Alternative to sit-ups???

WhodahWoodah

A few months ago I came out of a 6 year relationship during which I had put on about 5 1/2 stone to my 5' 10" frame. This was mainly down to eating man-size portions that matched my fiance's and doing the comfy nights in in front of the telly thing! Since May I've lost about 3 stone 10 lbs with very little effort-just eating a natural amount of healthy or whole foods and have gone from a size 20 to a size 14/16 depending on what shop I'm in. What's happening now is that while tons of fat has gone off my belly it's still really squishy. I've lost the weight steadily so it's not excess skin or anything, I just have no tone whatsoever so it's really jiggly, if miles and miles smaller.

It's nothing a hundred sit-ups a day wouldn't cure but my problem is that I think I'm actually allergic to sit-ups! I really hate them. Is there something else I can do that will have a similar effect? It needs to be something I can do myself as I can't afford gym fees while I'm dealing with the financial fallout from losing the other 200 lbs of dead weight I was carrying. I don't mind hard work, I just want to be as efficient as possible with my time.

Any suggestions??

Frogdog

First off OP, endless sit ups every day for the rest of your life will not get rid of the rest of your bodyfat on your stomach, or "tone" it up either.

The number 1 thing you have to sort out is your diet. If you have a clean diet and eat less calories than your maintenance amount (the amount you'd need to eat daily to not put on, or lose, fat) over a period of time you will lose the excess fat.

Endless sit ups will not lose fat around that area because you cannot lose it from a certain bit of your body by doing an exercise targeting that part. If I were you I'd focus on lifting heavy weights, primarily the big compound lifts (squat, deadlift, bench press etc) and doing some high intensity interval cardio training if you can fit it in.

But clean up your diet first, it will be about 70-80% of the battle. Post up what you would eat on an everage day and people here can give you advice on how to improve.

WhodahWoodah

Thanks Frogdog but I've already cleaned up my diet. Like I said I've lost 3 stone 10 lbs through eating healthy or whole foods. I'm still losing about 2 lbs a week. Diet isn't really my issue.

For the first couple of months I was losing tons of weight with no extra exercise whatsoever mainly because I was too heavy and unfit to do much. I've started doing exercise now but I realise that to tighten my belly which is shrinking rapidly every week I ought to be doing sit-ups too but I just hate them. What I'm looking for is something else to substitute for a sit-up. I'm in no way lazy or anything and I'm not trying to get out of working for a tighter tummy, I'm just looking for a different exercise to do to achieve it.

I was originally a size 10, went to a 20, have now gotten to a 14/16 and have every intention of getting back to a 10 and losing the other 1 1/2 stone by Christmas, I just want to know how to tone my midriff without sit-ups, that's all.

Anyone know a different exercise that will give similar results? I don't mind if it's more work.

Khannie

Plank.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHQmRINu4jU

I hate sit ups too.

cmyk

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

Like I said I've lost 3 stone 10 lbs through eating healthy or whole foods. I'm still losing about 2 lbs a week. Diet isn't really my issue.

Excellent work, keep doing this if you're still losing weight at 2lbs per week.

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

I've started doing exercise now but I realise that to tighten my belly which is shrinking rapidly every week I ought to be doing sit-ups too but I just hate them. What I'm looking for is something else to substitute for a sit-up.

As Frogdog said above, you cannot spot reduce fat. You stated that you started exercising, what does this consist of? By all means add sit ups or alternatives, but make sure they are only part of your fat loss program.

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

I just want to know how to tone my midriff without sit-ups, that's all. Anyone know a different exercise that will give similar results? I don't mind if it's more work.

Bicep curls will contribute as much to fat loss from your mid section as situps. Some alternative suggestions to situps would be crunches, reverse curls, hanging leg raise, swiss ball pike, static holds and their variations etc.

WhodahWoodah

Thanks Khannie and Cmyk, I'll begin to impliment those suggestions.

As regards the question about what exercise I've been doing up til now, it's mainly been light exercise like going out walking. The weight has been falling off because I've always been naturally a skinny cow, but when I was living that lifestyle with my ex of eating huge portions and being a couch potato I put on weight. His eating habits also affected me - it was almost impossible to get veg into him!! So while I really like salad and am very inventive with salad, he wouldn't have eaten one if you put a gun to his head. For a good while I used to make us seperate dinners, but then eventually I just gave up and started eating stuff he liked. And for anyone poised over their keyboard to say why was I doing all the cooking, the reason was because whenever it would be his night he would just produce take away! Happily since we have finished up, I hear he's gained approx what I've lost! Lol. I doubt he's eaten anything that wasn't from Supermacs since May!! Haha. Thanks karma!!

Mr. Loverman

As the others have suggested, doing sit ups to cure your belly problem is like drinking a glass of water between pints to try to prevent a hangover. Sure, it may be somewhat beneficial, but no amount of water drinking is going to prevent your hangover.

The solution to your problem is clean diet, cardio (maybe some weights as well) and lots of patience.

I have a flat stomach and I do ZERO sit ups or stomach work, and I also eat a savage amount of food. But I lift a lot of heavy weights and have been doing so for a long time.

If I were you I wouldn't bother with the sit ups.

WhodahWoodah

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

As the others have suggested, doing sit ups to cure your belly problem is like drinking a glass of water between pints to try to prevent a hangover. Sure, it may be somewhat beneficial, but no amount of water drinking is going to prevent your hangover.

The solution to your problem is clean diet, cardio (maybe some weights as well) and lots of patience.

I have a flat stomach and I do ZERO sit ups or stomach work, and I also eat a savage amount of food. But I lift a lot of heavy weights and have been doing so for a long time.

If I were you I wouldn't bother with the sit ups.

PS if you have any weights exercises that focus on the tummy area of a female please post them. My arms and legs and neck are currently looking fab, I just need work on my abdomen.

I'm not expecting belly exercises to cure my belly problem. I'm doing the diet thing with great success, I just wanted to get some alternatives to sit-ups to add to my very successful diet regiment! You can't just slim with diet and expect to end up with a fab bod, there has to be exercise too and that's what I'm looking for the help with!! But thanks for the advice anyway.

Mr. Loverman

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

PS if you have any weights exercises that focus on the tummy area of a female please post them. My arms and legs and neck are currently looking fab, I just need work on my abdomen.

I'm not expecting belly exercises to cure my belly problem. I'm doing the diet thing with great success, I just wanted to get some alternatives to sit-ups to add to my very successful diet regiment! You can't just slim with diet and expect to end up with a fab bod, there has to be exercise too and that's what I'm looking for the help with!! But thanks for the advice anyway.

Sorry I'm not sure you're understanding. Doing weight work on your stomach will not do anything to get rid of the fat covering it, and honestly is a bit pointless if your goal is to have a nice flat stomach. It would be a lot more efficient to waste your energy on basic cardio.

By all means do something like the plank (and its variations) but this will not make any noticeable difference whatsoever to your stomach until you have lost more weight (probably a lot more weight) and can see your abdominal muscles.

Google "core exercises".

WhodahWoodah

Mr Loverman I think we are at totally crossed purposes here! I'm absolutely planning to continue my diet weight loss program that's been working so well for me so far. And I'm not looking for a magic flat stomach recipe. I know that I'll get where I'm going weight loss-wise, all I've been doing here is looking for an alternative to the sit-ups that I ought to be doing in addition to the diet stuff and general exercise that I have been doing. Among my friends I am currently the weight loss guru as I've been doing it so well and evenly and without becoming a weight loss slave! I just hate sit-ups and have only been looking for a do-at-home alternative, that's all!!!

The weight I had was unnatural for me but I have enough sense to know that even if I lose it all my tummy won't be flat again unless I do some tummy exercises! I just hate doing sit-ups and the whole point of my OP was to get an alternative to them as I can't ask someone in a gym cos I can't join one as I'm still paying half for the house that my useless ex lives in!!

arybvtcw0eolkf

OP, why do you hate sit-up's?.

Is it because they're simply hard to do?.. I know some very fit & strong people who can't do many.

Are they boring - this I can understand.

Or are they causing you pain & discomfort?.

There are a host of various ab excises's one can do, regardless of excess weight/fat they're mostly all benefitial.

None of them alone will get you from your size 14/16 back to your original size ten, but they will help improve how you look, and feel about your ab's and that alone is worth the effort.

Its also worth considering incorporating your ab's exercise into an overall exercise regime (horrible word that - regime).

ecoli

There are many exercises i use to target the mid section as part of my supplementary work. Like you try to stick to mainly body weight resistance as opposed to the gym:

Burpees
Butterfly kicks
planks
Side planks (on both sides)
lateral leg raises (on both sides)
V Ups (if you dont like sit ups however you will probably hate these)

Hope they help and i am surprised by the amount of post saying these would be pointless and should be targeting heavy weights. A strong mid section supplies stability crucial for weight lift and by using mid body exercises you in your overall workout you are changing the blood flow to other area s (upper, mid or lower) of the body increasing the heart capacity by making it work harder which will have a knock on affect on the weight loss aspect

Transform

My recommendation is do full body workout with no sit ups or even core work at all - lunges, press ups, squats, dips, burpees, jumping etc i have done a few videos on this and home workout thread also

Wonkagirl

Join a fitness bootcamp- there are many of these running now- keepfit, fitsquad, bootcamp ireland- it's a full body 1 hour workout 3 times a week, and they incorporate burpees, plank, mountain climbers etc- all which will work on your core.. so, if you continue with the clean diet, and do some cardio/core work, you'll get there eventually..

You;ll need to incoporate all 3 Cs steps below:
1. Clean diet- (cut out bad carbs in particular, these tend to sit on the belly..)
2. Cardio work- bootcamps incorporate interval running which is highly effective
3. Core work like the plank..

Doug Cartel

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

Mr Loverman I think we are at totally crossed purposes here!

No, you aren't at cross purposes. You're just not listening to what people are saying.

The weight I had was unnatural for me but I have enough sense to know that even if I lose it all my tummy won't be flat again unless I do some tummy exercises!

This belief is wrong. It doesn't matter if you do stomach exercises, leg exercises, or whatever. The part of your body you exercise has no relation to where the fat comes off.

In fact, you'd be better off doing leg exercises, as these are much bigger muscles and will burn off a lot more energy than your stomach muscles. (Though obviously, a full body workout is better still.)

Khannie

Doug Cartel wrote: »

No, you aren't at cross purposes. You're just not listening to what people are saying.

Give the girl a break. She wants to do some core exercises. They may help flatten her stomach by tightening up the muscles. She's aware that they're not going to spot reduce fat.

Roger Marbles

Doug Cartel wrote: »

No, you aren't at cross purposes. You're just not listening to what people are saying.


This belief is wrong. It doesn't matter if you do stomach exercises, leg exercises, or whatever. The part of your body you exercise has no relation to where the fat comes off.

In fact, you'd be better off doing leg exercises, as these are much bigger muscles and will burn off a lot more energy than your stomach muscles. (Though obviously, a full body workout is better still.)

Doug and the others are absolutely right. Recently I lost 8lbs of body fat in 4 weeks by doing strict diet, compound weight exercises 3 times a week and high intensity cardio twice a week.

I went from being normal body fat to where you could see my abs and not a single sit up, crunch etc done.

The point people are trying to make to you here is that the bodyfat of your abdomen is no different to that anywhere else and no amount of crunches will target it differentially.

If you want to look toned in your abdominal area, concentrate on the principles people have spoken about here.

By the way, how have you been achieving your weight loss so far in terms of diet and exercise? Would you be open to posting your typical daily diet and portions here and your exercises regime?

Regards,
RM

Scuba Ste

Give the girl a break. She wants to do some core exercises. They may help flatten her stomach by tightening up the muscles. She's aware that they're not going to spot reduce fat.

+1

The OP has lost nearly 4 stone since may, I think she understands the importance of a good diet.

Sometimes when someone says they need to know some ab exercises, they really just need some ab exercises.

WhodahWoodah

Ryland Odd Camel wrote: »

OP, why do you hate sit-up's?.

Is it because they're simply hard to do?.. I know some very fit & strong people who can't do many.

Are they boring - this I can understand.

Or are they causing you pain & discomfort?.

There are a host of various ab excises's one can do, regardless of excess weight/fat they're mostly all benefitial.

None of them alone will get you from your size 14/16 back to your original size ten, but they will help improve how you look, and feel about your ab's and that alone is worth the effort.

Its also worth considering incorporating your ab's exercise into an overall exercise regime (horrible word that - regime).

I have a hiatus hernia and when I do sit-ups I get a lot of acid reflux. It's really yuck. Fairly vertical stuff is much better for me as the acid situation is fairly aggravated to begin with at the moment given all the stress from the break-up etc.

Zamboni

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

I have a hiatus hernia and when I do sit-ups I get a lot of acid reflux. It's really yuck. Fairly vertical stuff is much better for me as the acid situation is fairly aggravated to begin with at the moment given all the stress from the break-up etc.

Slightly OT but I had this for ten years.
Then I went paleo a couple of years ago (90% of the time) and the acid reflux ceased completely.
Put it down to coincience or not, its worth a shot.
Acid reflux is a nightmare.

Mr. Loverman

WhodahWoodah wrote: »

I have a hiatus hernia and when I do sit-ups I get a lot of acid reflux. It's really yuck. Fairly vertical stuff is much better for me as the acid situation is fairly aggravated to begin with at the moment given all the stress from the break-up etc.

Do you drink a lot of coffee?

username123

OP - Ive been doing Pilates for a couple of months now and I really feel it in the abs after some classes where we've done things like the plank. Ive also been swimming a lot and while I feel it all over to some degree, I really feel it in the abs too! Plus the swimming is a great all over exercise generally for helping to tone up.

WhodahWoodah

Also, I'm not looking for these exercises to reduce fat on my stomach - I'll continue to do that the way I got rid of the first 52 lbs. I seriously just wanted an alternative to sit-ups as I dislike doing them and at the moment they give me loads of acid in my throat. I'm absolutely not trying to spot reduce fat, I'm just trying to tone my stomach cos it's still quite squishy while my arms and legs are looking great.

Somneone else asked what exercise I'm doing - I'm mainly just walking and eating really healthily and the weight is falling off my body. I was always skinny until I was 25, changed my diet while with the ex, put on loads of weight, am now 30, have changed my diet again and am now losing loads of weight. Simple as that.

Mr. Loverman

I'm still a bit confused though. Could you please answer these two questions?

Do you have any weight on your stomach? e.g. can you pinch an inch or two?
If you don't think there is such a thing as spot exercising, why do you want to make the only exercise you do one which targets your problem area, i.e. your stomach? That sounds like the classic example of spot exercising to me!

WhodahWoodah

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

Do you drink a lot of coffee?

I don't like coffee but definitely when I drink coke it's worse. I see a consultant for it and it usually causes me minimal problems but lying on my back strain ing my abdomen doing sit-ups understandably forces the acid up.

WhodahWoodah

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

I'm still a bit confused though. Could you please answer these two questions?

Do you have any weight on your stomach? e.g. can you pinch an inch or two?
If you don't think there is such a thing as spot exercising, why do you want to make the only exercise you do one which targets your problem area, i.e. your stomach? That sounds like the classic example of spot exercising to me!

Yes I still have weight on my stomach, and everywhere else. I've still got about 1 1/2 stone to go like I said in my OP. I'm not having any problems with weight loss. Quite the opposite, it's happenning nice and smoothly for me.

I never said I think there's no such thing as spot exercising. Surely most exercises are spot exercises. I also never said I'm looking for something to take fat off my stomach. I'll be reducing the rest of my fat the same way I reduced the first 2/3 of it unless I encounter some sort of wall in which case I'll look at it again then.

While my stomach is shrinking nicely, and I see no reason why it won't continue to, I just wanted an alternative to sit-ups to tighten it up a bit. My arms and legs are looking great from all the walking. I might progress onto jogging soon. I just actually did want to know if there was something you could do to get the same results as sit-ups. Some of the replies I've had here have been great and I even had a go at that plank thing earlier after You-Tubing it and it seems good - definitely was hard! I'm also going to try some of the other exercises suggested. But to be absolutely definitely clear - I'm doing them in addition to the good diet and the other exercise and am not trying to spot reduce fat, just want to make my tummy a bit musclier. That's all.

WhodahWoodah

username123 wrote: »

OP - Ive been doing Pilates for a couple of months now and I really feel it in the abs after some classes where we've done things like the plank. Ive also been swimming a lot and while I feel it all over to some degree, I really feel it in the abs too! Plus the swimming is a great all over exercise generally for helping to tone up.

I'll definitely have to try the swimming! Until recently I'd have been too embarrassed for anyone to see me in a swimming costume! Nowadays my weight looks unremarkable - but I'm gonna keep going until I reach shmokin' hott!!!

Mr. Loverman

OK but at this stage when the problem is losing weight you really would be better off doing more cardio work. Your stomach work most likely won't give any visible results whatsoever.

But it's your life and your time so do whatever you want.

WhodahWoodah

Mr. Loverman wrote: »

OK but at this stage when the problem is losing weight you really would be better off doing more cardio work. Your stomach work most likely won't give any visible results whatsoever.

But it's your life and your time so do whatever you want.

I think my losing 52 lbs since May clearly establishes that losing weight is not a problem for me. It's going great. I'm 2/3 of the way there. I want my tummy to catch up with the rest of me. I suppose I should have just put in my OP "What exercise targets the same muscles as sit-ups?" and left it at that. I'm doing the diet, I'm doing the walking, I've said I'm thinking about upgrading to jogging and that I'm going to start a bit of swimming at another poster's suggestion.

I've also said in response to yourself a number of times now that I'm not trying to get out of exercise, or spot reduce fat, I just want to make my stomach muscles tighter as the rest of my body is doing great, but my stomach is just hanging there. It's not even terribly fat or anything, it's just squishy and I want to make it tighter. Without sit-ups. And I wanted to know some exercises that target the same muscles as sit-ups. I'll be doing these exercises in addition to everything I've been doing so far that lost me the 52 lbs. I don't really think I can be much clearer.

Ruu_Old

I like the jack knife, you can really feel it working the abs. Not as tricky as it looks, give it a go.

the drifter

right im locking this till myself or a co mod can go through it.