Sit-up form check: a live coach on your phone
The sit-up is a simple torso curl, and the count only means something if every rep goes the full way: lying with your back flat, then curling up until your chest is near your knees. Short reps, pulling on the neck and bouncing off the floor are the usual ways to inflate the number.
No equipment needed. Practise at home. Just do the rep properly in front of your phone. Bodyweight squats, push-ups and lunges need nothing at all, and you can check the hinge and press patterns with a very light weight or none: the coach judges your movement, not your kit.
What good looks like
- Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat, hands across your chest or lightly by your ears.
- Curl up by bringing your chest toward your knees, without pulling on your head or neck.
- Come all the way up, then lower under control until your shoulder blades touch the floor.
- Breathe out as you come up and in as you go down, with no bounce at the bottom.
Common mistakes and how to fix them
Half sit-ups
Coming up only part of the way cuts the rep. Curl up until your chest is close to your knees.
Pulling on the neck
Yanking your head forward strains the neck. Cross your arms over your chest and lead with your chest.
Bouncing off the floor
Dropping back down and rebounding uses momentum instead of your abs. Lower for two to three seconds and touch lightly.
What Formanti checks on your sit-up
The top of every rep, judged the same way.
- Torso: 112–186°. lower until your back is nearly flat
Your up
The low point of every rep, judged against the guide ranges.
- Torso: 30–100°. sit all the way up, chest toward your knees
What you hear and see when you are off
Sit all the way up
The coach says: “Sit all the way up”
On screen: Sit all the way up.
Drill: Slow sit-ups with a 1 second pause at the top; hold your arms across your chest if you pull on your neck.
Lower all the way down
The coach says: “Lower all the way”
On screen: Lower all the way down.
Drill: Lower for 3 seconds and touch your shoulder blades to the floor each rep.
Drills you can do alone
- Slow sit-ups: two seconds up, a one-second pause at the top, three seconds down.
- Crossed-arm sit-ups to take the neck out of it, stopping the set when your reps get short.
How to set up your phone
Lie on your back, knees bent. Phone on the floor 2 metres to your side so your whole body is in view. Film from the side: back and hip angles cannot be judged head-on. It all runs on your phone and nothing is uploaded.
New: ranges from standard coaching references, not yet checked against real lifters.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I put the phone for sit-ups?
On the floor about two metres to your side, so your whole body from head to knees is in view as you curl up and lie back.
Does the phone count partial reps?
It counts a rep when you move through enough of the range, and flags the rep when you did not come all the way up or lie all the way down.
More lifts to check
Deadlift · Squat · Push-up · Lunge · Overhead press · Bent-over row · Romanian deadlift · Bicep curl · Tricep extension · Lateral raise · Glute bridge · Pull-up · Dip · Jumping jack · Plank · Wall sit