If you’re looking to strengthen your core, sit-ups and crunches are some of the best exercises you can do. But, which one should you do? They actually target different muscles and which exercise you do depends on if you want to work on many muscle groups at once or if you want to isolate muscles. These are the pros and cons to each ab exercise.
Sit-Ups
Sit-ups target multiple muscle groups including your hip flexors, rectus abdominis, transverse abdomonis, oliques, and lower-back muscles because you’re raising your torso off the ground. Since you’re lifting your whole torso from the ground, you’re engaging your balance-focuses muscles which will improve your stabilization and your posture. The issue with sit-ups is that it’s easy to injure your back because lots of stress is put on the lumbar spine.
Crunches
Crunches are an isolated exercise that only target your rectus abdominis. They’re great if you want to aim for high reps and they’re a lower impact exercise. However, crunches only target your abdominals, not your entire core.
