| Here's my take on sit-ups from a personal trainers perspective. One of the reasons I will not have an obese client do them is that doing a sit-up tends to "build" muscle in the abdominals.
In the early stages of someones training it can be disheartening because muscle will actually push the fat out giving the appearance of a larger waist. If you want to lose an overweight woman as a client in a heart beat then make her do situps everyday. Also for obese clients to climb up and down off the floor isn't exactly the easiest thing.
Since we can't "spot reduce" fat I usually will have my heavier clients focus on core work that is not going to "bulk" the abs. Things like planks and stability ball holds. After the client has dropped some significant body fat, specifically in the abdomen I'll then introduce sit-ups.
But aside from the aesthetics of them it's perfectly fine if your healthy and strong enough to do a sit up.
Just my .02
Last edited by Bdizzle; May. 26/08 at 08:13 AM.
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