Form

[ferret]

Just a few questions about form for pushups and situps.

Pushups
How far back do your hands have to be? At the moment, I think (can't be sure) that they're at roughly perpendicular to my body. Is that good form?

Situps
Whenever I do any situps, I put some thrust into it which helps me get all the way up. As a consequence my hands move from behind my ears to nearly away from my head entirely. Is this alright? Or do situps have to be done using no explosive power whatsoever?

Also, are the pushups and situps tests at POC done on mats are on the floor of the gym? Whenever I do situps on the (wooden) floor, my lower back kills. Situps on my thin rug/mat are not bad though, just a bit uncomfortable.

Thanks for any reply.

[ferret]

Thanks PAGreenwell.

My POC is way off, I'm 14 now and interested in joining after my A Levels. I just wanted to get my form perfect from the start...I started training at the start of this year, but for the moment it's more for fun than anything else. Shin splints has held back my running for the past few weeks and so I've been concentrating on my upper body.

[Hughser]

Pressups - http://www.mfat.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11356

should be a PTI pumping them out down the page.

[maritime_marine]

Do your hands have to be behind the ears completly because ive been putting my finger tips on my temples is that okay? They dont come away from my head or anything?

[maritime_marine]

Thats alright then, just didnt want to train with my hands there and have to change on the day. Just another distraction really.

[fubar84]

@ Ferret To answer your question about sit-ups, your hands must stay touching your head during POC or you will be in danger of having repetitions deducted from your total by the PTI's. During the gym tests you are contsantly monitored to make sure you are using good form.

Just so you know swinging your arms forward during a sit-up isn't employing explosive power it's using the momentum of your arms to make the sit-up action easier. Doing this will definately get you pinged on POC.

The good news is that you can easily train yourself to use correct form...
The bad news is that you achieve this by doing lots of sit-ups

Good luck,

[torqueset]

Just so you know swinging your arms forward during a sit-up isn't employing explosive power it's using the momentum of your arms to make the sit-up action easier. Doing this will definately get you pinged on POC

Wrong! Keep your finger tips on your temples but you can and must swing your elbows forward so they touch the outside of your knees on the upward movement. Then on the downward movement swing your arms back so that your elbows touch the floor remembering to keep your finger tips firmly attached to your temple. You will be 'pinged' for NOT doing this. Also, keep you knees and feet firmly locked together.

[ferret]

@ Ferret To answer your question about sit-ups, your hands must stay touching your head during POC or you will be in danger of having repetitions deducted from your total by the PTI's. During the gym tests you are contsantly monitored to make sure you are using good form.

Just so you know swinging your arms forward during a sit-up isn't employing explosive power it's using the momentum of your arms to make the sit-up action easier. Doing this will definately get you pinged on POC.

The good news is that you can easily train yourself to use correct form...
The bad news is that you achieve this by doing lots of sit-ups

Good luck,

My hands don't really come off my head. They just move a bit because I pull myself up as quickly as I can; the momentum of the body coming up quickly just carries my hands foward naturally. If I try doing situps very slowly it's much tougher because the natural speed of me pulling up helps me get up there, and that natural speed is nonexistant in slow situps. Whenever I try doing situps quickly with no 'oomph', I end up doing them slowly.

Wrong! Keep your finger tips on your temples but you can and must swing your elbows forward so they touch the outside of your knees on the upward movement. Then on the downward movement swing your arms back so that your elbows touch the floor remembering to keep your finger tips firmly attached to your temple. You will be 'pinged' for NOT doing this. Also, keep you knees and feet firmly locked together.

Correct. But I think what fubar84 meant was that using that arm movement to exploit momentum will get you pinged, ie. moving your arms up so quickly that the rest of the body gets a boost. With me it's the other way round, my body is moving up quickly and as a consequence my hands move a little too.

When Matt Baker (Blue Peter) did the PRMC (thanks tkdvipers), the situps look like they're done with some of this 'thrust', but that was filmed a while ago, and many things have been changed.

[torqueset]

Another tip that i found very helpful was to do situps whilst holding a 10kg weight on my chest. At first i did this a couple of times a week and my 'standard' situps improved very quickly. It is now an integral part of my fitness routine. However i would suggest not to use any weight resistance before building up a good solid foundation.

[fubar84]

Thanks for the correction torqueset

Perhaps in your haste to use your exclamation key you forgot to read what ferret had said he was doing during situps, and that's what my reply was aimed at?

Also whilst not being in the Royal Marines yet, I've been and passed POC, and because of that I know exacly how they want you to do your situps during selection.

@ Ferret - I'm glad that you understood what i was getting at If your fingers are barely coming away from your temples i'd imagine you'll be ok but it's best to train with the intention of keepin your hands on your head at all times. I wouldn't bother risking it during your selection.

[torqueset]

Thanks for the correction torqueset

No probs

[fubar84]

Come on, I know they say it's the lowest form of wit, buy surely you realise that my thank you was sarcasm?