G to-the H to-the D!

     Morning yall! Hope you had a good weekend. Got plenty of paleo, sleep and recovery... right? Well, it's Monday now, so back on the wagon you (yea, I know who you are)! Ok, so I'll stop threatening my followers/viewers. I will do burpees later.

This makes me smile :)

     So, if you haven't guessed, today is an overview on the GHD situp. GHD stands for Glute-Ham developer. So this means we are not only working the stabilization of our abs, but we're recruiting power from our hip flexors to really make this effective.

     Now, when we progress we're going to start with the basics. Please, do not jump onto the GHD if an Abmat situps is too difficult. The full ROM GHD is a taxing and advanced movement, not something we can or should just do. So, once we can do enough situps to power a car, lets start thinking about incorporating the GHD.

Starting Position

     So above is the starting position that we're going to be in. Legs secured, knees bent, hips hanging off the mat a little (which is not what she's doing in the pic, but that's ok), back and core tight. The first intro to the GHD, after a sound start position, will be the half GHD situp. To do this we will keep our knees bent, back/core tight and come back until we are parallel to the mat we're sitting on. Once we reach this position we immediately, and aggressively, straighten our legs to shoot our body back up. It is very important to realize that the primary work hoarse in this movement is the hip flexors (hense Glute & Hamstring developer). The full GHD just required for ROM, reaching back until our hand touch the floor and then using the aggressive straightening of the knees to propel us forward... Tada! GHD Situp!!!



David - GHD Sit-up - 03 17 10 from Greg Keeter on Vimeo.

     It should be obvious to not that the video posted above is not at full speed... don't go that slow, that would suck! So that's the name of the game folks, practice and learn new things. Until next time: Live Life, Get Strong, and do Burpees.

3,2,1 GO!