Abs-how often
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susanp57
Posts: 409 Member
Looking at various ab workouts, many indicate doing then every day. This does not match up with the advice to let your muscles recover before working them again.
Is there any reason abs/core are an exception?
Is there any reason abs/core are an exception?
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Replies
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my understanding from many years ago when i danced for hours every day and had teachers that had us do a lot of abs at the start and end of every class was that abs are many layered muscles that can definitely take the work every day.2
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The advice I usually hear is regarding doing abs *not* to do weight training immediately afterwards. I think a lot of people advise 3 times a week for strength and more sessions for further intensity
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Is there any reason abs/core are an exception?
No, but "workout" can mean anything from a few sets of easy planks & crunches to 20 minutes of brutal ab beatdowns. Easy stuff could be done daily, harder stuff might not.
I'll add that most people are better off following a proven, full-body program, rather than a self-designed routine, which usually ends up imbalanced.
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There are different ab muscles, so maybe one day do transverse, the next day do obliques?1
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There is nothing wrong with training your core frequently. I don't like to say "abs" as that would be a waste just training them and not the other muscles of your core. I like using a variety of exercises & isometric holds and don't forget to train rotation & anti-rotation.1
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Thanks0
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Properly executed deadlifts, squats and overhead presses use your abs on every lift.
The strongest and largest abdominal muscles are there to help support, rotate and stabilize your back/spine.
Yoga breathing / breathing from your diaphragm, proper chin-ups / pull-ups, and merely getting out of a chair uses your "abs".
The frequency of "ab workouts" does not matter nearly as much as cutting your body fat of you are worried about your "abs".
It is almost certain that you are not working your abs hard enough to make a lot of difference anyway.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort to develop muscles.
You need to lower your body fat percentage to see any results.
Training abdominal muscles in isolation will not get you very far unless you are just trying to train for muscle endurance.
Progressive resistance training (proper deadlifts, squats, presses, etc.) will almost always get you farther a lot faster when it comes to abdominal strength (and therefore bigger ab muscles) than body weight exercises.
The exception is if you are regularly doing a few dozen L-sit pull-ups at a time in a gymnasts routine or something like that.
In that case, your body fat will already be low or you would not be able to do the workouts.
If you are a woman and over 20% body fat then it will not matter how any "ab workouts" you do.
Low body fat is the key to visible abs, nothing else will make your "six-pack" (or even "four-pack") visible.
Get down to around 18% to 20% body fat and then you might start to see the results of any "ab workouts" you are doing.
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I never specifically work my abs. I find that I sufficiently gain core strength through compound lifts; between that and diet, I don't really see a reason to do ab workouts.2
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Properly executed deadlifts, squats and overhead presses use your abs on every lift.
The strongest and largest abdominal muscles are there to help support, rotate and stabilize your back/spine.
Yoga breathing / breathing from your diaphragm and merely getting out of a chair uses your "abs".
The frequency of "ab workouts" does not matter nearly as much as cutting your body fat of you are worried about your "abs".
It is almost certain that you are not working your abs hard enough to make a lot of difference anyway.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort to develop muscles.
Training them in isolation will not get you very far unless you are just trying to train for muscle endurance.
Regressive resistance (proper deadlifts, squats, presses, etc.) will get you a lot farther a lot faster.
If you are a woman and over 20% body fat then it will not matter how any "ab workouts" you do.
Low body fat is the key to visible abs, nothing else will make your "six-pack" (or even "four-pack") visible.
Get down to around 18% to 20% body fat and then you might start to see the results of any "ab workouts" you are doing.
Exactly why are you putting abs in quotation marks. Would you feel better if I used the entire word, abdominals? Your response goes far beyond the question I asked and assumes I am looking for a six pack, that I am not lifting, and is rather condescending.5 -
Because you did not define which abdominal muscles you are referring to or what your training goals are.Exactly why are you putting abs in quotation marks. Would you feel better if I used the entire word, abdominals? Your response goes far beyond the question I asked and assumes I am looking for a six pack, that I am not lifting, and is rather condescending.
Therefore I clarified which question I was answering.
If you are on any sort of proven compound lifting program then additional abdominal work is either (A) mostly unnecessary or (B) already part of the program.
However, you refer to "ab workouts" which means you are looking at additional stuff that is not already part of a compound lifting program.
Specifically you are asking about targeted abdominal training.
That is akin to the idea of "spot reducing" (a fallacy) and I cut that off before it got started as a precaution.
I told you everything you needed to know:
1) "Ab workouts" are not usually necessary if you are lifting properly and 2) Your body fat needs to drop before most effective "Ab workouts" can be performed.
If you consider an attempt at a complete and directed response to a be condescending then you are on your own.2 -
If you are on any sort of proven compound lifting program then additional abdominal work is either (A) mostly unnecessary or (B) already part of the program.
If you are doing this, I'd say that any additional ab work is entirely unnecessary.
At least that was what happened in my case.
Developed a six pack by just losing weight &
fat and doing compound lifting to achieve it.
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Properly executed deadlifts, squats and overhead presses use your abs on every lift.
The strongest and largest abdominal muscles are there to help support, rotate and stabilize your back/spine.
Yoga breathing / breathing from your diaphragm and merely getting out of a chair uses your "abs".
The frequency of "ab workouts" does not matter nearly as much as cutting your body fat of you are worried about your "abs".
It is almost certain that you are not working your abs hard enough to make a lot of difference anyway.
It takes a long time and a lot of effort to develop muscles.
Training them in isolation will not get you very far unless you are just trying to train for muscle endurance.
Regressive resistance (proper deadlifts, squats, presses, etc.) will get you a lot farther a lot faster.
If you are a woman and over 20% body fat then it will not matter how any "ab workouts" you do.
Low body fat is the key to visible abs, nothing else will make your "six-pack" (or even "four-pack") visible.
Get down to around 18% to 20% body fat and then you might start to see the results of any "ab workouts" you are doing.
Exactly why are you putting abs in quotation marks. Would you feel better if I used the entire word, abdominals? Your response goes far beyond the question I asked and assumes I am looking for a six pack, that I am not lifting, and is rather condescending.
I find it humerus that the one serious and complete response you got is the one you choose to criticize.
Anyway, my response would be, "what cqbkaju said". There is no reason to do ab workouts, you will be far better off doing heavy compounds if you want to build your abs.2 -
It was not responsive to my question and a humerus is a bone.3
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wow, the most helpful response gets jumped all over...1
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Looking at various ab workouts, many indicate doing then every day. This does not match up with the advice to let your muscles recover before working them again.
Is there any reason abs/core are an exception?
Recovery time can vary depending on which muscles, intensity, rest, nutition and level of lifter. There isn't a set time that works for everybody though generally speaking a smaller muscle and a lower rank of lifter can recover quicker than somebody needing more complicated muscle stimulas.
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Looking at various ab workouts, many indicate doing then every day. This does not match up with the advice to let your muscles recover before working them again.
Is there any reason abs/core are an exception?
Recovery time can vary depending on which muscles, intensity, rest, nutition and level of lifter. There isn't a set time that works for everybody though generally speaking a smaller muscle and a lower rank of lifter can recover quicker than somebody needing more complicated muscle stimulas.
Thanks2
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