Working my abs and core on my non-lifting days?

revolutiontruth

I recently started a 3 day a week full body weight lifting routine with 30 minutes of fartlek cardio on my off days. I have read a lot about the importance of letting your muscles rest on the non-lifting days. But the routine I am doing doesn't work my abs or core in general. Is it ok for me to add some ab and core exercises to my non-lifting days or should I do those on the days I lift?

IsaackGMOON

What program are you doing?

revolutiontruth

I do 2 sets of each of the following. did between 9 and 11 sets depending on how my body felt.
Bench Press
Seated Leg Curl
Leg Press
Shoulder Press
Lat Pull Down, wide grip
Chest Flys
Tricep Pushdowns
Bicep curls
I am thinking of adding 1 or 2 exercises next week.

jemhh

Abs on rest days are fine.

Liftng4Lis

jemhh wrote: »

Abs on rest days are fine.

+1

piperdown44

revolutiontruth wrote: »

I do 2 sets of each of the following. did between 9 and 11 sets depending on how my body felt.
Bench Press
Seated Leg Curl
Leg Press
Shoulder Press
Lat Pull Down, wide grip
Chest Flys
Tricep Pushdowns
Bicep curls
I am thinking of adding 1 or 2 exercises next week.

You're not really working the core with those types of exercises, so yeah, you can hit the core on the non-lifting days.

rileyes

Have you tried a program like StrongLifts 5x5? That is a 3-day full body program. You won't need additional ab work.

It looks like your current program may benefit with added posterior chain as well as the ab work. Deadlifts (including Romanian and American) and Kettlebell swings are some exercise that help target the glutes and hams. I like rotational moves for the abs and lats (medicine ball, bands, cables).

boogiewookie

why u no squat? I'm not an expert so I probably shouldn't put my 2 cents in but big compound movements engage your core. if you swapped leg press and seated leg curl for squat and deadlift your core would thank you. I have a bad habit of skipping my ab isolation but my obliques are solid and my abs are hard (through a cushy layer lol) just from regular lifting. but yes, abs on "rest" day is perfectly fine :-)

revolutiontruth

Thanks for the feedback. The squats and dead lift are probably a good idea.