Hot Yoga Pose Forums > Chapter: Sit Up
Sometimes my back hurts when I do it... I try to think of reaching for the ceiling as a separate part in itself. Explicitly Reach For The Ceiling then eventually forehead to knee.
AlexandriaS
My question has to do with how to cue the sit up. It seems you have to talk a mile a minute to squeeze everything in before people are already dropping their foreheads to their knees. I thought maybe the script here was too long but I also figured that even if it's fast and cannot possibly be timed in according to the actual movement, it's always a benefit for practitioners to hear the cues for the upcoming sit ups. It'll seep in and make a difference in the long run.
Melina
I'm a little confused---the steps seem to be situp/reach for the ceiling with a straight spine, reach for toes/flat back, grab the toes/round down and drop the forehead to the knees. The
Ruiz book doesn't mention rounding the back.
Ruiz instructs practitioners to keep a flat back and bend the knees up to grab the toes if needed. Is this an acceptable variation?
Mallory Maier
Gabrielle and I disagree, Aimee.
Once the double jerk/double exhale with a flat back is done the forehead drops and the back rounds and the knees. Til then it's flat back/lengthening, not bending the knees to grab the toes; this will cause the back to round and could result in pulling with a rounded back which risks straining the back.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
You're right Melina - there are A LOT of subtle yet important cues in the sit up and barely enough time to get them all said before the sit up is over! Still they must be said, reminding the students to keep the back lengthening and stretching as they throw forward into the sit up.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
As I have practiced at other studios, I do see a lot of people just throw themselves forward in sit up rather than reach up and then forward and don't hear the cues for it. I always reach up then forward from my RIverflow roots!
HeatherS
By reaching up towards the ceiling first, you lengthen the back, suck in the stomach hollowing it out, allowing you to reach further towards those toes with an awesome stretch for the hamstrings.
GabbyL
So right Gabby - the reaching up first keeps your lower back long rather than crushed and tight. And yes, Heather - our cues for the sit are not the same as a Bikram studio; in fact you will notice that our pose cues are quite different from the Bikram script. Our pose cues explain not just what to do, but how to do it. So - how do you do a safe and expansive sit up? Reach for the ceiling, grab the toes and pull, double jerk/double exhale, with a FLAT back; at the end when the pulling is over, you drop and round forehead to knee. Pay attention to our instructional differences
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Sometimes this hurts my back, on days that I'm feeling vunerable, I take the teachers advice and skip it. But when its good, up then forward with a flat back does feel good. Some days I can reach all the way around my toes.
KimA
ALways lift Kim and pull with a FLAT BACK - then drop your forehead to the knee with the rounded back. Lifting always feels great.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
i also take the advice of the teachers to skip the sit up if my back isnt feeling that good. sometimes it is a pain in my lower right side. its funny how by the end of class my back usually feels better and i have at least done the final sit-up and it feels great!
danielle bumber
I feel the back should be absolutely straight, reach to the ceiling with your arms and hands, look straight and then go forward. Depending on where we are in the sequence and a day the depth varies for me. Sometimes I can touch my knees with my forehead right away but sometimes camel opens it for me. I find it interesting :).
Alfia
Danielle - yes: the sit up done properly - with long straight back reaching to the ceiling - will help to work out the kinks of an aching back. The only contraindication for the sit up is if you have some recent surgery or bulging disk issues. Even these issues can be helped but it might be best to go easy and to the alternate situp: roll to the right, knees to the chest, palms to the floor by your head, push into the palms while looking at the palms and lift yourself with your arms/biceps/palms into a seated pose.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Danielle, if you feel any pain, you should take it easy and perhaps take an alternative as Rhonda suggests. You still get the benefits by doing that. We should do our best on a given day but not to push ourselves into any pain. Yes, sit up done properly with a straight back feels amazing and energizing.
I feel the back should be absolutely straight, reach to the ceiling with your arms and hands, look straight and then go forward. Depending on where we are in the sequence and a day the depth varies for me. Sometimes I can touch my knees with my forehead right away but sometimes camel opens it for me. I find it interesting :). Once again, in tonight class the deepest sit up came after Camel. I wonder why?
Alfia
I sometimes hear the teacher say "Reach for the ceiling, long back" this is the same as reach up in our script and keeping the back straight as Alfia mentions above.
I'm a little confused on the double jerk. What exactly is this? I understand it comes with the double exhales, but what is my body suppose to be doing during this? Rounding the back?
When i drop my forehead to my knee, i have to bend my knees to get the contact, is that acceptable or should i be keeping the knees straight and not have the contact between forehead and knee?
TinaA
I also don't exactly know what the double jerk means - and sometimes I misplace the double exhale. I am also curious as to whether legs straight or forehead to knee is more essential. I normally don't touch my forehead to knee and keep my legs straight - but I never really gave it any thought. Maybe bending your knees up while you're hoisting your straight back up quickly could lead to injury?
I was clasping my hands together for a long time in sit-up…it took until recently to finally understand that only the thumbs are hooked or there is no contact at all in your hands while sitting and reaching up. Made for a much more enjoyable sit-up!
Grace
Grace and Tina: the double jerk is a double pull, with your fingers wrapped around your toes, and it coincides with the double exhale - SHHH - SHHH! - sound. Your back should be flat during the double jerk, elbows bent, eyes looking directly at the wall/mirrors in front of you. No rounded back during pulling.
When the double jerk is over, you drop your forehead to your knee by rounding your back and letting your elbows bend to the floor beside your calves. It is a total relaxing of the back and head. Legs straight will come.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
Thank you for clarifying it Rhonda because double jerk was also kind of a mystery to me. It is a double pull. So, you pull with your fingers around your toes to bring yourself more forward with a flat back. Does it sound right?
Alfia
That's it, Alfia. Then let go and drop forward, rounding your back and dropping forehead to knees; a beautiful release after the stretch
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
i have been trying the dbl pull, but still find that i enjoy the first exhale at the top, then a quick inhale to lengthen again and bend over to grab the toes and do another double exhale there. this was the way i was first taught have tried other ways and still find myself going back to this. but i have been enjoying the rounding over forehead to knee
Becky
That's fine, Becky, as long as you get that additional inhale in as you pull for the ceiling and do the double jerk/double exhale as you hold the toes. I still find that I have enough exhale left to round forward and release the last of it as I drop my forehead to my knees at the end.
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
I really like doing sit ups. I really like the stretch up: my spine feels like it grows three inches. I sometimes get mixed up with the double jerks, but I always get the double exhales in. It is in these exhales that I feel a deep stretch in my lower back and hamstrings that feels glorious. I find that this stretch works wonders for my hamstrings. In fact, I feel that out of all of the stretches up to this point in the series has prepared me to fully sink down into my legs and straighten my knees. Pulling my upper body forward with a flat back has an empowering component to the asana.
When I had to do the modified sit up when I had a bad fall off of my horse, I found the movement to help move my back in a way that I would not have moved if I did not go to class. It was not a painful movement. It was just a kind way to get everything moving to begin healing.
Brittany Yard
brittany you touched on all the things that make this hot yoga version of a sit up particularly empowering: the stretch to the ceiling for lengthening the spine, the flat back double jerk/
double exhale (it's easy to coordinate as heat simply go together) for deeper spine lengthening and hamstring release, and the forehead to knee rounded back letting go for relaxing he spine and yes even more hamstring stretch. And yes even the modified sit up offers spine alignment with a gentle touch when needed. I also find thia sit up very empowering on many levels: the "reach up"
Cue is such a great encouragement especially when delivered as a command ... to me it feels like "reach for the stars" everytime
Rhonda Uretzky, E-RYT
After reading the detailed instructions and steps in the Hot Yoga Master Book, I realize that I have not been fully lifting up to the ceiling first and I have also been hooking my thumbs so I will stop doing that and keep my hand apart. My lower back at times feels pressure when doing the sit up after the forward compression floor poses. As my abdomen strength increases, I know the lower back will release.
Lisa O'Rourke
Some instruct this sit up as throwing yourself forward, forehead to knees, without reaching for the ceiling first. I think this is a recipe for a pulled back disaster. Notice how different it feels to reach for the ceiling before rounding the back and dropping down. What works for you?