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Anonymous
hey /fit/, how effective are crunches for toning your stomach area? I'm a relatively fit athlete but my abs do not hold a lot of distinction? Will doing say 3 sets of 40 crunches a day help that?
>> Anonymous
bump
>> Hammerknife !7ITukp3Pj2
If you've got a layer of fat over it, nope. Need to do cardio to burn fat to see your abs, else you'll just have stealth abs.
>> Anonymous
Tone comes from lowering your body fat percentage, obtained mainly through cardio and a reduced calorie diet.
>> Anonymous
how would one go about doing cardio? I play probably 2-3 hours of tennis a day. I have a very good diet too. There is a bit of a layer of fat over my abs.
>> Anonymous
>>33623

Sadly, sports activities like that don't necessarily "count" as cardio. Case in point, you're doing 2 hours of it a day and not ripped. It is too stop-and-go.

What you want to do is hit your target heart rate of (230 - your age) * .7 (.8 if you're the athletic type), and steadily maintain it for at least half an hour, and no more than an hour per session. Anything more than an hour will produce diminishing returns.
>> Anonymous
Don't do 100000000000000 crunches, just do 3 sets of 10-12 reps with say 15kg plate on your chest.
>> Anonymous
>>33635

abs and calves use higher reps. 20-30 is the norm. If you can do 30 easily, then add weight.
>> Anonymous
>>33635
listen to this man

increase resistance not repetitions