Sit Ups!

sophiesxox
sophiesxox Posts: 11
edited September 18 in Introduce Yourself
Ive been doing about 200 sit ups a day with weights and my sister tells me that it makes your stomach bigger!
i really hope this isnt the case! any ideas?

Replies

  • sophiesxox
    sophiesxox Posts: 11
    Ive been doing about 200 sit ups a day with weights and my sister tells me that it makes your stomach bigger!
    i really hope this isnt the case! any ideas?
  • banks1850
    banks1850 Posts: 3,475 Member
    Bigger in what sense? Sit ups do not give you a belly if that's what your asking, but sit ups alone probably won't get rid of bellyfat either, so what you would end up with is a very strong stomach, a belly in front of it, and probably some back problems if you are doing regular sit ups.

    Are you doing any other cardio with it? any other core exercises? Like plancs, hip raises, reverse crunches...etc things to get your other core muscles stronger? Because while crunches are good, sit ups are hard on the back and target a very specific area, and leaving 1 area of a muscle group strong, while not working the rest is dangerous, especially in the core, which includes abs (sit ups target the upper ab area, namely your rectius abdominus), hips, gluts lower back, obliques, and all the muscles in your butt. You could end up straining your back or hip flexors or something.
    You should see a trainer 1 time for an hour and ask for a set of exercises aimed at your core. And be careful, sit ups can seriously hurt your back. I really hope you meant to say crunches.
  • EFS1
    EFS1 Posts: 12
    Banks is 100% right - I made this mistake when I first started my exercise regiment. Your core is amazing and there are tons of exercises you can do to strengthen the core. Don't focus on just sit-ups (like Banks says, they can hurt you if overdone or not properly done and sit-ups don't focus on all your ab muscles) I have not heard of the stomach getting bigger from sit-ups/exercises (and by stomach I mean waist line :happy: ) but they will tighten your abs in order ot show off the tight stomach area - mix up your weight loss plan with some cardio and diet too. Good Luck! E
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
    You have to work all of your abs in their full range of motion, not just that one plane that sit ups will hit. Make sure you're doing something for your obliques, your low abs and your low back muscles as well.

    (if you google "ab exercises" lots will come up).

    and, cardio! (if you're not already) otherwise, you'll have beautiful muscles that don't show.
  • oneday
    oneday Posts: 1
    I think the truth behind sit ups making your stomach bigger is that with any excercise especially with weights you are strengthening your muscles. This sometimes means these muscles will get larger. With weighted sit ups you could be widening these muscles, that with added weight on top could cause the stomach to look larger. It would take a heck of a work out to do this.
  • kistinbee
    kistinbee Posts: 3,688 Member
    I have heard that building muscle before you lose the fat in certain regions, will initially make that area look bigger. But that's just something I've heard. Either way, it would only be a temporary thing, because once you've built up muscle, you burn more fat and it will slim down. No worries!
    *kistin*
  • Razboo
    Razboo Posts: 439 Member
    I'm looking forward to the day the fat melts off my belly. Should be at least a 4 pack under there by then. :smile:

    I do sit ups, but 4 or 5 other ab exercises as well. Hopefully I'm on track. My rule of thumb is to work any particular muscle group as many ways as I can.

    And I couldn't possibly do 200 sit ups anymore, so this thread is making me feel weak! :tongue: "Back in the day" I could do 300, but stopped because an hour of that gets pretty boring.
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