The partial curl‐up to assess abdominal endurance: Age and sex standards

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Abstract
The partial curl‐up has been recommended as a better test of abdominal muscular endurance, replacing the one‐minute speed sit‐up with anchored feet. The curl‐up begins from a supine position, with the knees bent at 140° and the feet unsupported. The subject curls up in a controlled fashion until the fingertips are just able to touch the patellae; then, the trunk is slowly lowered until the head and shoulders touch the mat. This report presents age and gender standards for the partial curl‐up derived from the testing of 2178 males and 672 females. The partial curl‐up appears to be a safe protocol, with relatively few individuals experiencing dizziness, headache, nausea, neck pain or back discomfort. Average scores for males are higher than for females and scores diminish dramatically with age. Among men 60‐69 and women 50‐59, approximately 20% are unable to perform one curl‐up. Correlations between curl‐up performance and age, stature, body weight, BMI, girths, body fat, trunk flexibility, aerobic fitness, upper body strength and muscular endurance were significant (p < 0.0001), but accounted for less than 16% of the total variance. Fitter individuals (and/or those with less excess body fat), as well as younger individuals, are able to perform more curl‐ups than less fit, fatter or older individuals.