Okay to do abs everyday?

powerburn · June 26th, 2005, 07:44 PM

I know i try to give each muscle group 48 hours rest until specifically focusing on them again, i have heard that you can do abs everyday. Is this correct or is rest needed on this muscle group. Thanks.

**RTAV1** · June 26th, 2005, 07:52 PM

A ton of people more qualified than me to answer this, but IMHO, if you CAN do abs everyday, you're not working them hard enough. I prefer to target specific ab areas on 24-48 hours rest - rotating, depending on how hard I work.

**Adonis** · June 26th, 2005, 09:31 PM

it depends on your ab wokrout. If you aren't using any added resistence (weight)(but I don't know why you wouldn't be) then no more than 4 times each week. Thast about it. It is a muscle just liek all the rest. It only does its adapting during rest, so if you don';t rets em, you won't get em

**falconfootball** · June 27th, 2005, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adonis

It is a muscle just liek all the rest. It only does its adapting during rest, so if you don';t rets em, you won't get em

I was going to say those exact words. Train our abs just like your other muscles. Rest is when your muscles heal and recover (grow).

**Manfred_Man** · June 27th, 2005, 12:36 AM

definitely agree with rtav, adonis & falcon...

the following is from something i posted a while ago:

Quote:

Edging closer to sharp abs can tempt you to work them every day. Don't. Training more can actually make your abs show less. "You don't need to overwork your abs - they're no different from any other muscle," says Hays. "If you're always in a state of overtraining, you're going to get more laxity in your muscles." In other words, they'll appear soft. Instead, add resistance to make moves you already do more challenging. For instance, hold a light weight plate during a Russian twist or Swiss-ball crunch. Then give your muscles time to rest.

**Bled_man** · June 27th, 2005, 06:23 AM

Totally agree with what has been said above. I have gotten into countless arguements with friends that I have trained with about working the abs just like you would every other muscle group, because they are still muscles. The people who works abs everyday are the same ones who work their calves and forearms everyday, and they never seem to get bigger. Go figure! If you haven't been working with weights for your abs, add it slowly and really concentrate on good form, because it will be much more difficult than before, and you will really feel it for the next few days and you will NOT want to work your abs again for a while! Good luck, and keep training.

**exnatural123** · June 27th, 2005, 08:23 AM

Gotta lift heavy, and good form, Diet will get gain abs or any muscle.... Many good weighted movments for abs.. They must have rest just like any other..

**bbabb22** · June 27th, 2005, 12:16 PM

I see people at the gym doing every machine every day for their abs. Its been about 2-3months and none of them have 6 packs yet. I do abs with non of the machines and use medicine balls 2-3 times a week and i have a six pack.

**painless2** · June 27th, 2005, 01:21 PM

The abs are a very resilient muscle, mostly do to their slow twitch fiber makeup and the inscriptions in their anatomy. You can certainly train them every day, but the question is why? It's difficult to cause tendonitis there but as stated earlier, all muscles need some recovery time, or at least low intensity time for proper recuperate and repair. This doesn't mean you have to completely lay off anything that works them, e.g. running, but weight and direct ab work should subside.

**Adonis** · June 27th, 2005, 01:24 PM

no for example, and good midsection program could eb performed every day.

alternate between working the abdominals, the obliques and the erectors. That way you can train the "core" every day, but not tax any of the groups excessively

Killa_Z · June 27th, 2005, 07:51 PM

i think every other day is just right, because they are made of slow twitched fibres like painless2 mentioned above, they become faituged less easily and so its hard (for me) to overtrain them, i think becuase they are part of your bodies core they also rebuild quickly.

but i couldnt agree anymore with what Adonis said above: switch around working your abs one day obliues another and erectors the next then repeat.

**bbabb22** · June 28th, 2005, 01:40 AM

i think adonis has the best advice here. working the core every day but hit different parts so you have time to heal.

**Old_Fart2** · June 28th, 2005, 08:09 AM

The super mooderator wins!

**Doughboy** · July 5th, 2005, 02:23 AM

Thanks for these answers, I was curious about that question also.

CoastieAd · July 5th, 2005, 02:28 AM

christ dave you are lighting these forums up

**descarado** · July 17th, 2005, 01:56 PM

hmmm interesting! my workout regimen has me workin on abs everyday, as part of the warm-up. hanging leg raises, incline-decline crunches, swiss ball crunches- use those three everyday. does that mean i should shove that to every other day then?

Killa_Z · July 17th, 2005, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by descarado

hmmm interesting! my workout regimen has me workin on abs everyday, as part of the warm-up. hanging leg raises, incline-decline crunches, swiss ball crunches- use those three everyday. does that mean i should shove that to every other day then?

yes, everyother day at the most, even less than that would still be good enough