The old adage of: no pain, no gain applies here... if you want your stomach to look good, you have to pay the price....
start with 100 crunches a day and work up to 1000 crunches each day... try the routine for a month...
start with 100 crunches a day and work up to 1000 crunches each day... try the routine for a month...
Adding weight while doing crunches will bring more improvement than simply going up in number.
Doing crunches/situps alone isn't going to help you get a 6 pack. You need to eat right and exercise. Your future 6 pack is covered up by a mass of fat. Crunches/situps alone can't fix this. Also, don't try to run a mile in 5 minutes. You've gotten some flak for being slow, but running a 13 minute mile is better than nothing. Keep running miles and eventually you'll get faster.
Try to cut back on carbonated beverages and sport drinks too. If you run a mile and right after pop open a coke or a gatorade you've defeated the purpose of exercising. Once you get the results you want you can go back to drinking sports drinks after workouts if you want.
Here's some info that will help you out.
Well I didn't say that I'm going for a 6-pack, I just want to cut off some of the fat and firm up a little bit. When you say 100 crunches a day, do you mean consecutively? I'm sure I could do 3 sets of 33, with about 30 seconds in between, if that's what you were implying. Also, cutting back on carbonated beverages and sports drinks won't be much a problem, because I don't drink sports drinks at all and rarely drink carbonated beverages. I"ll have the occassional wild cherry pepsi, because let's be honest, who can resist?!? Basically though, I drink water only. I guess I'll have to step up my cardiovascular exercises and watch what I eat even more thoroughly...
'fraid so. The idea that you can "spot train" is a myth. Ab exercises will help you build those ab muscles, but they won't burn the fat in that specific area any more than any other exercise. Each of us is genetically prone to store fat in certain areas, and the only way to lose fat in that area is to lower our bf% everywhere. That means lots of cardio.
This applies to skinny people too, I just happen to store almost all of my fat in my legs so I don't have to worry about a flabby stomach.
By all means, do ab exercises and weight training, but if the stomach is what you are most concerned about it's going to take a good diet, lots of cardio, and a lot of persistence.
Good luck!
Imdmn04 is right, you can't just do tons of crunches and get a six pack. Everybody has a six pack, you just can't see it under the fat most people have. Exercise regularly (nothing too hard, just half and hour of cardio). You only need to do crunches for tone and then only about 3 times a week, letting your muscles recouperate in between. When doing crunches, the most important part is to remember to actually crunch. Don't just go up and down as fast as you can - it'll just make you tired. Compression is the key so curl up, hold, tense, and slowly uncurl. You'll feel the burn pretty quickly like that. Get a routine, some encouragement from friends, and you should be alright.
Oh yea, change your diet (probably the hardest part).
Oh yea, change your diet (probably the hardest part).
I must be clueless too then. How does pulling on your head save your abdominals from doing work?
mitchafi, do what Balt and others have said. Cardio and diet to lose the fat. Weight train to make the muscles larger.
Well you cannot turn fat into muscle. You have to burn the fat with cardio and create muscle. I do slow release crunches similiar to what someone else called "cramps" in this thread. However I do not have any visible ab muscles because im 192lbs atm. I have been running and weight lifting and have come down from 207. I have hit a plateau but everything will work itself out GL 2 U.
rh71
No Lifer
- Aug 28, 2001
- 52,844
- 1,049
- 126
I know you said you hate doing crunches, but really... I think you hate doing anything... there's no easy way out. So force yourself... and do this
I believe how it works is by putting your arms behind your head your supposed to have a less of chance to brace your arms to push yourself up giving ur midsection the full impact of the crunch the whole point is NOT to use your arms to aid you in doing the crunches it defeats the purpose. I sometimes just cross my arms over my chest. I imagine that would also work.
edro
Lifer
- Apr 5, 2002
- 24,326
- 68
- 91
If you want to lose FAT, and not total calories, you need to eat right (5-6 times a day) and when you do cardio, keep your heart rate at about 120. If you go above that, you are burning Carb and Protein calories, and very little fat. You will burn less TOTAL calories at that heart rate, but most of it will be fat.
As for building stomach muscles:
Leg lifts.
Crunches.
Weighted Ab Machine (pushing down)
Sprinting.
As for building stomach muscles:
Leg lifts.
Crunches.
Weighted Ab Machine (pushing down)
Sprinting.
quick question about the ab boot camp. how effective is the stomach vacuum? it seems simple enough that i can do while sitting at my desk at work. the guy also said to exhale all the air out of your lungs and touch your navel to your backbone and hold for 10-20 secs. during the 10-20 second time period do i breathe or not? seems interesting enough.
Putting your hands behind your head provides extra support and allows you to throw your own weight behind your situp. Trust me, the easiest test is to do one situp using your arms behind your head and the next to do a situp with your arms crossed over your chest. The tendency is for someone to use their arms to *help* them accomplish situps when their stomache muscles arn't able to keep up. I learned this in like junior high school or grade school...
Fingolfin269
Lifer
- Feb 28, 2003
- 17,948
- 33
- 91
I've found the best way to do crunches to be lying on a decline bench, feet hooked, 50ish pound dumbell behind head, 3 sets of 8. Some people prefer to hold the weight in the front, around the pecs, but I don't find that to work as well for me as it seems to get in the way more than the behind the head placement.
You must focus on using your abdominals to pull you up and nothing else. Also, be sure to keep them flexed in the negative portion as well.
I'm obviously a fan of training your abs the same way you would train any other muscle. I don't believe in the 100 sit-ups, 100 crunches, 100 etc.'s. I don't do 100 5 pound bench presses to build my chest so why would I do 100 5 pound crunches to build my abs.
You must focus on using your abdominals to pull you up and nothing else. Also, be sure to keep them flexed in the negative portion as well.
I'm obviously a fan of training your abs the same way you would train any other muscle. I don't believe in the 100 sit-ups, 100 crunches, 100 etc.'s. I don't do 100 5 pound bench presses to build my chest so why would I do 100 5 pound crunches to build my abs.
Megatomic
Lifer
- Nov 9, 2000
- 20,127
- 6
- 81
Working out used to be such a chore, something I dreaded when I woke up in the morning. Now I think about it almost as much as I do computers and video games and nearly half as much as I think about sex.
I think I'm becoming addicted to fitness. I'm happy to realize this as I've led such a sedentary life since I got out of the Navy 12 years ago...
I think I'm becoming addicted to fitness. I'm happy to realize this as I've led such a sedentary life since I got out of the Navy 12 years ago...
Pretty consistently for over 25 years at this point. Haven't seen either myself or any of the other lifters violate the laws of physics in that time.
yea. i agree as well. you have to work on running and at least getting into some sort of shape (should be your primary goal)...
Geekbabe
Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Abs are made in the kitchen.. include low fat cottage cheese and yogurt in your diet,complex carbs eaten early in the day,olive oil,almonds,peanuts,avocado.Also try to take time out to relax,stress causes an increase in cortisol which prompts the body to store fat in the mid section.
90% of how you look has to do with what you eat. Don't buy the lie of "crunches" or "situps". You have stomach muscles already, they are simply covered in fat. That's normal. If you want to be abnormal, you have to either change your eating habits or workout to the point where the xcess fat is consumed.
If you want to build muscle in that area then adopt the "heavy weight" "low repetitions" scheme and it will cause those muscles to grow. However, even if they grow, you still have to deal with that layer of fat on top of them, which leads me back to my first point, you have to eat right.
Most peeps aren't willing to do the work it takes to develop the look you are seeking.
Think of what you had to eat this week. You think Brad Pitt would eat like that?
If you want to build muscle in that area then adopt the "heavy weight" "low repetitions" scheme and it will cause those muscles to grow. However, even if they grow, you still have to deal with that layer of fat on top of them, which leads me back to my first point, you have to eat right.
Most peeps aren't willing to do the work it takes to develop the look you are seeking.
Think of what you had to eat this week. You think Brad Pitt would eat like that?
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