reps or hold?

April 19, 2007 5:53 AM

Should I be doing lots of reps or holding for a long time?

I have added the yoga posture navasana to my regular routine at the gym. You start lying on your back then make a "V" by lifting your legs and torso. I hold for about 15 slow breaths four times. The cool kids at the gym seem to be doing cruches. Which is better? I am mainly trying to increase my core strength, but I am not indifferent to making some progress on reducing my belly.

posted by shothotbot to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (10 answers total)

You aren't going to decrease your belly with any ab exercise, you'll only do that by burning calories.

The answer to your first question is: it depends. It's better to do reps of crunches and it's better to hold the pose you're talking about. They're different kinds of ab exercises. It's a good idea to put a bit of variety into your core workout--add some crunches, oblique crunches, planks, bridges. The first two are rep exercises, the last two are holding exercises.
posted by OmieWise at 6:07 AM on April 19, 2007

Neither the navasana posture nor crunches is better -- in a universal sense -- because both are good exercises with different objectives.

However, if you want to firm up your belly, go with crunches.

Keep in mind that I said "firm up." You won't reduce the size or shape of the belly unless you 1) up cardio, and 2) reduce calories. You have to do this in combination with crunches for a defined look.

Also, don't forget to work out the lower back muscles as well. An ideal combination would be navasana, several sets of crunches, then several sets on a lower back machine. That'll give you an all-around, balanced core work out.

(Some people might also recommend squats, but only progress to these slowly, and keeping in mind safety issues like correct posture).
posted by Gordion Knott at 6:10 AM on April 19, 2007

Response by poster: OK, given that they are both "good" how are they different? Do they have different effects on the muscles?
posted by shothotbot at 6:26 AM on April 19, 2007

Crunches are more of a muscle-growth and definition exercise. Navasana won't produce as much of a washboard stomach as crunches -- but that's not the main point of yoga anyway, as I understand it.
posted by Gordion Knott at 7:03 AM on April 19, 2007

The yoga pose is an example of an isometric exercise, while crunches are isotonic. They both promote in the muscle precisely what they seem to--the pose promotes stability and strength over time in your core (some endurance), while the crunch promotes strength in contraction (through a specific range of motion) with some stability gains from increased strength. Getting up from slouching on the couch uses the mechanisms of the crunch, while being able to slouch on the couch through a whole tv show without getting a sore back uses the mechanisms of the pose.
posted by OmieWise at 7:03 AM on April 19, 2007 [2 favorites]

If you're really keen on developing core strength, I'd highly recommend pilates. Yoga is good too, but pilates (at least the classes I've taken) are definitely core intensive. I like a combo of the two, because a strong core makes a number of the yoga poses a lot easier.

Pilates combines "lots of reps" and "holding for a long time".
posted by backwards guitar at 8:38 AM on April 19, 2007

One way to add a little pain* to boat pose is to sloooooowly raise and lower your legs/torso together. Kind of like opening a book, when your legs come up, your torso comes up, and when your legs go down, your torso goes down. Of course, that's all after you get nice, straight legs and back just holding it normally--form is more important then anything.

*Of course if you actually experience pain, you should probably step it back a bit instead.
posted by anaelith at 10:42 AM on April 19, 2007

Er. And I should add, you don't go all the way down to the floor. Go as low as you can without collapsing or actually touching.
posted by anaelith at 10:43 AM on April 19, 2007

Simple answer to belly part of question:
Belly has two parts: belly muscles and belly fat. Currently sounds like belly fat is covering up belly muscles. Your goal should be to reduce size of the belly fat so that people can see said belly muscles.
Do cardio (40 mins, 3x week) and fix diet (5 small healthy meals, reduce dietary fat, cut out cheese, mayo, fries and butter, etc.) to reduce size of belly fat. Do yoga to make belly muscles pop.
posted by charlesv at 1:04 PM on April 19, 2007

Navasana is a fantastic pose, and I'll beg to differ with anyone who says that it won't develop a six-pack. Actually, I won't beg, I'll just lift my shirt and show off my Abs Of Steel™. The kids at the gym are mostly doing crunches because that's what they see everyone else doing. You're ahead of them already.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2007