Crunches

[bloc]

I've heard it's best to do them after lifting, so after I lift weights (which is every other day), I do 25 cruches, stop for 30 secs, then 15, stop, then 15 more. IS that good or should I do more?

 

[slimburnzy]

i would be doing alot more crunches man , even if your a begginer... try 5 sets of 25 reps.

 

[abear]

personally, i dont think there is really a certain time for them. i train my abs monday, wednesday and friday mornings before i do HIIT on the bike

i did weighted crunches on a exercise ball and hanging leg raises for the last two months. for august and september i'm doing planks, side planks and the ab wheel exercise.

 

[Boomdoggin]

i would be doing alot more crunches man

Not necessarily; quality wins out over quantity IMO. I used to do crunches in sets of 120, 100, then 80, but by the last 30 or so reps on each set, my form would start to slip and I wouldn't get the most out of them. Eventually I started doing the crunches slower and concentrated on the negative end of them, and switched to sets of 60, 50 then 40, which I found a lot more effective. At one point I was doing the above routine every day, and at another point I was doing it twice a day.

But now I do a more elaborate ab routine every time I hit the gym to work out my arms or legs (so about every other day). I do 3 sets of leg lifts at 35, 25 and 20 reps, then 3 sets of weighted side crunches at 12 reps each, then 3 sets of weighted crunches on a medicine ball at between 20 and 50 reps each, depending on the weight. Even at once every other day, this works a lot better for me than just doing a crapload of crunches