ACSM Guidelines for Women's Situps

The American College of Sports Medicine offers guidance for health and physical fitness, and also issues standards for physical fitness tests. The abdominal endurance test, sometimes called the situp test, measures your ability to maintain abdominal endurance for 60 seconds. The ACSM sets separate numerical situp goals for men and women, and these guidelines are used as part of an overall fitness test. You might take such a test with a personal trainer to determine your fitness, or as part of a test for a job with a fitness requirement.

  1. Positioning

    • To perform the abdominal endurance test, lie on the ground with your knees bent at a 90-degree angle. Put your arms flat at your side and extended toward your toes, and place tape on the floor at the spot your fingertips hit. Then measure 10 centimeters past the first piece of tape, and place a second piece of tape on the floor. As you perform situps, your fingertips will extend past the second piece of tape.

    Performing the Situp

    • Starting with your back flat on the ground and your knees bent, use your abdominal muscles -- not your neck or arms -- to pull your torso off of the ground, while keeping your arms out straight. When your fingertips extend the second piece of tape, return to your starting position and perform another situp. You should raise your body no further than the second piece of tape.

    Guidelines

    • The ACSM establishes situp goals based on both age and sex. For a woman under 20 years old, 25 or fewer situps is considered very poor. Twenty-five to 28 situps in a minute is poor, 29 to 32 situps is fair, and 34 to 36 situps is good. Performing 37 to 46 sit-ups is excellent, and 49 to 55 is superior. As you age, the number of situps you're required to do to get a score of "good" or higher decreases. At ages 30 to 39, 26 or more situps is considered good, while women over 60 are considered superior if they can do more than 20 situps.

    Building Strength

    • ACSM's physical fitness guidelines measure current strength and fitness, and are not an absolute measure of your capabilities. Daily training can increase the number of situps you can do and increase your overall physical fitness. Practicing the test daily can help you gain abdominal strength, and regular abdominal and back stretching can reduce pain and tension while doing the test.