Press Sit-Up

What you'll gain

• Loads a sit-up so the abs can progress past bodyweight.

• Adds an overhead press at the top without a second exercise.

• The floor setup needs only a bar and a foot anchor.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. 1

   Lie on your back with knees bent and both feet anchored under a plate or similar stop.

2. 2

   Hold a light barbell at the chest with an overhand grip.

3. 3

   Brace the trunk and keep the bar stacked over the chest.

4. 4

   Sit up by curling the ribs toward the thighs.

5. 5

   As you reach the top, press the bar overhead to locked elbows.

6. 6

   Lower the bar to the chest, then roll the torso back to the floor.

Common Mistakes

• Yanking with the neck instead of curling the trunk.

• Using a heavy bar that turns the sit-up into a hip-flexor heave.

• Letting the feet fly so the hips slide and the press drifts.

• Arching the lower back to finish the press instead of sitting tall.

About This Exercise

The press sit-up pairs a sit-up with an overhead press. You lie with knees bent, feet anchored, and a barbell on the chest, then curl the torso up and press the bar to lockout before lowering both. That barbell sequence is a sit-up-to-press. The Otis-up is the same sit-up-to-press idea with a plate or dumbbell and notes a loaded barbell as the advanced implement. The approved frame uses a barbell at the chest and a floor plate as a foot anchor. For a catalog this is a loaded core-plus-press clip, not a bodyweight sit-up. It fits weighted-ab blocks, compound core pages, and barbell accessory work where the sit-up and the press share one loop.

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