Resting Between Ab Workouts

PrincessPudgy

Hi,

I'm new to exercise and I know that you should have a day of rest between every strength training workout you do, however what about ab workouts. I know you can do cardio every day, are ab workouts considered cardio? I'm talking about doing things like crunches. Another example would be a push up - but that's not for my abs. Haha.

I hope that makes sense. Thanks for your help.

Natural

i think you may be okay to work your abs every day. i read anywhere around 10 - 15 minutes of a workout is enough. mine were sore with some back to back workouts, but it made my core feel really strong so i didn't mind it.

StacLegg

I'm not sure what the correct answer is..... but I am doing Jillian Micheals 30 day shred.... for 30 days. no rest days. granted its only 20 minutes.... but its a workout, you feel it, you sweat.... and Jillian says on there , "if you want to change your body you have to put stress on it" I am going with that and trusting that I will see change..... I also do Bootcamp for 60 minutes at the gym 3 days a week, and walk most days of the week!
I used to let up or stop when exercise got uncomfortable... if it hurt alittle. No wonder why I never won the battle. I am putting stress on my body this time, and it is changing. I am not "in pain" but I am sore. Does that make sense.
Everyone's body is different and only you know how far you can push it....
I know alot of people with pretty stomachs that do ab workouts everyday night before bed....... ( I'm not one of them - YET! )

PrincessPudgy

Thanks girls

Stac - that makes perfect sense. My stomach is very very flabby right now, but I thought if I start working it out now, then hopefully it'll tone up when I start to drop more weight, and that way when I get to my goal weight, hopefully I won't have any flabby skin left.

I completely understand your "I'm sore but not in pain" comment. I've been working out at the gym and some times you can just feel your muscles in your stomach, or legs, or anywhere. They feel sore, but it's not hindering. It's a good soreness in a way. If that makes sense

MissingMinnesota

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

TateFTW

NO! Ab work is RESISTANCE training, and works exactly the same as all other resistance training, breaking down the muscle, which then repairs itself to adapt and prepare to handle that stress again. Resistance simply gives the muscle a REASON to grow. If you don't give it time and nutrition to repair itself, you won't build muscle or get stronger.

Most people feel like they can train abs everyday because they usually don't feel as sore as other muscles. There are two reasons for this. One is that we use our abs every day. It's the same deal with our calves, which is why its so hard to train calves for growth/strength. When you use a muscle group every day, it takes more stimulation to make the muscle grow.

BTW, you may not think so, but you DO want your muscles to grow. When muscles grow they fill out saggy skin left by fat and create the tight, tone look most women want.

The second reason people don't get sore when they work their abs is they don't work them anough in a given session. Your abs are tough, and are also mostly made up of fast-twitch fibers, which means they need lower reps and resistance to grow, not a million bodyweight crunches.

In my opinion, there are only 2 ab exercises you need to do; weighted crunches and leg/butt lifts. Grab a weight, 5 lbs at LEAST, and probably at least 10 lbs, lay on your back, extend your arms holding the weight above your head with both hands and try to touch the weight to the ceiling by squeezing your abs. Your only going to move A FEW INCHES, and barely lift your upper back off the ground. Once your abs are sueezed, you've done an entire rep. If you can do more then 15 with ease, then you don't have enough weight.

leg/butt lifts are the other ab exercise I like. I don't call them leg lifts, because lifting your legs DOESN'T WORK YOUR ABS. You abs are only engaged when you also lift your butt off the ground. Give it a try. You'll lift your legs 'til the cows come home, but once you start also lifting your butt at the top of the movement, you'll probably have trouble doing more then ten the first time.

Do a set of weighted crunches, then imediately do a set of leg/butt lifts, then rest AT LEAST 1 MINUTE before repeating. Do that 4 times and see if you don't have trouble getting out of bed the next day. Trust me, you'll wait at least 1 day before doing it again.

TateFTW

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

Add this to the list of reasons why the average personal trainer is about as useless in a gym as a retarded monkey, and not nearly as entertaining.

End6ame

NO! Ab work is RESISTANCE training, and works exactly the same as all other resistance training, breaking down the muscle, which then repairs itself to adapt and prepare to handle that stress again. Resistance simply gives the muscle a REASON to grow. If you don't give it time and nutrition to repair itself, you won't build muscle or get stronger.

Most people feel like they can train abs everyday because they usually don't feel as sore as other muscles. There are two reasons for this. One is that we use our abs every day. It's the same deal with our calves, which is why its so hard to train calves for growth/strength. When you use a muscle group every day, it takes more stimulation to make the muscle grow.

BTW, you may not think so, but you DO want your muscles to grow. When muscles grow they fill out saggy skin left by fat and create the tight, tone look most women want.

The second reason people don't get sore when they work their abs is they don't work them anough in a given session. Your abs are tough, and are also mostly made up of fast-twitch fibers, which means they need lower reps and resistance to grow, not a million bodyweight crunches.

In my opinion, there are only 2 ab exercises you need to do; weighted crunches and leg/butt lifts. Grab a weight, 5 lbs at LEAST, and probably at least 10 lbs, lay on your back, extend your arms holding the weight above your head with both hands and try to touch the weight to the ceiling by squeezing your abs. Your only going to move A FEW INCHES, and barely lift your upper back off the ground. Once your abs are sueezed, you've done an entire rep. If you can do more then 15 with ease, then you don't have enough weight.

leg/butt lifts are the other ab exercise I like. I don't call them leg lifts, because lifting your legs DOESN'T WORK YOUR ABS. You abs are only engaged when you also lift your butt off the ground. Give it a try. You'll lift your legs 'til the cows come home, but once you start also lifting your butt at the top of the movement, you'll probably have trouble doing more then ten the first time.

Do a set of weighted crunches, then imediately do a set of leg/butt lifts, then rest AT LEAST 1 MINUTE before repeating. Do that 4 times and see if you don't have trouble getting out of bed the next day. Trust me, you'll wait at least 1 day before doing it again.

Ditto.

But would like to add Prone Bridges/Planks to the recommended ab workouts. They are almost like a push-up position except you support your weight with your forearms flat on the floor, keep your entire body tight and support your lower body with just your toes, hold for 30 seconds. It is harder than it sounds.

TrainingWithTonya

There are only 3 types of muscle in the body, cardiac, smooth, and skeletal. Cardiac is obviously the heart and smooth is what moves food through the intestines and makes other organs work. Skeletal muscle is all the muscles we work with exercise. They all pretty much work the same way and should be trained similarly. All skeletal muscles have some fast twitch and some slow twitch fibers and regardless of which fibers you are focusing your workout on developing, you are breaking them down and have to give them time to repair. So, train your abs just like you would train your biceps or quads. Do you want to build hypertrophy? If so, heavy weights and low reps to really focus in on the fast twitch fibers which love to hypertrophy. Do you want to build strength and endurance but not bulk? If so, light weight (body weight) and high reps to focus on the slow twitch fibers that can't hypertrophy as much as the fast twitch. But regardless of what type of workout you are doing, allow at least 48 hours between workouts to allow for the recovery of the muscle.

And for the people who are talking about 30 Day Shred and how doing it every day is okay. NO, it's not. Jillian Michaels has 2 certifications from organizations that aren't even accepted by most of the gyms in my area. She has no college education in fitness. She is not a nutritionist. She is not a registered dietitian. She worked in talent management in LA and that is how she got her job on BL. Media hype doesn't equal a competent trainer. Do your own research. Or hire a trainer who actually has a college degree in exercise science. Any trainer who has actually studied exercise science or has more then an online or weekend certification will tell you that you can't work the same muscle group two days in a row.

heathersmilez

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

Add this to the list of reasons why the average personal trainer is about as useless in a gym as a retarded monkey, and not nearly as entertaining.

Harsh words considering your qualifications aren't listed in your profile, its blank.

I do like the lifting the weight to the ceiling ab exercise you suggested though, I want to try that out.

heathersmilez

And for the people who are talking about 30 Day Shred and how doing it every day is okay. NO, it's not. Jillian Michaels has 2 certifications from organizations that aren't even accepted by most of the gyms in my area. She has no college education in fitness. She is not a nutritionist. She is not a registered dietitian. She worked in talent management in LA and that is how she got her job on BL. Media hype doesn't equal a competent trainer. Do your own research. Or hire a trainer who actually has a college degree in exercise science. Any trainer who has actually studied exercise science or has more then an online or weekend certification will tell you that you can't work the same muscle group two days in a row.

Nice! I KNEW she was an IDIOT and that her moves in 30-day shred were old school in that they have since been proven to cause injury and that burning 150 cals a session could NEVER make you the kind of person she suggested you could be in 30 days. Thank you for confirming my beliefs! Now when people at work compare me to Jillian (since I am the office fitness/nutrition freak) I'll have a witty comment back, something to the effect of "yea I'm fitness obsessed with absolutely no qualifications just like her!" I'll work on my punch line, lol!

YeaILift

Cable Crunches are an amazing Ab workout. That being said, you only need to workout abs once a week. The best way to improve your ab visibility is to reduce your body fat %.

Healthyby30

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

Add this to the list of reasons why the average personal trainer is about as useless in a gym as a retarded monkey, and not nearly as entertaining.

Thanks for the tips, I had the same questions! So many conflicting things out there.

MissingMinnesota

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

Add this to the list of reasons why the average personal trainer is about as useless in a gym as a retarded monkey, and not nearly as entertaining.

Seeing that she is nationally certifed and I can't see any where that you are I will take her word over yours.

heathersmilez

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

Add this to the list of reasons why the average personal trainer is about as useless in a gym as a retarded monkey, and not nearly as entertaining.

Seeing that she is nationally certifed and I can't see any where that you are I will take her word over yours.

Ha ha, yea that was my previous comment that his profile is blank so those were harsh words to say.

End6ame

My personal trainer wants me doing abs every day so based on that I would say no you don't need a rest period.

Add this to the list of reasons why the average personal trainer is about as useless in a gym as a retarded monkey, and not nearly as entertaining.

Seeing that she is nationally certifed and I can't see any where that you are I will take her word over yours.

A certification is just a piece of paper. That being said muscle tissue is muscle tissue; does your trainer believe that your abs respond differently to resistance then quads or traps do? Why does your trainer say you need ab work everyday; do you have bad pasture? Are your abs excessively weak? Can your abs not support your torso sufficiently? Is your back overcompensating for your abs?

Just because she has a piece of paper, doesn't mean she is above questioning; by anyone regardless of their qualifications. I have seen countless personal trainers teach poor squat form and just because the are certified doesn't make it right.

TateFTW

My qualifications are being right and using logic, and I call it like I see it. I don't listen to personal trainers, I listen to people who look the way I want to look, and none of them A. listen to personal trainers or B. work abs every day.

And you can't tell me that a retarded monkey wouldn't be more entertaining then a personal trainer!