Crunches

DiaryOfaThickFitWoman
DiaryOfaThickFitWoman Posts: 406 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've heard that crunches only work once you have lost weight..

Do crunches work?
How do they work?
What are the target areas?
And, at what point should you add crunches to your regimen?

Thx in advance.

Replies

  • JenniferSpindel
    JenniferSpindel Posts: 56 Member
    Doesn't answer all your questions, but crunches are great regardless of where you are in your weight loss. You're building muscle in your core.... Once you lose weight you'll start to see the definition of the crunches. Til then, you're just building some wicked muscle there.

    I have had some serious back issues and some of it is because I have a very weak core. I don't do crunches to build this area up... right now I'm doing bird dogs and planks (the DEVIL!) :-)
  • Rayman79
    Rayman79 Posts: 2,009 Member
    You can do crunches, but if you are lifting weights then they are not all that necessary. Doing 100+ crunches in a day is tiring and pretty well a waste of time for most people.

    Doing a couple of plank holds or some more intense ab work like hanging leg raises or russian twists will give you a lot better bang for your buck, but for most people who are lifting, the extra ab isolation work isnt needed.
  • kdeaux1959
    kdeaux1959 Posts: 2,675 Member
    I've heard that crunches only work once you have lost weight.. --- Not Really. They work by doing what any strength training does... they build muscle... In this case, abdominal muscles.

    Do crunches work? Sure
    How do they work? They build your ab muscles
    What are the target areas? Your stomach (ab) muscles
    And, at what point should you add crunches to your regimen? Early (as far as I am concerned but I am sure others will disagree)

    >> This being said, what is TRUE about the statement is that ab crunches will NOT help target the fat burning in the abdominal region (any more than any other region) It will not burn fat and you will not stimulate a faster loss of weight in the mid-section by doing them; However, what they WILL do is strengthen the muscle beneath the fat so that when you DO lose the fat covering the ab muscles, you have something to show through. If you simply lose the weight and eliminate most of the abdominal fat over your ab muscles, you have non-toned muscles to shine through if you have not doing ab strengthening exercises such as crunches. In short you have layers of body.... skin, fat, muscle, bones/organs. If you trim out the fat, you whatever is beneath that layer is what is going to show through ... Ifi it is not toned, that is what shows through... Hope this helps.
  • freddykid
    freddykid Posts: 265 Member
    I have never heard they don't work until you lose weight, I could see that they would be more effective... maybe?.
    regardless they are an exercise, they work.
    A tip for doing them is to keep tension all the time. never go all the way down to the floor have just a slight lift near the bottom. you will feel a difference when you do this correctly.
    if you can't do situps they are a great way to build up the core muscles.
  • kms1320
    kms1320 Posts: 599 Member
    Work for what?

    They work to build your ab muscles. Unless you lose what's covering them, you won't see them. No such thing as target weight loss.

    Don't work them out more than twice a week on a hard training regiment. On a normal one, once a week. You wouldn't do squats every day, would you?

    I would rather do a few planks than a set of crunches any day!

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