At what BF% should i start doing Isolation AB's

[StrongIron84]

at 245(morning) or so i was about 25% BF, now i am down about 9+ pounds since then, assuming i haven't lost any muscle with this cut, which hopefully i haven't what would be a good time to start throwing 2-3 isolation ab sessions at the end of my routine, i am thinking about starting when my morning weight is down to about 230

Also, can someone educate me on why one would do Ab's on a cut? because the RUMOR is that you can't gain lean mass while cutting(ie. muscle) and since your AB's are a muscle why do them when i thought the point of doing them was to make them bigger so that your skin has something to hold onto etc etc.

Excuse my ignorance i am just curious and uneducated in the "training" abs department

thank you!

[Vietgoboi]

Well it depends...

Even in calorie deficit, that deficit is for your current body weight & high BF%. You can of course build muscle in your abdominals for certain time, until you hit a counter balance.

(Your chances are better, if your beginner).

You can still of course strengthen your abs in deficit or lifts

[ejthomp]

You can start now if you want or leave them for later.... doesn't really matter much if you are going lots of other lifting. You are really only looking to tone your abs, not grow them into some huge muscle mass. And it isn't RUMOR.... you are NOT going to add very much muscle mass while cutting weight. Best you can hope for is to maintain the muscle you have and tone it up.

Abs are grown in the kitchen....and you probably won't see them until you lose quite a bit more weight.

My trainer has the most awesome abs I've ever seen in person. I asked him about them and what he does and his response was, "Not much really. They get enough work in all the other exercises I do that I don't worry about them." "Abs are a function of body fat and overall fitness."

[StrongIron84]

Originally Posted by ejthomp

You can start now if you want or leave them for later.... doesn't really matter much if you are going lots of other lifting. You are really only looking to tone your abs, not grow them into some huge muscle mass. And it isn't RUMOR.... you are NOT going to add very much muscle mass while cutting weight. Best you can hope for is to maintain the muscle you have and tone it up.

Abs are grown in the kitchen....and you probably won't see them until you lose quite a bit more weight.

My trainer has the most awesome abs I've ever seen in person. I asked him about them and what he does and his response was, "Not much really. They get enough work in all the other exercises I do that I don't worry about them." "Abs are a function of body fat and overall fitness."

i think i only need to be around about 225, so 10-15 more pounds to see slight definition as ill be around 15 % bf then i guess if i keep my muscle mass, right now i have slight outlines VERY slight but i still have a lot of lower belly fat , i may still wait like 5 more pounds though before i start

[kowabungakyle]

i do them 3 times a week at the end of my workouts. Usually 3 sets of 15 reps weighted medicine ball crunches or hanging leg raises.

Abbs tend to recover very fast, so working them 3 times a week isn't a problem for me, and I find with my body the muscles I work twice a week grow/respond the most, where I can barely maintain my bench if I only work it once a week.

RIght now im 15% bf, and I must say my abbs have become way more toned/tight since I started this, and hard to the touch. I for see very nice abbs when I get down to 10%

Learn proper form on crunches. You really want to squeeze your abbs in the reps. Remember you are using your abbs, not your back. you want your back to round forward when doing them, the exact opposite of deadlifts, squats, and almost every other exercise.

When crunches become to easy to fast, which they wont if u really learn how to squeese them, move on to heavier weight/medicine ball.

[selffirst]

You can do them now but you'll probably wont see visible changes until you lose about 10% more body fat..... Much Luck......self

[plateau_max]

Abs are a muscle like any other. They are more like forearms in the sense that a great deal of other exercises will also exercise your abs. Exercising your abs with progressively increased weight will cause them to tear down and grow bigger just like every other muscle. You have to take care when doing crunches, leg raises, etc, not to let your back and/or hip flexors take over.

I personally work them on my pull days and leg days, and sometimes on my off days I'll do some bodyweight stuff like crunches and leg lifts, I will however go very slow on the reps and keep my abs tight the whole time. Hundreds of fast crunches just burn calories and do little to nothing for actual muscle gain.

Like everyone has already been saying, try not to stress seeing your abs 'till you get down to a much lower BF%, which at that point will be more diet oriented than anything you do in the gym. The work you do on them now will show up later so don't be discouraged. Everyone has a threshold, so many people I've known have told me about how they could never see them then magically after dropping another lb of bodyfat they magically appeared lol.

[MadeUnderground]

As others have said you can strengthen them. But also if you're a noob, you'll make noobie gains whether you're cutting or not.

I think you can start working abs whenever you want, but I would probably wait till 20%bf.

It's good to get working on them now so that it'll be easier to see them once you start getting lower bf%s.
It's also good to work your core because it helps prevent back injuries.

You don't need to overkill like a lot of people do with abs. 2-3 exercises 3x a week is more than enough.

[StrongIron84]

Thanks for all the replies, some have mentioned noob gains, i am a noob now but i use to train abs when i was in the army i could do like 105 sit-ups in approx 2 minutes but i have been out for about 5 years and haven't trained since, would i still get noob gains?