Don’t waste your time doing sit-ups. There are far more productive ways to train your abs.

I’ve never been a fan of sit-ups and recent studies have shown that not only are they not very effective for working your abs, they can also be dangerous. Because the emphasis of the exercise is raising your torso from a lying position you run the risk of keeping a straight back, which is never a good thing.

Crunches are a far more effective exercise for developing the abs. Because the focus of them is to “crunch” your body forward you are using the abdominal muscles entirely, as opposed to the hip flexors, which come into play when trying to simply raise your torso.

I recommend two sets of 25 reps of crunches performed every morning upon waking for keeping the midsection tight, toned and strong.