Most people when exercising try to either lose belly fat or side bulges aka love handles. The benefits of working your abdominal muscles are not limited to belly fat. Having a strong core also helps improve balance and stability. But when it comes to toning your stomach and strengthening your core, two exercises are most sought after: crunches and sit-ups. But are both these exercises equally good? Or is one better than the other? Let’s find out!

What are crunches?

For crunches, one has to lie down on the floor with their knees bent and lift their head and upper back in a way that their stomach crunches. This exercise solely targets the core and helps tone the ab muscles. It also aids weight loss as it burns the fat in your belly area. Crunches are also light on your back and neck, but they help in strengthening them. A strong core also leads to an improved body balance.

Benefits of crunches

Here are the benefits of crunches:

What are sit ups?

To perform sit ups, lie down on the floor with your knees bent and push yourself all the way up in a sitting position. Sit ups not only focus on your core muscles but also on the surrounding muscles like your glutes, diaphragm muscles, etc. Sit ups also focus on strengthening your core muscles, reducing belly fat and love handles. It is a wholesome exercise you can do at the comfort of your home.

Benefits of sit ups

Here are the benefits of sit ups:

• Strengthens the core
• Helps lose belly fat and love handles
• Improves posture
• Strengthens hip muscles and improves spine and hip alignment

Sit ups vs Crunches

As you can see, sit ups and crunches are fairly similar exercises, but slight differences make crunches a better exercise. A 2015 study shows that people are more likely to injure themselves while performing sit ups. Sit ups have a huge range of motion, which puts a strain on your back and neck. While on the other hand, crunches have a small range of motion and are easier to perform. Crunches are just as effective as sit ups with the added benefit of reduced risk of injury.

To sum it all up, stay on the safer side and always choose crunches over sit ups!