Trainer Joslyn Thompson Rule said that crunches¹ and sit-ups are not the way to tone your tummy, and even buckling² down and doing up to 500 a day is unlikely to get you closer to your six-pack goals.

 

'Just doing sit-ups alone won't get you rock hard abs because you're only working to strengthen one singular area, which is like trying to build the outer layers of a house with no foundations underneath,' she explained.

 

So what exactly do sit-ups do? Joslyn said they work your 'external muscles', but don't actually build up the core or the obliques³ that give you that washboard look.

 

That means that unless you're doing sit-ups as part of a greater work-out routine - like with cardio and planks⁴ - you shouldn't expect to see any visible results when looking at your tummy in the mirror.

 

While she didn't suggest giving up on sit-ups altogether, she did stress the need for making them just one part of a larger routine.

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