If doing 12 sit-ups is too easy, should I increase it?

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billy118

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I am doing 12 crunches, 6 reps morning and then at night... but it's not a struggle.. should I do it till it struggles? (which is about 20-25)
 
You can increase then. For an evil twist, try 6-20 reps every hour on the hour. You will get in a lot more volume and require less recovery.
 
Much better. Count out the reps. Say you do 20 in the morn and 20 at night. Thats 40 for the day. Then, say you do only 15 every hour starting at 7am-5pm. Thats 120 for the day and that only 8 hours worth. Try 10 or 12 hour splits.
 
Or you could try holding your hands above your head (like stick em up). Do your sit-ups or crunches that way.
 
First off, what are you trying to achieve by doing that many crunches? If you're going for fat loss, you're doing it all the wrong way. If you're going for a stronger mid-section, you're going to have to do other abdominal work other than just crunches. Because after so long, all you're going to be good at is trunk flexion... Try mixing it up a bit, do bicycles, balboa's, reverse crunches, russian twists, etc...
 
I agree with DeX, if you want a stronger trunk region you must balance lumbar flexion with lumbar extension. Therefore, you should do back extensions along with abdominal crunches or sit-ups. To really work the core muscles you must stabilize the hip; if there is movement at the hip you are working the hip flexors/extensors while isometrically contracting the abdominals. The first 30 degrees of a sit-up concentrically work the abdominals the rest of the forward motion is for the hip flexors. Isometric contractions are less effective than concentric or eccentric contractions. Abdominal crunches from 0 to 30 degrees effectively strengthen the lumbar flexors. Doing up to 30 repetitions is all right, but I wouldn't do more than that. Your goal should be to exhaust the core muscles before you reach 30 reps, this can be done by adding weight. Side bends also improve strength of the core/ obliques. The use of a stability or swiss ball is another effective core muscle training method, and it can add variety to a work out regime. You should not train a muscle group on consecutive days because they need time to recover; muscles adapt to stress (lifting) by getting stronger during the recovery time after a workout. This requires 48-72 hours. No matter how many reps and sets you do at one time you should fail your core muscles and then allow them to recover for at least two days. I wouldn't recommend doing sit-ups two times a day.
 
You can do crunches all day long. There is nothing wrong with that. And you do not need to train to failure regularly. In fact, you don't need to do that at all. That technique can be beneficial, but not for the average joe.
 
What do you gain by doing crunches all day long?
Since when did the average Joe have the time and place to do crunchs every hour throughout the entire day. Wouldn't you rather get the most out of one workout that you can and then be done for the day. The average person does not need to go to complete failure, but using it as a goal will push the person to work hard/intensly.
 
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That is counter productive. The average Joe CAN do hourlys, you just pick when you can do it. You are missing the point. You don't have to do them every hour on the dot. You can do them when you have time. Point is that there is a large rest interval between sets allowing multiple sets throughout the day. This way burns more calories, and stimulates the muscle multiple times throughout the day. Eventually you feel your abs tight ALL day long because they have adapted to the set scheme. Then you change it up. Muscle is worked by, in simple terminology, time under tension.
With this regiment you will see far superior results to the failure modality. You could train this way every day if you wish as long as the rep scheme is adjusted.
I don't want to hear anyone say they don't have time. That is just laziness. If you watch even one TV show a day then you do have time. Simply do 10-25 reps every commercial. Since the set scheme is compressed, you only need 5 or so sets.
With a failure set, you create a good deal of waste in the muscle causing that soreness everyone is bitter about. Further more, you have to greatly increase the muscle recovery time. I see this as taking more time than the above method, especially when considering results.
 
The last time I checked the average person has a job that takes up 8-12 hours of their day. I'm not so sure that it would be acceptable or comfortable for a person to drop down by their desk or in the break room and do 15 crunches even once during the day. I didn't say that the average person couldn't make time for one workout per day, and I definitely didn't call the average American lazy. If you decide to do 10-25 reps every commercial during an hour long show, I can agree with that as long as you push yourself and then rest for 48 hours and do it again.

As for soreness, it’s like any work out, yea you are going to be sore the first 3-4 times, about one week. If you continue to work a muscle group 2-3 times a week the soreness goes away, especially if you stretch properly after a workout.

I'm not trying to burn calories by doing crunches either, their are much better ways, like walking. The abdominals are not a larger muscle group; if you want to burn calories you are better off using the hip and leg muscles. If you are trying to loose weight by doing crunches I suggest that you reconsider. Abdominal crunches and back extensions done together are a balanced method for strength training the core. These exercises should be included in a larger program that trains all of the muscle groups in the body. A good reference for a total fitness program is Matt Brzycki's A Practical Approach to Strength Training.
 
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