Muscle recovery and abdominals

mirrim52
mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
This may be a silly question, but I am not sure. I know when you do strength training, you should not train the same muscles 2 days in a row in order to give the muscles time to recover and repair. Does this apply to abdominal exercises like crunches? Or just lifting? My abs have gotten very weak after my c-section 2 years ago and it is well past time to do something about it. I would like to strengthen in the most efficient way.

Replies

  • mirrim52
    mirrim52 Posts: 763 Member
    bump

    Anybody?
  • duharvalgt
    duharvalgt Posts: 319 Member
    the abdonimal region is just like any other muscle, so if you train it heavily then should rest it a couple days.
    As for crunches it depends on how difficult you find them personally ,e.g if you find doing 10 crunches in a row difficult then that would be considered strenuous exercise and you should probably rest the same amount as you would for any other muscle.
  • daisydieter
    daisydieter Posts: 118
    I had c-section 12 years ago and still never recovered fully. Part of my abs are literally numb. I burned myself once with a heating pad and never felt any sensation as the burn was happening or healing.
  • BigDaddy822
    BigDaddy822 Posts: 99
    Yes you should definitely rest them just as you do any other muscle group. I personally wouldn't recommend crunches being that it is very easy to cheat. But just starting out ti may be good for you
  • grumpers
    grumpers Posts: 46 Member
    if it is too easy to do crunches wrong (cheat) what ab exercises do you recommend for beginning/ intermediate work outs?
  • fiberartist219
    fiberartist219 Posts: 1,865 Member
    The boat pose, bird dog and mountain climbers are all great ab exercises.

    I hate working out my abs, so I probably don't do it enough. From what I've read (I think it was in Women's Health Big Book of Exercises) was that you can work your abs every day. They are fairly large muscles and it is probably hard to strain them as much as your other muscles.

    I say, if they are sore, give them a break, but if they aren't, go ahead and do what you're going to do.
  • BigDaddy822
    BigDaddy822 Posts: 99
    I use the P90X Ab Riper X DVD. But if you Google 8 Minute Abs and try that workout it is very good. Its is really old but it is still a great ab workout.

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