This seems to be one of those things where they decide one is bad for you, so do the other. Then after several years, they say they were wrong, go back to what you were doing originally. What is the current thought on which of these is the better form of exercise, if either?
Sit-Ups Or Crunches? Both? Neither?
- Thread starter ShotgunSteven
- Start date
depends on what you're trying to achieve. as a general rule, I find that crunches are ideal for just isolating the abs while situps are a more compound motion, involving the hips and back along with the abs. if you're just trying to tone up your 6 pack, your best bet is probably to go with crunches as indicated here and here.
however, even more important than just crunch vs. situp is to do a variety of ab exercises. doing several different ones - especially with resistance - prevents the exercise from getting boring and assures that you hit every part of your core. here's a good list of exercises. I'm a fan of kneeling cable crunches, weighted ball crunches, and leg raises. Don't neglect your obliques either - side bends and twist crunches work pretty well.
EDIT ---> forgot to mention one other important thing. you can do crunches all day long and still not have a six pack if your body fat percentage is too high. to get a 6 pack to really show up, you either need stellar genes or you have to do plenty of cardio/HIIT and be very careful with your diet.
however, even more important than just crunch vs. situp is to do a variety of ab exercises. doing several different ones - especially with resistance - prevents the exercise from getting boring and assures that you hit every part of your core. here's a good list of exercises. I'm a fan of kneeling cable crunches, weighted ball crunches, and leg raises. Don't neglect your obliques either - side bends and twist crunches work pretty well.
EDIT ---> forgot to mention one other important thing. you can do crunches all day long and still not have a six pack if your body fat percentage is too high. to get a 6 pack to really show up, you either need stellar genes or you have to do plenty of cardio/HIIT and be very careful with your diet.
I find that crunches mainly target the top half of your abs. Maybe that's just me. But if you rely solely on crunches, you need to add additional work into the mix for the lower abs. I do crunches mixed with regular (but not traditional) situps mixed with leg exercises to continuously target the various areas of the abs.
I believe one of the problems with a traditional situp is that it creates a scenario where, as your abs tire out, your body can put all the work onto your lower back to throw yourself into the air. Which means not only are you not getting the proper ab workout, but you can cause some significant back issues. The situp I like to do eliminates this by removing your leverage. What you do is sit down like a regular situp, but then lift your legs into the air. With your legs in the air, you no longer have the leverage to 'throw' your body into the air and have to rely on your abs to properly perform the workout. Having said that, you can still throw your arms in an attempt to lift yourself up and need to be aware of that.
I believe one of the problems with a traditional situp is that it creates a scenario where, as your abs tire out, your body can put all the work onto your lower back to throw yourself into the air. Which means not only are you not getting the proper ab workout, but you can cause some significant back issues. The situp I like to do eliminates this by removing your leverage. What you do is sit down like a regular situp, but then lift your legs into the air. With your legs in the air, you no longer have the leverage to 'throw' your body into the air and have to rely on your abs to properly perform the workout. Having said that, you can still throw your arms in an attempt to lift yourself up and need to be aware of that.
Koing
Elite Member <br> Super Moderator<br> Health and F
- Oct 11, 2000
- 16,843
- 2
- 0
I never do any crunches but the bulk of my ab work is incline weighted sit ups, incline twisting sit ups with weights, dragon flies, bulk offs and L sits and you can mix in L sit pull ups if your feeling frisky.
Another good ab exercise is to hang on a pull up bar. Now raise your legs up so that they are parallel to the floor (L sit position) and now move your feet left to right. This is a very hard exercise to do properly and controlled.
Koing
Another good ab exercise is to hang on a pull up bar. Now raise your legs up so that they are parallel to the floor (L sit position) and now move your feet left to right. This is a very hard exercise to do properly and controlled.
Koing
presidentender
Golden Member
- Jan 23, 2008
- 1,166
- 0
- 76
Neither is bad for you. Do both. Add leg raises, roman chair sit-ups, incline sit-ups, weighted sit-ups, side bends, twist sit-ups...
That's about all I do for more direct ab work. I try to keep it like most of everything else, either 5x5 or 3x8.
Crunchers vs sit-ups: crunchers are typically thought superior because your abs never get to fully contract and stay stressed. Also, you don't have momentum going back down as you do with a sit-up and hence the cruncher is supposed to be more stressful on the ab groups because it's more constant.
Anways, crunchers are primarily an upper ab excercise and really need to mixed with something else. I do leg lifts, preferably hanging off the end of a bench with my knees slightly bent and bringing both legs to vertical. I work to fail - I never count. Crunchers produce a more aethestic result, but personally I feel the leg lifts are better for your lower back and internal organs.
I also mix these with 'back breakers'. This is an excercise in which I hold two barbells in front of me and do quick bends from side to side. Only excercise I've found to really get at lateral obliques.
I fly big traction kites in the summer so I need to do all this crap to keep from getting killed.
Anways, crunchers are primarily an upper ab excercise and really need to mixed with something else. I do leg lifts, preferably hanging off the end of a bench with my knees slightly bent and bringing both legs to vertical. I work to fail - I never count. Crunchers produce a more aethestic result, but personally I feel the leg lifts are better for your lower back and internal organs.
I also mix these with 'back breakers'. This is an excercise in which I hold two barbells in front of me and do quick bends from side to side. Only excercise I've found to really get at lateral obliques.
I fly big traction kites in the summer so I need to do all this crap to keep from getting killed.
Chunkee
Lifer
- Jul 28, 2002
- 10,391
- 1
- 81
the genetic, HIIT and cardio/ and extremely watchful diet comment are right on/ good luck in your pursuit.
I have been training for over 23 years...had em, lost em, had em, lost em trying to get em back at 40..probably will not happen unless i get a little lipo done remove that stubborn little area..
Just be healthy...
I have been training for over 23 years...had em, lost em, had em, lost em trying to get em back at 40..probably will not happen unless i get a little lipo done remove that stubborn little area..
Just be healthy...all of the above. your stomach can take alot of repetition b/c these are high repetition exercises for your stomach.. I personally do something very difficult called the dragon flag.. look it up in youtube and you'll see an example.. works all the abs but particular the very upper area that goes untouched.
Wicked exercise. Started doing negative dragon flags yesterday, intense exercise ... fun to do, too.
I hardly ever do abs. And when I do I'll do maybe 100 incline situps. I hate working out abs, it just feels like a waste of time for some reason. And I think six packs are dumb looking anyway.
Even when I did full ab workouts I felt like it was a waste. Thanks for your awesome response though.
Did the "full" workout consist of 200 situps as opposed to the 100 you did for a "half" workout?
Anytime.
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 24K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 19K
-
-
-
Facebook
Twitter