How many times a week to work abs

[liuzhoudragon]

hello,

I currently work abs almost every workout, if i workout 5-6 days a week I do abs 4-5 times.

I have heard conflicting things on whether to do abs once or twice like most muscle groups or if I can use my current system.

It works ok for me this way, but if i can improve my results then I am all in.

[bclutch23]

if it works for you, it works for you. Some people prefer one heavy day a weak, some people like 3-4 times with medium intensity a week.

However, I will say this; your abdominals are a muscle just like any other. It is common knowledge that muscles grow/strength when they recover. Therefore yours abs need time to recover, just like your chest, biceps, and quads. Personally, I think 5-6 times a week is definitely too many times to work one muscle, as this doesn't provide the recovery time that they need. If you like hitting them multiple times a week, that's your call, but I say bring it down too 3-4 days a week max.

[liuzhoudragon]

I was thinking I might be able to do more reps/wieght if I them less often. I am kind of skinny fat and in between the ideas of cutting more weight to let them show and bulking a little and focusing on mass to get them to pop out.

The reason I don't treat abs like my chest or arms is cause I never can get sore abs where as I can get other muscle groups sore the next day. I suppose if it felt like I got a more extreme abs workout that would be sore the next day I would do 2 or 3 times a week. But that sore feeling that I actually seek to let me know I am going hard enough just doesn't come with abs.

repped for reply

[bodybuilder03]

You would be fine doing abs 3 times a week. Some people do them eveyrday or have this and that philosophy. In my opinion 3 times a week is plenty good for training your abdominals. To help them come out more though the only way is by lowering BF. You can do abs day and night but lowering BF will be the most effective.

[Chesticles2]

I agree with ^ 3 times a week is plenty. If you have other lifts in your routine that require lots of core stability; standing overhead press for example then having fatigued abdominals can decrease the effectivness of other exercises. Of course that is a far fetched reason, but it can happen if your training them 5-6 days a week. Overkill.

[STEELCITYMUSCLE]

1-2 usually

[AdrianPerry]

Personally I think if you work abs properly, to their maximum potential, you shouldn't be able to do them that many times in a week anyway.

Following a good night of ab exercises, namely weighted decline sit-ups, if I jumped back on the decline bench the day after it would feel like someone had torn me in half. After being worked hard they need time to recover 1-2 days is usually about right.

On your last set, always do your sit-ups until failure Really push it hard.

[doinmiabs]

I sort of agree with the above direct post ^. When someone says they are doing abs 4 or 5 times a week my first thought is about the intensity they might NOT be using when working them. I do my abs twice a week...once hit hard and 4 days later I hit them lightly again. I found doing them more times per week resulted in half-@ssed exercises (after another body part or two) and I was more focused on getting the hell out of the gym at that time instead of working my abs. Just my opinion....

[Kevbazz]

Besides situps/crunches and woodcutters, what else do you do for ab workouts?

[MuscleTechIan]

Agree with bodybuilder03.

I think 3 times per week maximum and that you should focus on your diet to really dial everything in.

If you find that you're abs aren't very sore after your workout maybe you should try doing a session with completely new exercises to shock your abs.

[ToXin]

If you are doing compound exercises like squats, DLs, military press etc you are also working your abs. So you should take that into consideration

[g35c]

yep my abs are rock hard after deadlifts

[guelo1025]

What is BF?

You would be fine doing abs 3 times a week. Some people do them eveyrday or have this and that philosophy. In my opinion 3 times a week is plenty good for training your abdominals. To help them come out more though the only way is by lowering BF. You can do abs day and night but lowering BF will be the most effective.

[RespectYourself]

Besides situps/crunches and woodcutters, what else do you do for ab workouts?

Leg Raises and Cable Crunches work well for me. Saves my back as well.

[wisdommaster1]

pretty much never