Why work abs 3 times a week?

[Miracle Fingers]

Why do people (most) work abs three times a week, yet all other muscles once a week?

Is it so they don't get too big?

[LiL USMC BBer]

Its becuase they fell for the common myth that abs are some kidn of different muscle that you can train differently.

Every day, super high amount of reps...

[GIjoe]

Originally posted by ReSpAwN DeMoN
Its becuase they fell for the common myth that abs are some kidn of different muscle that you can train differently.

Every day, super high amount of reps...

uh its because it isnt a myth. And so you do know, there are different TYPES of muscles in our bodies. You can train one type a different way. Ever heard of slow twitch, fast twitch or even smooth muscle? anyways... 3 times a week still gives the muscles a chance to recover.

[scott_donald]

Originally posted by GIjoe
uh its because it isnt a myth. And so you do know, there are different TYPES of muscles in our bodies. You can train one type a different way. Ever heard of slow twitch, fast twitch or even smooth muscle? anyways... 3 times a week still gives the muscles a chance to recover.

i wpuld not do abs more than once or twice a week...

[GIjoe]

Originally posted by scott_donald
i wpuld not do abs more than once or twice a week...

Why not? And are you doing any weighted abs? negatives? just various crunches?

the ab routine I do goes a lil something like this:

3sets crunch 30-35-40
3sets crossover crunches 25-30-35
3sets Knee ins 25-30-35
3sets hanging leg raises 15-20-25
and 2 sets negatives on a decline bench with a 10lb med ball


I have never had a 6pack until I started doing this routine 3 days a week.. You cant tell me I am doing anything wrong.. just different. but i dont buy into the fact that the abs shouldnt be trained as much as you need to, even if its every day.. do what needs to be done to get results.

[cmb]

Technically speaking;
If you were to "exercise" your abs more then once a week, for example, non weighted crunches, would your muscles react to it as more of a cardio or fitness/strength movement rather then a mass building workout?

Therefore meaning that it isn't a bad thing, but wouldn't move you forward in your purcuit of gaining size. But would have an effect on getting rid of fat.

[amusclehead]

dont; only train them once a week.

[EAE]

Originally posted by GIjoe
uh its because it isnt a myth. And so you do know, there are different TYPES of muscles in our bodies. You can train one type a different way. Ever heard of slow twitch, fast twitch or even smooth muscle? anyways... 3 times a week still gives the muscles a chance to recover.

All the muscles we train, biceps, chest, quads, abs, are skeletal muscles, and are therefore the SAME KIND OF MUSCLE. There's no such thing as a fast twitch muscle, or a slow twitch muscle, those are the different types of fibers within the skeletal muscle. All muscles have some fast twitch and some slow twitch fibers. I assume you already know that smooth muscle isn't a skeletal muscle, but instead the muscle type responsible for the contractility of hollow organs, such as blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract, the bladder, or the uterus.

Anyways, we're only aiming for the hypertrophy of fast twitch fibers, since training specifically for slow twitch fibers would be both impractical and quite pointless (since slow twitch fibers are only able to hypertrophy so much).

I agree that you can train abs 3 times per ewek and still recover, but that's true of any muscle. And if you truely believe that 3x per week training is better and gives better gains, then you'd be both a hypocrite and an idiot not to train every other muscle just as frequently.

[midian]

Originally posted by EAE
All the muscles we train, biceps, chest, quads, abs, are skeletal muscles, and are therefore the SAME KIND OF MUSCLE. There's no such thing as a fast twitch muscle, or a slow twitch muscle, those are the different types of fibers within the skeletal muscle. All muscles have some fast twitch and some slow twitch fibers. I assume you already know that smooth muscle isn't a skeletal muscle, but instead the muscle type responsible for the contractility of hollow organs, such as blood vessels, the gastrointestinal tract, the bladder, or the uterus.

Anyways, we're only aiming for the hypertrophy of fast twitch fibers, since training specifically for slow twitch fibers would be both impractical and quite pointless (since slow twitch fibers are only able to hypertrophy so much).

I agree that you can train abs 3 times per ewek and still recover, but that's true of any muscle. And if you truely believe that 3x per week training is better and gives better gains, then you'd be both a hypocrite and an idiot not to train every other muscle just as frequently.

bump, ab fibers are like any other they need to recover and won't recover faster beceaus you use them more often

abs already get trained when doing heavy compounds like squat and deadlift, if you would ad 3x a week ab training you would be overtraining fast

[Miracle Fingers]

Originally posted by amusclehead
dont; only train them once a week.

I think that's probably best.

Also abs get used when you have to stabalise your back in squats deadlifts stiff arm pulldowns etc.