Am I overworking my abs?

[Dbake34]

I typically do much more abs than suggested by experts on this site, here is a sample of a workout i would typically do...

2 lower ab exercises, 3 sets till failure
2 upper ab exercices 3 sets till failure
Same for 2 oblique exercises
Planks and side planks weighted each for 45 sec to 1 min
Ab wheel rollouts 3 sets of 10

Is this too much? Because most workouts are just based on a few exercises. My abs are strong as of right now but im really wanting to get the most out of them.

[sintro1]

21 sets of abs in addition to planks? I'm pretty sure that's unnecessary. If you are doing compound lifts like squats, deads, and rows; then you shouldn't need a ridiculous amount of ab work. Most people only do about 8-14 sets a body part! If I was you, I would at least cut down to 1 each "upper ab" and "lower ab" excercise and one oblique excercise (side planks count as one). Also, are you lean enough to need obliques? If you aren't lean they'll just make you look fatter.

My friend got me to do rope crunches everyday for 5 or 6 days like a month ago. Eventually I got this annoying twitch in part of my right upper ab area (RA). It went away when I went back to ab work twice a week. The only direct ab work I do is at the end of back day, I do planks and cable crunch (order and rest time changes most every time). Also, I do weighted decline situps at the end of shoulders day.

[Ironface]

The problem here is you're overthinking it. Abs get some work through the heavy compound lifts - namely squats and deads.

There's no need to blast them like you're doing - unless you're training to become the next Mr Olympia/Universe/IFBB whatever.
Even then that's an awful lot of sets.

[ImNervous]

well, if you train your abs every day then yes. but if you only do this ab workout 2 days a week, then no.

[Dbake34]

21 sets of abs in addition to planks? I'm pretty sure that's unnecessary. If you are doing compound lifts like squats, deads, and rows; then you shouldn't need a ridiculous amount of ab work. Most people only do about 8-14 sets a body part! If I was you, I would at least cut down to 1 each "upper ab" and "lower ab" excercise and one oblique excercise (side planks count as one). Also, are you lean enough to need obliques? If you aren't lean they'll just make you look fatter.

My friend got me to do rope crunches everyday for 5 or 6 days like a month ago. Eventually I got this annoying twitch in part of my right upper ab area (RA). It went away when I went back to ab work twice a week. The only direct ab work I do is at the end of back day, I do planks and cable crunch (order and rest time changes most every time). Also, I do weighted decline situps at the end of shoulders day.

Thanks man, if I do 1 set of each part of the abs like you suggested would there still be room for ab wheel rollouts? I really like those and find them very effective. And yes I do have abs right now, i'm looking to make them pop out more though

[sintro1]

Thanks man, if I do 1 set of each part of the abs like you suggested would there still be room for ab wheel rollouts? I really like those and find them very effective. And yes I do have abs right now, i'm looking to make them pop out more though

Sure, keep the rollouts. It's nice to have exercises you like to keep you going. That's why I put squats and deadlifts on my leg day(favorite day). Btw, rollouts don't work your 6 pack and obliques(rectus abdominus is the six pack) in the normal way. Instead you're isometrically holding them, similar to a plank. But, it is a fun excercise ''

Also, obviously not including planks, are you hitting failure in the rep range of 8-14 about? There's no point in doing more than 20 reps, at that point you are just increasing muscular endurance and not inducing hypertrophy, because the body is getting more efficient at removing the byproduct of muscle use (lactate and whatnot).

(There's this middle aged guy at my gym with at least 30% bodyfat who does a good 15 minutes of decline crunches at a time, and then leaves...all he does are hundreds of them with no weight)

A really useful website is exrx dot com. Just googled wheel rollout with the website name. It'll list what muscles the excercise targets, and then the assisting muscles.

Just curious, what are your upper ab and lower ab exercises? I love doing rope crunches, and when I'm lean enough I'll start landmine 180's.

[Dbake34]

Sure, keep the rollouts. It's nice to have exercises you like to keep you going. That's why I put squats and deadlifts on my leg day(favorite day). Btw, rollouts don't work your 6 pack and obliques(rectus abdominus is the six pack) in the normal way. Instead you're isometrically holding them, similar to a plank. But, it is a fun excercise ''

Also, obviously not including planks, are you hitting failure in the rep range of 8-14 about? There's no point in doing more than 20 reps, at that point you are just increasing muscular endurance and not inducing hypertrophy, because the body is getting more efficient at removing the byproduct of muscle use (lactate and whatnot).

(There's this middle aged guy at my gym with at least 30% bodyfat who does a good 15 minutes of decline crunches at a time, and then leaves...all he does are hundreds of them with no weight)

A really useful website is exrx dot com. Just googled wheel rollout with the website name. It'll list what muscles the excercise targets, and then the assisting muscles.

Just curious, what are your upper ab and lower ab exercises? I love doing rope crunches, and when I'm lean enough I'll start landmine 180's.

It just depends on whether i'm doing my abs at the gym or not. I do rope crunches, decline weighted crunches, weighted v- ups and stuff like that for upper abs. And for lower my favorites are weighted reverse crunches, and weighted leg raises, both with a dumbbell between my feet. I'm not as strong just yet as some of the people I work out with as ive only been back to lifting for about 6 weeks, but ive been doing abs for over a year and a half and I basically always can do what the other guys are doing with ease. I'm just always wanting my abs to show more and more so ive been doing things like playing basketball and running a lot more lately, and cutting things like chips and soft drinks out of my diet and its working pretty well.