[skinnypie]

Hi everyone, so my question is about sit ups, crunches and abs work. I'am obese, was uk size 18 but im now a 16, sometimes a 14 and i currently weight 184 pounds. Even when I was skinny and was in a healthy weight range I still had a bit of a belly. I have read mixed things about sit ups about being worth it or not when you have a belly covered in inches of fat. I mean is it really going to make a difference doing crunches etc when I still have a load of fat covering my stomach muscles. Would it be more worhtwhile doing an extra 10-15 mins of cardio than situps to help me lose the fat covering my belly? On the other hand I really don't want to have a saggy stomach with loads of loose skin when I do manage to lose more weight. Any thoughts?

[LiannaKole]

While sit ups won't spot reduce, if you build more muscle in your abs it may tighten up your stomach a bit, and plus if you keep it up you'll get stronger and when you DO lose the weight, you'll have rockin' stomach muscles.

[novangel]

Cardio and sit ups will work best.

[Exhale15]

Yep, remember that it's important to build muscle, and your core muscles are a lot of muscles. Look into Pilates. It's a lot of core work & more than 'sit ups'

[drake3272004]

I heard that planks work better than sit ups or crunches, planks help with all the core muscles whereas sit ups only work out the exterior ab muscles. And I hate crunches

[DietVet]

Yep, planks are better than crunches. It turns out that crunches are bad for the spine. Also, planks do work ALL the muscles in your core. Neither sits nor planks will remove fat from your stomach.

Working your core is fine as a part of a whole body regimen.It would be a bit strange to ONLY do ab exercises though. You'd lose more belly fat doing tons of bodyweight squats than doing sit ups. Look into weight training or yoga, if you're interested in strengthening your muscles.

[FitinTX]

I've found that doing crunches helps my stomach feel tighter the next day. It's not a permanent solution, but having a tighter stomach helps my back straighten and posture naturally better. Good posture--and a good bra--can improve a person's look significantly.

[RVAscreenwriter]

Having a strong core benefits you in many ways. Posture improvement and less fatigue while doing other exercises which use your core (jogging, for example) are just a couple of the ways that you'll benefit. As mentioned earlier, you cannot reduce fat by targeting areas with exercise, but you can build muscle there. More muscle means more calories burned.
You may look at your waist and think "fat," but don't forget that there are muscles under there, too!
Try standing crunches, planks, captain's chair and mountain climbers as alternative ways of working your abdominals. Good luck!