Forgive me if this has been discussed recently, (I have a “real” job now, as opposed to the one where I wrote lots of technical crap, and had plenty of time during the day to post).
At any rate, as my subject heading says, which is correct?
I’ve always heard two different schools of thought on this.
1.) That ab muscles are somehow “different” and more able to handle daily workouts and…
2.) That they are no different than any other muscle tissue, and that they need the requisite 24-48 hour rest period between crunch sessions.
I’ve heard from at least two trainers that abs should be done every day, or at least don’t require the resting period the other muscle groups do. I can check today at work with my de-facto trainer.
My own experience is that if I work the same muscle groups twice in as many days, I’m not able to do as much the second day, and therefore am not pushing them any further. This means minimal benefit. And the soreness isn’t pleasant. I have found that I can work one part of a muscle group one day and another part the next quite effectively, but that’s something a little trickier to plan out.
With abs, however, I can do my usual abs routine on a gym day, then do the same routine the next day at home, without “failure” coming earlier the second day (i.e. where you just can’t do any more).
If you want to do something for your abs every day, you can vary which set you work, or even which exercises you do. Every issue of any fitness magazine always has a bazillion new ways to do abs.
In any case, I’ll check with Chuck this morning and get back to you.
I work my abs every day, but as was pointed out above, I work them using completely different exercises. One day I may do crunches and hanging leg raises, the next day I’ll do oblique crunches and work with a medicine ball.
You can also do ab exercises just sitting at your desk or in the car. Imagine that there’s a string that is attached to your navel and runs out your back. Now imagine that someone is pulling on the string (hey, you’re a GI Joe and they’re pulling the string out your back to make you talk). Essentially, you’re trying to make your navel touch your spine. Try that a few times during the day, say 10 sets of 10.
The abdominal muscles are not physiologically different from other muscles. In fact, muscle fibers of the same type look the same no matter where in the body they’re from. Scott, ask your trainers how the abs differ and see if you can get a coherent answer.
The key question as to how often you should train them is what your goals are, and how sore you are. If they’re not sore, sure, work 'em again. If they are, give them time to recover.
The first trainer was full of crap. Chuck at work says to rest abs like anything else. Says abs are like a big sheet of muscle. I listen to Chuck. Chuck’s sage advice helped me get the body I have today.
Every other day. They are a muscle, muscles need rest.
The thing I honestly have never understood, is people who do 500 crunches and think they are accomplishing something. I wouldn’t do 500 bicep curls with the same weight and expect something amazing. Instead, I vary the weight, the intensity, and the particular exercise. Why do people think abs are any different?
Exactly. You’re only using your abs to pull up so much weight; at some point, you have to increase the amount of weight you’re “lifting”. One thing you can do is reverse crunches (good for lower abs) with a weight disk between the knees. And of course there’s always the incline approach.
