Starting Out?

I remember many moons ago when I could barely do one single sit up. I had no fat on my belly at all and did have a really small six pack there, no, an eight pack! That was without doing any abs workouts at all. All that time ago I read straight away on the internet that sit ups were not as effective as crunches. So to do effective abs workouts, I switched to doing crunches.

I spent most of my time reading what people that were already muscular were saying. Well, after a few weeks of crunches every other day it was extremely easy to do what was totally impossible to do in the first place, you can surprise yourself!

This only applies to complete beginners just looking to start getting bigger abdominal muscles, looking for abs workouts that work properly. It takes literally no time (2 weeks for me) from being unable to sit up even once... to being able to do 40 or 50 but like I said, avoid sit ups, I do anyway and just stick to crunches.

These days I have a layer of fat covering my abs... annoying I know, I myself am trying to find a solution with various abs workouts, not so much to get bigger abs but to lose the belly fat there as well, it is a double edged sword getting more defined abs - you need to have BOTH a good routine to build the muscles bigger but also combined with a strict diet and a lot of cardio to burn off the excess fat. It can be enjoyable and not even hard work if you do it sensibly. Just a little more exercise means more fat is burned, as you get fitter you can exercise more frequently and for longer durations. Do that in increasing measures (because you are getting fitter you go further in future abs workouts with what feels like the same effort) and fat has to burn off of you, it is the only thing that can happen, as long as you stick to a decent diet, I recommend a high protein diet, it seems to be one of the only diets based on fundamental science and facts as opposed to some "exaggerated facts" type diet dressed up as something it is not just to lure you into buying it. How many diets come and go? Probably thousands, but a few do work, it is just finding them.

What is the difference between sit ups and crunches in my abs workouts?

- Sit up
A sit up is when you are lying flat on your back, hands crossed over your chest, legs bent at about 120 degrees and you raise up as far as you can into a position where you are fully sat up.

- Crunches
The exact same position as sit ups, except you only raise up about a third of the way. Do these slow enough and believe me you can feel the burn in your muscles!

I am no expert but I prefer crunches.