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Anonymous
Hey /fit/

I've been doing sit ups, crunches and push ups just about every other day now for a month or so and I'm just wondering if it's helping at all.

I do as many push ups until I can't possibly go up again and I make sure that my hands are in line with my shoulders and that my chin touches the ground. I usually do around 15. Next I do 10 sit ups and then fifty crunches.

Are there any other things I can do at home that would help?
>> Anonymous
Build up to planche push ups.
>> Anonymous
well im not a sit up expert, but my abs are pretty fit. Id suggest adding a couple of exercises to help with toning...
ill see if i can find a few pics.

http://www.weight-lifting-workout-routines.com/Sidebend-bridge.jpg (hold in the bottom position for 30 seconds x3 alternating arms, good for oblique definition)

The other 2 im having trouble finding pictures of, but basically you would lie on ur back with ur arms stretched out to your sides, and flex, exhale, and hold ur abs tight so ur pack presses to the ground, hole for 10 seconds, rest for 2 (enough to catch ur breath) and repeat for 1 minute. do 3 times.

the final toning exercise looks like this.

http://www.fitnessvancouver.ca/anatomyassets/e-plank-prone.gif

i would lower ur back and butt so its flat, like a "plank" but if u cant hold that position for 30 seconds to a minute, cheat like she is. make sure to flex, but it should come naturally. 3 sets.
>> Anonymous
After you can maintain a plank for six mins, try a dynamic plank. Essentially, you raise one hand or one leg and hold the position for about 10 second. Alternate between limbs, etc. Also, do you want abs with pure aesthetic appeal? In that case, all you really need is a low body fat %. other wise, your abs will start to protrude and visibly bulge through your cloths.
>> Anonymous
>>100324

I'm 6'1" and weigh about 133lb and still can't see my abs too well. I think a lot of it has to do with genes as well.
>> Juggy !tr.t4dJfuU
What the fuck happened to all the oldfags?

Crunches and situps won't get you anywhere. If you want to build core muscles, abs, obliques, etc, do squats and deadlifts.

When you think you have adequate abdominal muscles, then start concentrating on cardio and calorie cutting to accentuate.
>> Anonymous
>>100348

So crunches and sit ups aren't good for anything?

I'm just doing these exercises whenever I have spare time at home and I don't have a home gym. I don't really NEED to do them I just think that they're healthy and they'll at least somewhat improve my strength.

>>100324
>>100319

I'm going to add those to my routine, thanks.
>> Juggy !tr.t4dJfuU
The won't improve strength, just endurance. In order to increase strength, you need to increase resistance, ie, use weights.

They're a form of exercise, yes, and they burn calories, but you'd be better off just running or even doing jumping jacks. Crunches and situps are pretty useless and don't do anything at all in terms of strengthening your core.
>> Anonymous
>>100365
Situps are not recommended since they are bad for you back.
Crunches are good for a start and can be combined with legwork later on.
This is very effective.
Do bycicle crunches, crunches and scissors, etc.
You'll feel the burn.
And then do some more crunches to squeeze out the last rest of strength.
>> Anonymous
uhm define "help"

If you mean, being in better shape...of course it is. Have you tried alternating days to make sure your body is healing?

Also, chin up bar is a PERFECT excercise.
>> Anonymous
>>100469
Alright I dunno wtf your talking about but if I was bored I'd take a picture of my abs from doing MAINLY crunches and situps. I'm cut as hell, and *strong*. I'm not saying squats don't help but trust me, you build fucking abdominal and core strength with crunches. Crossfit, army rangers, fucking anyone that is into fitness does crunches and the occasional weighted situps.
>> Juggy !tr.t4dJfuU
>>100473
Show me someone who has a well developed musculature in their core area that doesn't have the legs to match.

I've never seen, read, seen, heard or experienced anything that supports the argument that doing situps and crunches will cause hypertrophy in the abdominals.
>> Anonymous
>>100544
of course they do.
I squat and crunch between the sets.
>> Anonymous
>>100473
Typical internet tough guy.
>> Anonymous
>>100544
Strictly speaking the abdonimal muscles will grow if you train them like any other muscle and it will cause hypertrophy, but the amount of increased muscle mass in that area is just so little that it's hard to tell unless you compare a pro bodybuilder to someone who has just extremely low bodyfat with very little muscle.
>> Anonymous
>>100544
well first off, lets talk about what you mean by hypertrophy. sarcoplasmic hypertrophy actually has a lot to do with muscular endurance. If you mean myofibrillated hypertrophy, the yeah crunches and sit ups might not be your best best since your trying to improve explosive strength. My advice? Don't settle on one tip. Good balanced fitness requires both endurance and raw strength. I, for example, squat 3 times a week, but also do crunches and occasionally even weighted situp. Regular situps have different synegizers, which is why I tell people to throw them in every other week or so if they have extra time in their routine.

Like I said, you shouldn't argue that "crunches don't help abdominal strength" because that is just silly. If your abs are tired and you let them heal up, they WILL be stronger next time around. Don't believe me? First, put 50 pounds on your chest and see how many situps you can do. Then for a month do 150 crunches 3 times a week and try the same 50 pound weight on your chest with situps. I garuntee you will be able to do more. More reps mean your 1 rep max will have increased, meaning abdominal strength has increased.
>> Juggy !tr.t4dJfuU
>>100551
Right, exactly. So when you're doing crunches and situps, you're training endurance (and technically sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, you're correct, but being nitpicky), just like any other muscle where you do high reps with low resistance. And just like any other muscle, to promote strength, you need to do low reps at high weight, something near impossible to do with the abs in isolation.

>>100546
You're not adding anything to your argument. You're saying you do squats in between your sets of crunches, which I already agree will promote strength. Crunches alone will do almost nothing, while squats alone are all you need to build strength. So of course you'll also see gains if you do both. I don't see the point of you saying this.
>> Anonymous
>>100571
well, I didn't say that for one thing, but saying something like

>Crunches and situps won't get you anywhere.

is just completely bogus. Think about this: for some people a NORMAL crunch is a fucking HUGE challenge and would therefore build SOME strength. I agree that the less is more theory is the best for QUICKLY gaining strength, to say that crunches are worthless for BOTH types of hypertrophy is just ridiculous. They might work one more than the other, but like I said...if your 30 rep max gets higher, i garuntee your 1 rep max will get higher. 1 rep max implies strength.

Try it if you don't believe me.
>> Juggy !tr.t4dJfuU
>>100556
Notice you went from saying "Arguing that crunches won't increase strength is silly" to "I guarantee weighted situps will make you stronger."

Sitting there and doing a billion crunches isn't going to increase abdominal strength. Weighted situps will, but it still won't be as effective as doing squats or deadlifts. Your abdominals can most likely already support more weight than your upper body can bear, while the inverse is true for your lower body. This also means you're more likely to hurt yourself doing weighted situps, which does seem to be the trend.
>> Anonymous
>>100579

While doing so many reps will increase your 1RM, the longer you keep at it the slower you'll progress. You won't make much gains for your 1RM when you work around the 20+ spectrum of reps. If that was the case all the endurance strength guys would be strong as hell. :)
When I started training I followed a similar program that you are talking about, something like 3 sets to failure. When I changed my training and started adding resistance to these moves to increase my torso strength for squats and deadlifts, I had to start with rather low weights. Doing helluva long sets didn't increase my 1RM strength in ab moves much. :)
One funny thing is that after working very heavy torso moves I've noticed that my non-weighed torso moves have increased a lot in the endurance field.
>> Juggy !tr.t4dJfuU
>>100579
First, you're still implying that you need an increase in resistance ("increase your 30 rep max") to gain strength, which I'll agree with. It's just incredibly ineffective. And in the context of the OP, where it seems he can already do a fair amount, I would argue that it's not really helping out anymore and his time would be better spent focused on other types of exercises.
>> Anonymous
>>100581
first off, no I didn't say that. At all. I said do 150 crunches 3 times a week for a month and then try and tell me that you didn't gain abdominal strength. Show me the quote where I said "weighted situps are the only way to gain abdominal strength"

I didn't, but nice try.

The sad thing is, we're both arguing the same thing. I've agreed with you at least 3 times and yet you're still trying to "win" the argument.

Keep doing only squats, thats FINE. Seriously. If you think crunches are worthless for your purposes, I'm obviously not going to win you over.
>> Anonymous
>>100584
I know. I've been fucking agreeing with you several times. I even said

>I agree that the less is more theory is the best for QUICKLY gaining strength

But for some reason you're still arguing about it. Honestly, the only point i was trying to make was that its dumb to say IN YOUR WORDS

>Crunches and situps won't get you anywhere. If you want to build core muscles, abs, obliques, etc, do squats and deadlifts.

You were VERY vague with your "build" statement, and didn't even specify which hypertrophy you were talking about. Sure, unweighted crunches and situps are very inefficient, but if you want really cut abs, I garuntee they help strength, endurance AND the appearance of your abs.
>> Anonymous
>>100588
and also might i add for some people on /fit/ a single unweighted situp would bring myofibrillated hypertrophy as qickly as weighted ones for other people
>> Anonymous
>>100340
dude ur wayyy to skinny. complex carbs, protein, 30 minutes of cardio a day tops 3-5 times a week and hit the gym n do them ab work outs, obliques, situps, the works, u need to gain a lil though.
>> Anonymous
>>101278"
dude if u want someone to take u srsly, u should avoid the lil fag speak thx.