As you lie on the ground with your hands behind your head and your knees bent, you lift your upper body towards your knees.

当你躺在地上，双手置于脑袋下方，你弯曲双膝，抬起上身靠近膝盖。

That’s how you do a traditional sit-up, an exercise many of us have been doing since elementary school. However, the benefits of this abdominal workout are now in doubt.

这是传统仰卧起坐的姿势，很多人从小学就开始接触这项运动了。不过现在这项腹肌训练的效果受到了质疑。

Earlier last month, an editorial from the Navy Times, a US military publication, said that the sit-up is “viewed as a key cause of lower back injuries”. A study conducted by the US National Center for Biotechnology Information confirmed that 56 percent of the injuries in the US army’s fitness test result from sit-ups. The Canadian Armed Forces banished the sit-up from its fitness test for the same reason.

12月初美国军事报刊《海军时报》的一篇评论说，仰卧起坐“是腰背损伤的主要诱因”。美国国家生物技术信息中心的一项研究证实，56%的美国军队体能测试受伤案例都是由仰卧起坐引发。加拿大武装部队也因此将仰卧起坐从其体能测试中剔除。

“Sit-ups can put hundreds of pounds of compressive force on the spine,” Stuart McGill, a spine biomechanics specialist at the University of Waterloo, Canada, told The Wall Street Journal. “[It] can squeeze the discs in the spine, [and] eventually can cause discs to bulge, pressing on nerves and causing back pain, potentially leading to disc herniation.”

加拿大滑铁卢大学脊柱生物力学专家斯图尔特麦吉尔告诉《华尔街日报》：“仰卧起坐会给人的脊柱增加上百磅的压力。它会挤压腰椎间盘，最后可能会导致腰椎间盘变形，压迫腰椎神经，造成背部疼痛，很可能形成腰椎间盘突出症。”

In addition to its health disadvantages, the sit-up is also seen as lacking efficiency. A new report from Harvard Medical School disclosed that traditional sit-ups only target certain muscle groups instead of strengthening the entire set of core muscles.

除了不利于健康，仰卧起坐还被视为低效运动。哈佛医学院的一项最新报道表明，传统仰卧起坐只能锻炼到特定的肌肉群，并不能起到强化全身核心肌肉的作用。

As a result, many fitness gurus are abandoning sit-ups. “I really believe that the traditional, antiquated crunch has seen better days, and it’s time to make a change,” said Tony Horton, the creator of the popular P90X workout series. Horton revealed that he no longer does sit-ups.

因此许多健身达人不再做仰卧起坐了。P90X系列健身法的创始人托尼眠羃说：“我相信传统、过时的卷腹运动曾风靡一时，但现在是时候改改了。”荷顿透露，他也不再做仰卧起坐了。

For fitness lovers who used to do traditional sit-ups, Dr McGill recommends a modified curl-up that puts less stress on spines than traditional sit-ups. It requires adopters place hands underneath the back and then only lift head and shoulders.

麦吉尔博士建议那些过去常做仰卧起坐的健身爱好者可以改练改良版的卷腹，它给脊柱的压力会小很多。动作的要领是，将手置于背部下方，只需抬起头和肩即可。

Sit-ups can also be practiced in different ways, and the variations range from V-Ups, Swiss ball sit-ups and reverse sit-ups. The injury risk not only depends on the variations that people use, but also on an individual’s physical well-being.

仰卧起坐也有多种训练方法，从V字向上、瑞士球腹肌训练到反向仰卧起坐。是否会受伤不仅取决于仰卧起坐的姿势，还和个人的身体健康状况相关。

John Childs is the CEO of Evidence in Motion, a US company that trains physical therapists, and he remains skeptical about the latest study against sit-ups. He acknowledges that sit-ups can increase the stress placed on backs, but he doesn’t see a direct link between sit-ups and back pain.

美国理疗师培训公司运动迹象的CEO约翰蔡尔斯对有关仰卧起坐的最新研究持怀疑态度。他承认仰卧起坐会给背部增加压力，但不认为仰卧起坐和背部酸痛有直接关系。

“The most important thing is for people to perform exercises they enjoy so they’ll continue doing them,” Childs told The Wall Street Journal. “Staying active and doing regular exercise the old-fashioned way is far more advantageous than doing nothing.”

“最重要的是选择自己喜欢的运动，这样才能坚持锻炼，”蔡尔斯告诉《华尔街日报》。“保持活力，定期锻炼，就算过时的运动方式也比一动不动来得好。”