abdominal crunches and jumping jacks

hi guys,
i'm new here and trying to get the hang of this thing. so far myfitnesspal has been great, i absolutely love this website. i just started an exercise diary today and i'm having trouble understanding a few terms.

my main questions are:
- do abdominal crunches make you lose calories?
- why aren't jumping jacks on the database? are they just silly or do they actually serve some sort of purpose?

Replies

  • hi guys,
    i'm new here and trying to get the hang of this thing. so far myfitnesspal has been great, i absolutely love this website. i just started an exercise diary today and i'm having trouble understanding a few terms.

    my main questions are:
    - do abdominal crunches make you lose calories?
    - why aren't jumping jacks on the database? are they just silly or do they actually serve some sort of purpose?
  • deanea
    deanea Posts: 1,437
    I think you could say abd. crunches and jumping jacks are calisthetics one is light effort and the other is vigorous
  • Razboo
    Razboo Posts: 439 Member
    Getting your exercises worked out here is a bit of a challenge. Anything you want calories counted for need to be entered under Cardio, regardless if whether or not it is strength training.

    I find the database a little touchy when searching for exercises. I lump everything I do under "Work Out - Moderate" That's about 80% Strength training, 20% high resistance cardio. It's probably not very accurate, but it gives me a scope within which to work.

    There are all kinds of sites that willm let you figure out your calories burned for various activities. Here's a couple

    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

    This is a good one, look for heading 'Activity Browser'
    http://www.calorie-count.com/

    And there are tons more of you google them.

    THEN what you do is use this info to enter your own exercises (still need to be under Cardio) and you can have a pretty accurate reflection of your activities and calories burned to enter each day.
  • any time you are in an upright position...your metabolism doubles...anytime you are moving...your increasing your caloric burn...keep on jumpin' girly!
  • denimangel
    denimangel Posts: 85 Member
    hey there... yes jumping jacks actually do something. they get your heart rate up for one which helps to burn calories... they also strengthen your legs. on another site I found i discovered that you burn about 80 calories doing jumping jacks for about 10minutes. Crunches don't burn a lot of calories but they help tone your waist and abdominal muscles. hope that helps