How many sit-ups should I aim for?

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SailorJerrysRum
SailorJerrysRum Posts: 38
in Fitness and Exercise
22 year old female here, tried doing sit-ups for the first time in 2 years and could only do 11. Pathetic, eh? Well one of my goals is to make that number increase but what should be my 'goal'? Thanks in advance guys :)

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  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
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    What are your main goals besides doing more sit up, because sit ups may not be the way to reaching your bigger goals.
  • SailorJerrysRum
    SailorJerrysRum Posts: 38
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    I'm just trying to lose the dreaded last 10 pounds, and most of it just happens to be on my mid-section. Of course my mid-section happens to be the weakest part of my body...
    I remember one of my female military buddies told me there was an amount of sit-ups the gals had to achieve (50) and I'm wondering if that's an average number or if that's an impressive standard.
  • Plates559
    Plates559 Posts: 869 Member
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    Doing more sit ups isn't going to cause you to drop fat in just your mid section. You can continue to do more if you wish making your abdominal muscles bigger, but if you want to see the best results you need to challenge every muscle in your body from your legs and calves to your shoulders, chest and back. Every muscle. Also do cardio.

    above all these diet comes first.
  • MeganDominique
    MeganDominique Posts: 229 Member
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    I suggest reverse crunches, they kill the "pouche " from middle belly the most effictivley that and bicycle crunches :)

    remember when doing a crunch-
    Keep your head up and looking at the roof, dont rest your chin on your breats or neck area, keep focused and go hard :)

    you can google the ones i mentioned and watch youtube videos on how to do them.
    Also everyday you do them you can get thru about 5 more than yesterday if not more ...its like the principal of couch to 5k :) good luck

    also situps/crunchs alone wont do it you need some strength trainning
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    Doing more sit ups isn't going to cause you to drop fat in just your mid section. You can continue to do more if you wish making your abdominal muscles bigger, but if you want to see the best results you need to challenge every muscle in your body from your legs and calves to your shoulders, chest and back. Every muscle. Also do cardio.

    above all these diet comes first.


    ^^^^This guy is right! You need to increase your lean muscle mass by lifting weight and strength training. Google compound moves. That plus cardio and diet because - "abs are made in the kitchen"
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    Just wanted to add that....there is nothing wrong with ab work and setting yourself a mini goal for motivation!!! But ab work alone will not give you a flat belly.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
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    The number you should shoot for is zero. They're basically a waste of time, you could be using that time and energy on much better exercises. Go do some squats, deadlifts, bench press, etc....
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    None, they are not the best exercise to work the core. I would suggest if you do core work to do planks, but even better would be to do heavy lifting strength training focusing on compound movements that engage your core with every rep (squats, deadlifts, cleans, clean and press, etc) Doing this will eliminate the need to do isolated core work.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    Doing more sit ups isn't going to cause you to drop fat in just your mid section. You can continue to do more if you wish making your abdominal muscles bigger, but if you want to see the best results you need to challenge every muscle in your body from your legs and calves to your shoulders, chest and back. Every muscle. Also do cardio.

    above all these diet comes first.

    I agree with everything here except that cardio is needed. No need for cardio. You just need a modest deficit, you can achieve this with diet alone, or with diet and cardio. Cardio will just allow you to eat more and maintain the same deficit you can get with diet alone.

    Cardio has a host of other benefits and is needed for overall fitness, but fat loss is not one of them. I am not suggesting to not do cardio, just that cardio does not target fat loss, it just creates a larger deficit, and if you don't eat more to compensate you may actually lose lean muscle as a result.

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