How effective are crunches?

Question

How many should I do to lose some weight? I do about sixty a day right now, thirty in the morning and thirty at night, and I plan to gradually stup up the number once doing thirty becomes like nothing, but am I really doing something useful here?

Answer 1

crunches are virtually useless in terms of weight or fat loss as you can not spot reduce fat. there is no exercise that has a localized effect on lipolysis. if you are trying to lose weight you need to work your entire body, circuit training is optimum for that.

crunches are very effective at strengthening the various abdominal muscles

Answer 2

Doing crunches alone won't make you lose weight. It doesn't burn much fat, which is what you're going for. Running...swimming...exercises like that will burn the fat and also help boost your metabolism and keep it at a higher rate.

Actually, doing crunches and sit-ups can increase the your stomach muscles and in fact make your stomach appear mildly larger, depending on how you're doing your crunches. The muscle won't show the way you want it to unless you first burn the fat /around/ it.

I've found the most effective way to shed a little poundage is to run every (or almost every) day and decrease calorie intake to the point of "cancelling out" how many you consume daily with how many you burn. (It doesn't precisely work like that, but it's a good way of keeping track of where you are calorie-wise in the day.)

Hope that helps!

Answer 3

yeah you defineatly are doing SOME good... but i would up the number immeadieatly.... ninety in the morning and thirty at night... and hit them from different angles... some straight up... some over the side... some lower ab lifts this will really start ditching belly fat.... and you also need to hit the treadmill FOR SURE

Answer 4

100 in the morning, 50 at night.

Answer 5

they are the best but don't do them fast or you won't get the results you are looking for...

Answer 6

very useful