ABS...

I would assume it's a good plan, but at least have one day of complete rest..like whole body, not just arms, if not two days. I was told that your body still needs to repair itself.

Just me though.

I agree - great plan - but you need a rest day...and I find after my rest day - I can really give me the rest of the week...

It depends what your goals are, and in the order in which you do things. If you do cardio first before your weight training, you are going to burn all of your top tier energy reserves on cardio, and not have them available for Strength Training. Strength training is cardio in itself, it burns calories and raises the heart rate. If you are still going to do both, it makes sense to best do them at different times of the day, i.e one in the morning and one at night, so your body has time to recover your energy reserves.

Also, your day of total body strength training is problematic. You should never strength train the same body parts two days in a row. Your body needs 48 hours to recover those muscles. In your set up, you are doing strength with lower body three days in a row, which isn't a good idea. I'd suggest doing 3 lower and 2 upper one week, then switching to 3 upper and two lower the other week.

Also, try to keep one day a total rest day, or your body will burn out. I would also try to rest abs one of the days during the week, so you're not doing it 6 days straight.

It may not seem like a good idea to rest, but proper rest and recovery periods are as important to fitness as doing the actual work itself. If you overdo it, you won't see the results you are looking for.

Keep in mind that we exercise our abs every day ( stablization, walking,etc)
Cardio, weights, and nutrition will do more for you then a killer AB workout as the body decides where to burn fat.
AB workouts are important, just don't over do it... You will get noticeable results by spending your energy elsewhere.


Good luck!

I'd keep the ab workouts to 3x a week and get rid of the total body strength training on Tuesday. I'm afraid with your current schedule you'll likely overtrain. Overtraining and stress (from lack of adequate rest) will keep your cortisol levels up and hinder your weight loss.

Much better, and make sure you have variety in the ab workouts.

Up until recently i was working my abs everyday...my core felt solid but i couldnt get conditioned, i wasnt losing fat on my tummy and cudnt understand why...someone told me to split set four times a week...supersets, very intense...now my abs are ripping up and hardening big time. heres my workout.

Mon
treadmill warm up
Stretches
Arms and Chest (split supersets)
Abs (crunches x 50, the 30 xside crunches) so 100 altogether, then 5 mins plank, followed by 30 leg raises

Tues
Bike Warm up
Stretches
Back and Shoulders (split supersets)
treadmill incline walk warm down

Weds

Rower warm up
Stretches
Legs and Core (Heavy Compound) etc
Abs-Cruches on ball, plank on ball, leg raises etc

Thurs
REST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and get loads of quality protein!

Fri

CIRCUIT
Warm up as you wish then nail every body part as intensely as possible...short rest periods but plently of water...use the machines first before the free weight as yourl then have work so much harder to keep good form etc...the session shouldnt last more than 40 mins...

Sat
REST and Recover

Sunday

Start as Above !!

You can integrate core work into some lower body workouts.
For example you can do your squats and deadlifts on a wobble board or a BOSU ball.

When you say "strength training", what do you actually do? And what is your goal?

Free weights will work your core much better than machines.

Personally when I do a hard weight training session on my legs, I would not be doing cardio first, because the whole point is to have really good form when you do heavy barbell squats.

Sometimes I knock out 100 body-weight only wobble board squats after spinning, but I would not really regard that as real strength training.