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Both work abs, but which one works them harder? Is it beneficial to do sets of both in your workout? I'm trying to figure this out because I am currently doing sit-ups, but if crunches are more beneficial or if they work different muscles, I'll add them in.
Apparently sit-ups work your back once you go past a certain point. Crunches work just your abs. I don't work my abs so I don't do either.
Weighted crunches.
Different varieties of crunches can effectively hit any portion of your abs. Sit-ups only hit the abs for a portion of their range of motion. For the most part they work muscles in your hips and to some degree your lower back.
An ab routine that I enjoy(as much as I can enjoy such a thing), is a superset composed of-
Crunches, 2 sets, 15 reps each
Reverse crunches, 2 sets, 15 reps each
Crossover crunches, 2 sets, 15 reps each
That should hit pretty much everything. Just be sure to keep your reps slow and controlled. Good form will do more for you than anything else when it comes to abs.
Might as well share my ab workout:
Weighted crunches – 2 x 10-12
Weighted leg raises – 1 x 10-12
Swiss ball crunches and rope crunches should replace these respectively if its possible for you. Those are the best 2.
If you want to work your abs pretty much all you need is a medicine ball
what do i do with the medicine ball?Quote:
Originally Posted by raghead
i have very little fitness experience, and downright excessive abs
If I only have time to do just 1 ab exercise, I would do bicycles. Typically crunches are used to focus the upper abs, then something like leg raises are used to supplement for lower abs, this exercise does both. Alternatives would be the double crunch.
Personally, I do weighted everything, abs are no different. I'd suggest this if you have time to perform a nice, short circuit. Something like weighted decline sit-ups(10-20 reps) to weighted oblique twists(10-20 reps) on the decline, to weighted leg raises(10-20 reps). Repeat 2-3 times.
Umm which of them are the best 2? :PQuote:
Originally Posted by ozzy
But I was wondering how do you weight them? Leg weights I've seen aren't heavy enough for me.. Crunches with a dumbbell on your chest?
Do both. The crunches work your upper abs, leg raises work you lower ones. The leg weights are heavy enough, trust me you'll feel it once you use them it doesn't take much.Quote:
Originally Posted by Redflad
Anyway leg weights are for leg raises, for crunches just hold a medicine ball on your chest for weight. What I like to do is hold the medicine ball in front of my chest, come up and bring my legs up and put it between my legs, go back down and straighten my legs then come back up and take the ball and repeat. Make sure you always keep your legs at least 6 inches off the ground and you should feel it.
As for reps, keep doing them until you feel your abs burning. Remember the number you did, and do 3 sets of that.
Or you could just use a weight plate, then you can change the weight to suit you.
That's what I do...just hold onto a plate when I'm doing them, and it works great. Sit ups really aren't so hot for your back either. It's a lot of strain that really doesn't give any benefit.
if you want to work all of your abs you have to do them all. just one type wont really do any good at all except work 2 of the aquirable 6 pack
make sure you balance your back out too by doing russian lifts (lie down on your front and lift your top half) its like the superman pose but you have to do it at the same rate as sit ups, otherwise you might end up with a ripped stomach but a really sore, weak back
Anyone got any idea why rope crunches strain my back like hell?
You're doing them wrong? How much weight do you use and for how many reps?Quote:
Originally Posted by Redflad
rope crunches are one of those excercises that come with injury risk.
the best way to avoid back pain is not to do them. you have to get them correct to get any benefit and even then it usually puts too much stress on the back, especially as youre bending your back.
a full set of different sit ups and crunches would do much more good. personally i try to avoid weights all together as its easy to over work with them
I've been using 60lbs, 7 reps and 2 sets once a week.
I've checked my form and my friend doesn't see anything wrong with it either. Guess it's better to replace them then but what's the best exercise for that?
Also, does anyone have any experience on swiss ball crunches?
I'd suggest dropping the weight a down to allow you to complete 2 sets of 15-20 with good form. Be sure to focus more on pulling with your abs, and try to leave your back/arms/hips/etc. out of the equation. There should be a very small range of motion in your movement, just like when you're doing a normal crunch. (I'm guessing that pulling with the hip flexors might be what's causing your back pains.)Quote:
Originally Posted by Redflad
As for swiss ball crunches, I don't know much about them to be honest. I guess they would offer a larger range of motion(Letting you lean back more.), so I assume that it would increase productivity much like standing on something to let your heels drop below parallel on calf raises.
if thats all you rep with maybe you should consider putting halo down once inawhile and hitting the gym more often.Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzy
Its hard to tell if you are a terrible troll or just that plain stupid. I guess it doesn't really matter because both are pathetic and I never expect much more out of you anyways.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sion
Given that they're weighted exercises,and in the 10-12 rep range, I'm guessing that his routine is geared more towards hypertrophy than endurance. I could be wrong but it sounds like a nice routine to build some thick abs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sion
lrn2w0rkout
thats a total of 40 weighted ab workouts a day.Quote:
Originally Posted by djwolford
it took me 200 situps with a 45 lb weight every day for 4 months to get the six pack i have today.
hes not going anywhere with a pathetic workout like that.
That's probably because, as we've already discussed, situps don't directly target your abs. I'm sure that you have strong hip flexors because of that routine though.
(Also doing that daily doesn't leave much room for recovery. In short, you're doing it wrong either way.)
recovery? explain.Quote:
Originally Posted by djwolford
Well I'll try to make the story short. More or less, whenever you work your muscles, you're causing microscopic tears in your muscle tissues. The point of working out is generally to try to get those muscles built back stronger and/or larger and/or denser than before. You need recovery time(Usually around 48 hours, depending on genetics, nutrition, age, and a whole list of other things.) for your body to rebuild those tissues effectively. If you don't give your body enough time to rebuild, you risk overtraining, which can cause a whole list of problems including loss of strength, loss of muscle mass, fatigue, headaches, appetite loss, lack of motivation, etc.
I understood the tearing your muscle to make it stronger thing, but I never heard the 48 hour rule.Quote:
Originally Posted by djwolford
I mean because my blood is so fucking thick, my body always heals fast, but I can completely bounce back after a 90 minute gym session in about 12 hours.
If any part of your body is thick its your head.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sion
If you can bounce back that fast, step up the intensity. Less rest, and more compound moves.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sion
How has the progress been?
crunches are better because they isolate the abdominals more than a sit up which gets the hip flexors involved
as a 135 lb, 5'5 16 year old male, my benchpress went from 185 to 235 in 7 weeks, and my punches went from 80 per minute to 125 per minute at medium intensity (muy thai)Quote:
Originally Posted by Tekk
my legs are getting better because i started doing TKD, and i've already noticed a significant increase in the height of my kicks.
i've been working out activley for little over 2 months now.
My bounceback time is about 30 minutes....until I go to sleep. After I sleep I am pretty useless for about a day.