only get up to about here.
I just cannot do the Impossible Sit Up.
And a lot of you guys won't be able to either.
But somebody will because they're going to be able to have the strength in their Abs
to overcome that first movement and be able to get themselves up and over.
Now here's why it becomes very very frustrating because if I take my knees and I allow them
to go out just a little bit more, so my legs are straighter,
now I can come up right up.
No problem at all.
Because I have a little bit more weight and leverage pulling me in that direction.
The second thing that can make this really really easy is as soon as I pull my feet up
off the ground and pull my toes up
what I've done now is I've actually turned my anterior Tibs, my shins into leverage points
to actually allow me to come up now.
So again, with them flat on the ground, they're not helping, I don't have a chance to use
them.
Pull my toes up, I come right up.
There's not a problem in the world.
So, I want to know if you're able to do this Impossible Sit Up, 1 rep, that's all I care
about.
If you can, let me know about it below.
If you want to post a video of you doing it, make sure you let me see it.
But remember, the devil is in the details.
Make sure that those feet are flat on the ground and you're pulling in against, you're
pulling with your Hamstrings against the floor the entire time.
Guys, challenges like this are what make ATHLEANX what it is.
We challenge you all the time.
I challenge you in all my workouts.
I test you with challenges in all of our programs.
If you guys are looking for a challenge, remember you can't change yourself unless you challenge
yourself,
then head to ATHLEANX.COM right now and get our ATHLEANX Training System.
In the meantime, I want to see how you can do on this.
Make sure you let me know.
If you like this challenge, make sure you leave a thumbs up below, and anything else
you want to see.
Remember these are your videos, I'll make them for you here, three times a week.
Alright guys,GOOD LUCK!
You're going to need it.