--- title: Sit-Ups: Fitness Experts Are Turning Against Sit-Ups description: Fitness experts are now advising against doing too many sit-ups for risk of back injury. canonical: https://time.com/4158620/sit-ups-fitness-exercise-workout-abs-core/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-22T15:41:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T13:35:07.008Z article:section: Health og:title: Why Fitness Experts Have Turned Against Sit-Ups og:description: Do you still do them? og:url: https://time.com/4158620/sit-ups-fitness-exercise-workout-abs-core/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6497a050c23a6382/6987788e0b72e3cd066dcfd4/health-weight-scale-3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Weight Loss Health Exercise Scale og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Fitness Experts Have Turned Against Sit-Ups twitter:description: Do you still do them? twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6497a050c23a6382/6987788e0b72e3cd066dcfd4/health-weight-scale-3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Fitness Experts Have Turned Against Sit-Ups  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 22, 2015 3:41 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 22, 2015 3:41 PM UTC Fitness experts are now advising against doing too many sit-ups for [risk of back injury.](http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-you-can-stop-doing-sit-ups-1450722637) According to the Wall Street _Journal_, Stuart McGill, a professor of spine biomechanics at the University of Waterloo, says sit-ups put hundreds of pounds of compressive force on the spine. This pressure combined with the repeated flexing motion of a sit-up can squeeze spinal discs and possibly lead to herniation. Others are catching on. The _Journal_ reports that an editorial in a paper covering the U.S. Navy has called for taking sit-ups out of annual fitness tests, and the Canadian Armed Forces has already done away with them. The creator of the P90X workout also says he no longer does sit-ups. What to do instead of sit-ups? Experts recommend the plank pose, which works out core muscles but puts less harmful pressure on the lower back. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4158620/sit-ups-fitness-exercise-workout-abs-core/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4158620/sit-ups-fitness-exercise-workout-abs-core/"},"headline":"Why Fitness Experts Have Turned Against Sit-Ups","datePublished":"2015-12-22T15:41:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:35:07.008Z","description":"They put too much pressure on your lower back.","url":"https://time.com/4158620/sit-ups-fitness-exercise-workout-abs-core/","keywords":["Exercise","fitness","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6497a050c23a6382/6987788e0b72e3cd066dcfd4/health-weight-scale-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6497a050c23a6382/6987788e0b72e3cd066dcfd4/health-weight-scale-3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TIME.com stock photos Weight Loss Health Exercise Scale","caption":"TIME.com stock photos Weight Loss Health Exercise Scale","creditText":"Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/exercise/","name":"Exercise"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4158620/sit-ups-fitness-exercise-workout-abs-core/","name":"Why Fitness Experts Have Turned Against Sit-Ups"}}]}] ```