Banded Sit-Up Press

Secondary muscles
Delts, Pectorals
Body part
Core
Position
Lying
Laterality
Bilateral (both sides together)
Category
Strength

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Holding a band anchored behind you and pressing it upward as you curl off the floor loads the sit-up through its whole range, with resistance peaking right where the bodyweight version gets easy, at the top. The pressing arms also drag the delts and chest into the work, so expect it to feel like a whole upper-body drill rather than a plain ab exercise.

How to do the Banded Sit-Up Press

  1. Attach the band securely to a stable anchor point.
  2. Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground.
  3. Hold the band with both hands and extend your arms straight up towards the ceiling.
  4. Engaging your abs, slowly lift your upper body off the ground, curling forward until your torso is at a 45-degree angle.
  5. Pause for a moment at the top, then slowly lower your upper body back down to the starting position.
  6. Repeat for the desired number of repetitions.

Tip: Reach the hands forward along the thighs and think of peeling the spine off the floor from the top down.

Muscles worked

Primary

Abs · Core

The abs curl the torso off the floor and then control it back down, and they do the most work in the first 30 degrees of the movement before the hip flexors take over.

Secondary

Common mistakes

  • Yanking the neck — hands behind the head should support only; keep the elbows wide or cross the arms on the chest.
  • Jerking up flat-backed — the spine should curl up one segment at a time starting from the head, not lift as a rigid board.
  • Dropping back down — the lowering half is where the abs work hardest, so take two or three seconds to come down.
  • Anchoring the feet — this lets the hip flexors do everything; if you must anchor, keep the knees bent and focus on curling the torso.

Where it fits in a workout

Sit-ups go at the end of a session with the other core work. Superset them with a back extension to balance the front and back of the trunk.

How many sets, how heavy and how hard: see what the ACSM position stands support.

Variations and alternatives

Similar exercises

Without resistance band

Easier and harder

When to talk to someone

  • Chest discomfort, feeling faint or lightheaded, or trouble breathing during or after exercise can be signs of a heart attack. In the US, call 911 right away; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.
  • Heart, metabolic or kidney disease, or symptoms like these when you are active: talk to your doctor before you start or step up training.
  • Pregnant: ask your obstetric care provider which exercise suits you.

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More exercises

Sources

  1. ACSM position stand on exercise quantity and quality (Garber et al., 2011)
  2. ACSM preparticipation health screening (Riebe et al., 2015)
  3. ACOG Committee Opinion No. 804 on exercise in pregnancy (2020)
  4. CDC: About Heart Attack Symptoms, Risk, and Recovery (2024)

Sources checked on October 17, 2026. Full citations are in the exercise library.

Animation and exercise data: ExerciseDB, licensed to SetGrip. General information, not medical or coaching advice.