Abs question

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exactly how long do u hold urself up for?

30 seconds, or longer depending on how you can hold it. and then go longer the more you do it, as it should get easier. bare minimum is 30secs

5'5. . .109lbs, and still losingSounds pretty skeletal. How low you going to go? Can't you stay in shape but eat a little more?The only thing not eating salt will do is reduce water retention; it has no meaningful effect on your weight. Most Americans get plenty of salt, but if you do aerobic exercise for a long time and are deficient in salt, you are pretty screwed.

Try adding protein into your diet it help with muscle building. But realise the muscle is heavier than fat, so you may gain weight by gaining muscle.

Ive pretty much stopped, but im still eating the same things. I never had much muscle, so most of everything was just fat. Now im working on gaining the muscle so i dont look like a twig

Yes, twigginess is not so good. Which is not to say that zoftigness is good. Think about eating more protein, as parle suggests, while continuing your exercise program.

More protein just gets wasted, unless you're really working your muscles. In that case, a little more protein is needed, but the majority of people get that anyway. The body disposes of excess protein unfortunately, because it can't put large amounts to use all at once.

How about more calorie-containing food in general?I'm assuming J_A is on a caffeine-fueled tear when she's in the gym.

Increasing calories does help if you want to grow bigger. The only problem is that, for solely size building purposes, that generally requires a cutting cycle for losing excess fat that was gained with the muscle. That's not really a problem if you do lots of exercise that's cardio related, but then you generally don't build bulky muscles (but you will tone your muscles and strengthen them). I'm not the man to ask about building big muscles, though there are many users on this forum that can offer great advice (Helmsman comes to mind).For overall core strength and upper abs, I find that doing crunches on an exercise ball is helpful. You train them to a greater degree, since you need to do the crunches while keeping your body stable on the ball. Try doing bicycles and leg lifts for the lower abs. Be sure to sit up straight all the time as well, as that uses your abs to support your upper body (and is good for your back in general). Don't slouch.In reply to:I'm assuming J_A is on a caffeine-fueled tear when she's in the gym. Lol

I see people in the gym doing crunches with and without the ball. There's so much nice machinery to use, I can't see getting down on the mat and suffering. I think I get pretty much the equivalent on the equipment. I'm strengthening my abs, but I don't care about the six-pack thing, so I do a lot of reps of not-too-high weight.But I was concerned about Java_Addict being underweight in general, rather than her muscle-building.

It depends on wut ppl want like me for instace i spent years on crunches sit-ups and other ways to stregthin my abs. These migh thave stregthened my abs but they show no results... After a while after you have stregthined then byu using conventinal ways without weights. Buy a "sit up bench" or go to your local gym and use one. a sit up bench looks like a chair with rollies that hold in your feet. Take a 50-75 pd. weight hold it to your cheast and go backwards till your inverted than come up half way and go back down, the reason you only go up have way is to keep ur muscles still tight and not relaxed. After a few weeks-Months of this you will notice geat results