Stomach Toning

rachsamuel1994

I need to tone my stomach and have heard that doing sit-ups with hand weights is an excellent way. I am unsure how many you should do a day to make it effective?
Anyone else doing situps who could help advise me on the amount you do a day?
Also if you have any other recommendations of good stomach toning exercises please share

spickard34

You can not spot reduce fat so you really need overall workouts as well as abs. Check out fitnessblender.com they are free and have some great core workouts.

JeffseekingV

Doing ab exercises will strengthen your core which is a good thing. But abs are such a small muscle, it's the WORST at actually making your abs look the way you want them to look. As mentioned above, you have to lose fat OVERALL to get your stomach to look better.

rachsamuel1994

This makes me realise how little I actually know about these things! Thank you very much

rachsamuel1994

Seems like before I start going into different exercises i need to do my research on what actually helps what!

rmyers14

Your abs are there, so no exercise is going to make them show. Abs will show when your bf % gets low enough. Assess your eating habits and cut a few hundred cals and see if you drop some weight.

ronmatta

throw in Oblique Crunches

ndj1979

compound lifts + calorie deficit..

i would suggest a beginner program like 5x5 or strong lifts and mix in some cardio on off days to increase your burns….

sircaleb18a

Medicine ball crunches

Camo_xxx

The comedic answer is do multiple reps of fork put downs and table push backs.

But since you acknowledge the need to do some research here is my favorite reference for the basics.
http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/

dougpconnell219

Planks. God I hate planks.

rick_po

If you're like me, your fantastic six-pack abs are there, they are just hidden under a stubborn layer of belly fat. Getting rid of fat is mostly controlling your diet, along with some cardio exercise to increase your calorie deficit. Add some strength training to maintain as much of that fantastic muscle as you can while you lose the weight.

jacksonpt

There are lots of ways to work the abs, some better than others, but all will depend on how well/properly you do them. I personally like front squats and leg raises/toes-to-bar... but most anything can/will work.

But as others have said, toning is generally more dependent on diet than it is on exercise. Make sure your intake is appropriate.

rachsamuel1994

Thank you guys! Really great advice there! And planks are hell to do! Haha. It's really good to do the research on stuff- before I would've just said 'x amount of crunches a day' etc but there's a good range of things. It's good to know your stuff!