Ab work controversey

[UseoForce]

I was wondering what you thought about this. As a grappler, core strength is very important to me. Many fitness experts advocate doing abdominal workouts every day. However, for every other muscle in your body, you work it hard one day, then rest at least another day before working it again.

My question is, should one do, say, 200 reps of abdominal training every day or more like 300-400 every other day (To allow for recovery time)?

I really don't know where I stand on this.

Please give some kind of explanation to support your opinion, or site a source.

Thanks!

[Maddwraph]

i say every other day to give your body some rest, but thats waht ive read. the more expierence in this forum will hopefully give better answers.

[Ben Martin]

i agree with you but we will see so far its 60/40 to every other day

[Aodhan]

It depends on what you want out of your abdominals. Since they are a core muscle used in just about every single movement the body does, they are used to a high workload.

If you are trying to build large, ravioli looking abs, then you are going to want to do high intensity, high weight, low repetition type exercises (Isolation crunches with weights, hanging body curls, etc). If you do this, then the abs are definitely going to need a recovery day, and probably should only do 3, possibly 4 days in a week.

If you are going after endurance and tone, then lower intensity, higher rep workouts are the way to go. If you choose this, then you can probably safely work the abs every day.

Aodhan

[unknownstyle]

my sensei said to do it everyday

[Jay]

do more one day and less another i think is a good compromise

[orion82698]

I have been training my ABS now for 4 months straight. Monday's Wednesday, Fridays, and weighted crunches on Sundays. It has helped me burn off a lot of stomach fat, as well as build up my six pack. I can see it coming through now, just need to cook off some more fat. I think doing 200 a day might be over training the muscle. It's a muscle just like the rest and it needs rest, just like the rest

[TheDevilAside]

I think it depends on how you train them. I usually do it 3 - 4 times a week, because sometimes I train so hard I wouldn't be able to bear the pain of doing a single crunch. But if you're only doing 20 repitions of the same basic exercise, without adding weight or doing "super sets" then your body probably won't need more than a day to recover.

[Superfoot]

Apparently, muscles like the Abs, Calves and Forearms should be worked frequently but fairly, rather than doing them infrequently but in excessive amounts. I do so and it works for me.

[orion82698]

Your ABS are just like every other muscle, they need time to rest, or they will never grow. Too much training is not good. There is nothing special about them, except for the fact that you need low body fat to see them. Genetics helps too. I work my ABS every other day. I do crunches, ball crunches, weighted crunches (pull downs) and leg lifts. Siccor kicks are good too