🏋️ hate sit-ups? try these 10 alternatives instead

It may be the Friday before a holiday weekend, but The BarBend Newsletter is in mid-week form. Let's dive straight into the good stuff!

You won’t get a strong, well-defined core by just pumping out endless sets of sit-ups during the week. Put some of these alternatives in your routine to really feel the burn.

In a huge shake-up for CrossFit, Ricky Garard announced that a shoulder injury will force him to miss the rest of the 2023 season.

Creatine doesn’t just come in a powder — these 14 foods are also excellent sources of this workout-boosting amino acid.

Training Tips

Thinking Beyond the Sit-Up

From military physical fitness assessments in the 1940s to your sixth-grade gym class, sit-ups have been a mainstay of workout culture for quite some time. And there's a reason for that: They require no equipment, can be done anywhere, and are easy to learn. But while convenient, sit-ups are generally not the most functional of core exercises.

You see, sit-ups work your anterior core muscles but not the posterior core muscles in the back of your body. The purpose of the core is to stabilize and protect the spine, helping it to resist movement under load to prevent injury. If you’re only doing sit-ups to work your core, you’re actually missing out on a lot of your — well — core in the process. 

Now, no one is suggesting you toss sit-ups to the curb, but you should also opt for a variety of alternatives to train your entire core. And we’re here with 10 of the best options.

CrossFit

Ricky Garard Is Out

Ricky Garard is out of the 2023 CrossFit season. The 2022 CrossFit Games podium finisher announced his withdrawal on Wednesday on both his Instagram page and YouTube channel. He has been sidelined after getting surgery following a shoulder injury sustained in a mountain biking accident.

Garard returned to the CrossFit Games in 2022 following a four-year suspension and recently won the elite individual division at the 2023 TYR Wodapalooza. Find out more about Garard’s injury — including his tentative recovery timetable — below.

Nutrition

Creatine-Packed Foods

You may know creatine as that powder your gym buddies scoop into their pre-workout. It’s an amino acid that naturally exists in your body and is key in producing energy for short bursts of intense activity.

There’s a reason athletes, from CrossFitters to bodybuilders, use the stuff. Supplementing with creatine has potential benefits for your overall health, including for your brain, blood sugar, and ability to fight diseases. But if you’re not interested in supplements, you can get your creatine in everyday foods, including red meat, seafood, and some dairy.

Everything Else

Are You Up for the Challenge?

• Rogue’s 1,000-Pound Challenge asks participants to max out on the bench, squat, and deadlift in an hour. Are you game? 

• Speaking of 1000-pound clubs, Hafthor Björnsson almost hit that mark recently just on the squat. Someone get that man a free T-shirt.

• And if you’re looking to power-up your workouts with a nitric oxide supplement, we’ve rounded up some of the best ones on the market.