What's the right amount of cardio to tone up my abs?

I know cardio and good nutrition is key to toned abs, but what's the right amount of cardio?

I'm not a fitness expert, but to tone your abs, I think you have to use weight training. Or crunches or something. Not just cardio. I think that only burns fat...But, once again, I'm not sure. x_x

Cardio doesn't help tone abs.  What exactly do you mean by "tone" anyway?  If you are looking for more definition, allover fat loss is what you need.  Cardio can help with that although lifting heavy weights is better. 

Cardio will help you burn more calories when you do it which can make it easier to have a calorie deficit which is what helps with weight loss.  It doesn't have a lasting effect though, and you can lose lean body mass which is probably not what you want.

Weight lifting (not talking 2lb-ers here) will help strengthen your muscles and increase your base metabolism since an equal weight of muscle burns a lot more calories just by existing than an equal amount of fat. 

Personally I have found GREAT success (over 50lbs lost so far) with eating a clean diet with a small deficit and my only exercise is weight lifting. 

ooh i am interested to know this too! because i know crunches will not tone your abs alone, you have to incorporate cardio too or the muscle will just grow under the fat..

i've been running 3-4 miles per day and doing a few sets of different types of crunches, 15 each. i really want to get toned!

What exactly does every mean when they are saying 'toned'. For some people, they mean losing fat. Other people mean building muscle..as in getting that six pack look for the abs. Crunches will help build muscle. People with muscular [think 6 or even 8 pack] enlarge their waist. So, are you trying to build/increase muscle in the abdominal, lose fat and shrink the appearance of the abdominal or both?

Either way, strength training is awesome for all of the above.  Even though I am a runner, I still strength train and train hard and heavy, 3x's a week. It's what has made me faster, stronger and definitely why my body is as sculpted as it is!

The key to getting a flatter stomach is diet. You have to clean up your diet. You can do sit-ups, crunches until you are blue in the face and you can build muscle but it the muscle is surrounded by fat you will not see your ab muscles if that is what you are referring to. Diet is key, then lift heavy and hard. HIIT and interval training are the best ways to burn fat and speed up your metabolism.

Over time my new eating habits of very healthy and balanced meals combined with daily walking and basic crunches-several types, push-ups, leg lifts) resulted in a flat stomach and 7" off my waistline.

Thanks for all of the excellent advice. Weight training, no problem here. It's the cardio and perfect eating that gets me. I'm hoping CC will help me with the eating part.

My idea of toned is a lean, thin waist line with slight definition of muscle. I'm not looking to have bodybuilder abs or just a skinny waist. I want abs that you would look at and say that girl is healthy and fit.

Littleshellys ~ What type of training is HITT?

Original Post by slimcatiexo:

Littleshellys ~ What type of training is HITT?

 HIIT can be done many different ways. I personally do sprints. You can also do HIIT biking, swimming and so on. HIIT is going all out. As hard as you can push yourself for a short period of time 30-60 seconds and then bring it back down to recover and do it again. When sprinting you must go as fast as you can. Not jogging or running but sprinting. Then recover and repeat. You should be exhausted at the end of an HIIT session. It kicks your butt but it is Worth it when it comes to fat loss. It also shortens your cardio workout time. You get your heart rate up and increases EPOC (Post exercise oxygen consumption)

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/faq/525.html

Original Post by littleshellys:

Original Post by slimcatiexo:

Littleshellys ~ What type of training is HITT?

 HIIT can be done many different ways. I personally do sprints. You can also do HIIT biking, swimming and so on. HIIT is going all out. As hard as you can push yourself for a short period of time 30-60 seconds and then bring it back down to recover and do it again. When sprinting you must go as fast as you can. Not jogging or running but sprinting. Then recover and repeat. You should be exhausted at the end of an HIIT session. It kicks your butt but it is Worth it when it comes to fat loss. It also shortens your cardio workout time. You get your heart rate up and increases EPOC (Post exercise oxygen consumption)

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/faq/525.html

You actually want to keep your sprint intervals in the range of 15-30 secs. Once you pass a certain point, you are no longer going @ 100% anymore because a person can't maintain a full on sprint @ 100% intensity for a long period of time.

Thanks for the tips! Now it's time to workout!!! :)