Calories Burned Doing Crunches
Our bodies are burning calories all the time, whether we're running, walking, watching television or even sleeping. The key to burning more calories is exercising effectively and efficiently, but it takes more than just doing sit-ups and abdominal crunches to get a flat stomach. You must reduce overall body fat, and the best way to do that is to eat a healthful diet and exercise within your target heart rate zone.
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Calories Burned While Doing Crunches
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There are many factors that determine how many calories are burned while doing any activity, including abdominal crunches. The main variable when it comes to burning calories is size and weight. The larger the body, the more calories burned. Another factor is how many muscles--and which muscles--are being used during an activity. Exercises that use larger muscles, such as those in the legs, will burn more calories than exercises that focus on smaller muscles. Abdominal crunches, when done correctly, focus on several different sets of muscles. Combining crunches with other exercises, including cardiovascular exercise, will lead to burning more calories.
How Crunches Compare With Other Exercises
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To compare how different exercises burn calories, based on a person who weighs 150 lbs., walking briskly burns about five calories per minute. Doing vigorous crunches burns about seven calories per minute, which is about the same as doing aerobic exercise. Most people, however, can walk briskly or do aerobics a lot longer than they can do abdominal crunches, so finding an activity that you can do for 30 minutes is more beneficial when it comes to burning calories than exercises that you can do for only brief periods of time.
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Your Target Heart Rate Zone
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The best way to increase the amount of calories burned during exercise is by using your target heart rate zone as a guide. Target heart rate zone refers to the heart rate or pulse when the body burns calories at the highest rate of efficiency. If your heart rate is too low or high when exercising, you are not burning fat effectively. Look up your target heart zone online at Caloriesperhour.com, and you can monitor your heart rate by either periodically taking your pulse or using a heart rate monitor. You should be able to talk but not sing while exercising within this zone.
How to Burn More Calories When Doing Crunches
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It is best to warm up before any exercise, including abdominal crunches. This allows you to reach your target heart rate zone so that calories are burned most efficiently. Before doing crunches, either walk, job, or ride a stationary bike to bring up your heart rate. Once you are in the target heart rate zone, continue warming up for 15 to 20 minutes before doing abdominal crunches. By warming up, calorie burning increases and the chance of injury is reduced.
Using the Best Form When Doing Abdominal Crunches
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An abdominal crunch is a partial sit-up. By only doing just part of a sit-up, the risk of injuring your back is reduced and the core muscles of the abdomen are worked more intensely. To begin, lie on your back, with feet flat on the floor, and slowly lift your head, shoulders and upper back off the floor and then bring it back down. The lower back should stay on the floor. Be certain to breathe; exhale when lifting up and inhale when going back down. To engage the oblique muscles along the side of the body, twist and bring your elbow to your opposite knee. Using a stability ball to do abdominal crunches makes the movement more intense and effective.
Getting a Flat Stomach
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In addition to building muscle by doing abdominal crunches, you must also reduce body fat so that those muscles can be seen, and this requires following a proper diet and doing cardiovascular exercise. Crunches must be part of an overall fitness program that is designed to reduce body fat and build muscle in all areas of the body, not just the abdomen. Burning calories by exercising within your target heart rate zone is an important part of getting a flat stomach, as well as eating a healthful diet.
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