If I do loads of sit-ups for 4 weeks, will I notice a difference to my stomach muscles ?

Answer 1

depends how fat you are - obviously your muscles will strengthen, but you probably won't have a six pack

Answer 2

Short answer? No. There are two reasons for this.

The first is that sit ups really don't work the abdominals--they instead mostly work hip flexor muscles. The range of motion for the rectus abdominus is actually right around three inches, making the crunch the best (or at least, the "truest") ab excercise. To perform a crunch, lie on the floor with the feet elevated and the spine flat (no arches in the lower back). Using only abdominal strength, curl the torso upward and toward the feet until you feel a contraction in the ab muscles. Keep the movement slow: You should feel the abs the entire way through the movement--if you don't, then you're doing something wrong. Repeat to failure, taking note of how many reps you did. Endevour to beat that number with your next workout.

The second reason why doing tons of sit-ups won't make much of a difference (by which I'm assuming you mean reduction of bodyfat in this area) is because there's no such thing as "spot reduction." When the body burns fat, it does so throughout the entire body. Body fat and muscle tissue are independant of one another, meaning that movement alone won't have much bearing on fatty tissue. Your caloric intake is the magic bullet here: Either burn off more than you take in, or take in less than you burn off... meaning, either excercise and keep active so that your activity burns off more calories than you're taking in, or reduce your caloric intake as a whole. Or do a little of both!

Answer 3

The difference you'll notice will probably be a BAD BACK.

The problem with situps, crunches, leg raises and so on, is that they only use one of your abdominal muscles (or, to be pedantic, one pair).

Abdominis Rectus is the surface layer, which runs vertically up the front of your belly (like 'double yellow lines' either side of your bellybutton). It's only really used for situps, crunches etc.

Underneath this layer are three more (paired) layers , NONE of which can be properly trained by situps etc.

In normal activity, these broad, flexible, flat sheets of muscle work in close cooperation with muscles in the surface of the back (such as Teres, Latissimus and Erector Spinae), and some 'deep' muscles in the waist such as the QUAD (Quadratus Lumborum, NOT THIGH) and Ilio-Psoas. Together, these muscles all get lumped into the category 'CORE'.

Exercise systems are starting to include work for this bodypart, but only in a limited way. It is better to think of your WAIST as a single huge joint (the most complicated and important joint in the body) with omnidirectional movement.

Doing a lot of work for the RA muscle (or pair) will lead to an imbalance in the strength of the Waist Muscles. The rest of the muscles will be weaker, and vulnerable to injury.

4 weeks of sensible training for your CORE (multidirectional waistwork) will improve the flexibility & strength of your midriff, and protect your lower back from injury.

Try a PILATES class to make a safe start to this process.

Answer 4

Only if there's little fat covering your ab muscles. However strong and toned your ab muscles are, it won't show unless you have little/no body fat in this area. Your best bet is to combine strength exercises (including sit ups and crunches) concentrating on your abs and cardio work like swimming, running, cycling or something. If you need to lose a bit of weight this could take quite a while unless you cut your calorie intake a bit, but if you're already slim, you should begin to see the results you're looking for soon enough.

Answer 5

Yes but it might take you to drop some body fat for anyone else to notice.

Answer 6

depends on how much fat you have covering them...you can do all sthe sit ups you want but they wont change the fat to muscle

Answer 7

yes. Definitely.

Answer 8

Yes, definitely. But be careful not to injure your back

Answer 9

if you flex your abs, you might notice that they got a little harder.

but as far as making your abs visible, you'd have to first lower body fat

Answer 10

yes, but in order to see results well you need to lose some of the fat around your midsection if you have any...