Thread: How many times a week should i train my abs?

Once or twice is good enough, they are a muscle like any other muscle, no need at all to train them everyday.

Originally posted by Mudge
Once or twice is good enough, they are a muscle like any other muscle, no need at all to train them everyday.

ditto

Like all your other muscles, they also need time to recover.

If you overtrain a muscle, it will not grow, right? So if I overtrain my abs, they won't grow, right? Well, I don't want a larger midsection, so is not overtraining the abs a good idea?

if you want a smaller midsection do some cardio.

Ab...training?

If you overtrain a muscle can actually get smaller, or simply not grow further.

Your midsection is only going to get bigger from training if you're doing situps with added weights.

I've always done situps at the end of every workout and it's worked great for me. (That's 3 or 4 times a week).

ive always heard you could train ur abs everyday?

Originally posted by map007
ive always heard you could train ur abs everyday?

Yeah, you can. It won't serve any beneficial purpose though.

You should never train a muscle daily, however, the abdominal muscles can be trained with effectiveness up to 3 times per week with 48 hours rest between workouts. Anything more will be overtraining.

Someone asked my exercise physiology professor this question and he actually suggested training them frequently, only because lower back pain is the highest complaint among workers today. In otherwords, he recommended training them more than once a week (more frequently than other muscles)--probably 3-4 times a week, along the lines with what Fit Freak said.

If I remember correctly from anatomy & physiology class, the abdominal muscles are primarly slow twitch fibers meaning they can be trained about 3-4 times per week and should also be trained with higher reps.

Lower back pain can often be linked to week abs.

Originally posted by Scotty the Body
Lower back pain can often be linked to week abs.

Yep, I left that part out because I thought it would be implied from my post.

I know, I just wanted to sound smart.

you do sound smart

Shame he doesn't look it.