Question about crunches and cardio

healthychic
healthychic Posts: 298
edited September 19 in Fitness and Exercise
I usually do about 30 minutes to an hour of cardio on my Gazelle, and I work really hard and sweat, but I feel like it isn't enough. When I used to use my friends elliptical I always seemed like I was a lot more tired after my workout. Does anyone else do this much cardio and feel like you should do more? Or is this enough? Also, how many crunches should I do in order to actually see a difference? I do tighten my abs and breath while doing them, but I never know how many I should do. I do these this routine every day. Any advice is helpful!!:happy:

Thanks,

:heart: Danielle

Replies

  • healthychic
    healthychic Posts: 298
    I usually do about 30 minutes to an hour of cardio on my Gazelle, and I work really hard and sweat, but I feel like it isn't enough. When I used to use my friends elliptical I always seemed like I was a lot more tired after my workout. Does anyone else do this much cardio and feel like you should do more? Or is this enough? Also, how many crunches should I do in order to actually see a difference? I do tighten my abs and breath while doing them, but I never know how many I should do. I do these this routine every day. Any advice is helpful!!:happy:

    Thanks,

    :heart: Danielle
  • songbyrdsweet
    songbyrdsweet Posts: 5,691 Member
    If your exercise is beginning to feel easy, there's no reason to maintain that same level of intensity--it's not enough. Your body adapts quickly to any exercise and will become more efficient, meaning it will burn fewer calories to perform at the same level. Either increase the intensity or the time on the machine.

    As far as crunches--your abs are a muscle, just like everything else. A lot of people like to pound out the crunches--50 for a set. Think about that: would you do 50 curls? 50 squats? No. It's more than necessary. What are you looking for in your abs? Just flatness? A 6-pack?

    A great majority of having a flat stomach comes from having low body fat. Crunches don't do that for you--fat loss does.

    A 6-pack requires hypertrophy, or muscle growth, in the abdominal muscles. That means you need to bring them to fatigue. Sure, you could do 150 crunches, but it would take forever and your form probably wouldn't last. It's more efficient to bring your abs to fatigue by doing weighted sit ups and crunches for a more reasonable amount--say, 3 sets of 10-15 just like you would do for any other muscle group.
  • dlouderb
    dlouderb Posts: 2
    Danielle, I do a lot of cardio (crunches and ellyptical). For my crunches I keep it to 30 minutes, TOPS. If you feel like you have to go longer then I would say to challenge yourself to tougher crunch excercises. I also do the ellyptical for 30-45 minutes - and as you do, I am definately more strained.

    I would say, stay with you are doing. You definately don't have to add more crunches (based off of what you said).

    Good luck!
  • Wynnie
    Wynnie Posts: 225 Member
    I just used a workout DVD today that had some WICKED abs moves I had never seen before! Check out the "Denise Austin Power Zone Ultimate Metabolism Boosting Workout". (was that a mouthful or what?) It has a segment on there just for abs that was sooo good, I plan to use just that part for a week (and see if I live).

    I think it's sort of an older workout vid, but not so much that it wouldn't be available. If you can't find it but are interested, email me and I'll try to describe those 2 moves that I thought were so remarkable.
  • healthychic
    healthychic Posts: 298
    Yeah, you are definatly right about fat loss over crunches. My friend amanda does nothing but crunches and you can tell because she hasn't lost any weight in her stomach, just built muscle around the fat. I should probably step up what I am doing a little bit. Its hard because their isn't diffrent levels on my gazelle, where as ellipticals do. I will just have to go longer. Thanks for all your advice, that really helps.

    -Danielle
  • healthychic
    healthychic Posts: 298
    Yes, you should send me the link to those videos! Those sound really cool

    -Danielle
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