Amount of time I should spend on an Abs workout??

[The Anarchist]

First of all this is my current ab/core schedule

Monday - I get on the lower back machine:

and take a 45 lb plate to my chest, go down and come all the way up for 3 sets of 8 reps
then I do 2x (60 crunches, 60 bicycle crunches, 60 leg lifts)

Tuesday - 3 x 30 hanging leg lifts, 3 x 30 decline crunches with medicine ball on my chest, 60 crunches

Wednesday - same as Monday

Thursday - 3 x 30 hanging leg lifts, 3 x 30 decline crunches with medicine ball on my chest, 60 crunches

Friday - same as Monday

Weekend - rest

Anything anyone to add or edit?


Workouts on Mon/Wed/Fri are taking around 15 minutes
and the workouts on Tues/Thurs are around 20 minutes

Is that too much?

 

[RenegadeRows]

I work my abs like any other bodypart. Hit it hard 2x per week.

 

[drummaboyzl]

no its not too much. and i would recommend adding bridges to your WO. start out with as long as you can hold them. when you can hold for 60 seconds pretty easily add 20 lbs onto your back. when you get to 60 again add another 20. the next time just add 10 more. stop at 50 on your back and work on getting your time up. do 3 sets of these each time.

 

[The Anarchist]

no its not too much. and i would recommend adding bridges to your WO. start out with as long as you can hold them. when you can hold for 60 seconds pretty easily add 20 lbs onto your back. when you get to 60 again add another 20. the next time just add 10 more. stop at 50 on your back and work on getting your time up. do 3 sets of these each time.

I'm not doing any ab work with weights so i figure 15-20 min 4-5 times a week of high repetitions bodyweight exercises would be within the limit.

Yeah I'll look into bridges, what about stuff like sitting up against the wall ...?

 

[drummaboyzl]

at a 90 degree angle right? thats majorally legs but if you can keep your core flexed the entire time you will feel it too.
jsut worry about holding the bridges for longer each time if you cant add weight

 

[GeneralIx]

When you just squat en deadlift enough you'll work your abs plenty already, and there won't be any real need for additional ab work. Yet if you still think you'll die not doing any abwork, than the already recommended bridges are a great exercise.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

I work my abs like any other bodypart. Hit it hard 2x per week.

Me too.. Hard and heavy.

2x (60 crunches, 60 bicycle crunches, 60 leg lifts)

You don't do 2x 60 BB bench, 60 decline bench, 60 flies for chest do you? Why should abs be any different?

 

[drummaboyzl]

You don't do 2x 60 BB bench, 60 decline bench, 60 flies for chest do you? Why should abs be any different?

because abs are a big muscle group and need more movements to reach each section. doesn't everyone want that 8 pack? you cant get that by just hitting them the same way you do your chest, you'll grow them, sure, but you wont chisel them. i think the amount of ab work he is doing will prove to be very efficient in giving him that beach bod core

 

[Frank Reynolds]

because abs are a big muscle group and need more movements to reach each section. doesn't everyone want that 8 pack? you cant get that by just hitting them the same way you do your chest, you'll grow them, sure, but you wont chisel them. i think the amount of ab work he is doing will prove to be very efficient in giving him that beach bod core

LOL.. rigghhtt....
Abs a big muscle group? When was the last time you did 120 reps on squats, hack squats, leg press?

Abs are not that big of a muscle group, and like said above, you hit them indirectly in allot of other movements, you need to give them adequate recovery time just like any other muscle.

If you have muscle mass, and you are lean enough, they will be chiseled..

Again, please tell me why you would train abs any different, then any other muscle group.

 

[drummaboyzl]

so your core is a small group then? you can work abs every day.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

so your core is a small group then? you can work abs every day.

Stop dodging my questions..

You can train every muscle, every day.. That doesn't make it Right, smart, or effective.

 

[drummaboyzl]

lol im not dodging anything, your abs are not like every other muscle in your body and the way you work them shows you that.
you dont go strap 225 lbs to your torso then do decline crunches then do a set with a 250 lb...there are several different movements to isolate each individual area. working abs every day builds and tones. if your going to hit them hard 2x a week your going to build. you high rep them every day to every other day your going to chisel them out.
it just depends on your goal to how often you should work them. a full ab workout takes me a good 20-30 minutes because of the several different exercises. i work them every other day but i add a little weight also so a day of recovery does do me some good.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

lol im not dodging anything, your abs are not like every other muscle in your body and the way you work them shows you that.
you dont go strap 225 lbs to your torso then do decline crunches then do a set with a 250 lb...there are several different movements to isolate each individual area. working abs every day builds and tones. if your going to hit them hard 2x a week your going to build. you high rep them every day to every other day your going to chisel them out.
it just depends on your goal to how often you should work them. a full ab workout takes me a good 20-30 minutes because of the several different exercises. i work them every other day but i add a little weight also so a day of recovery does do me some good.

That sounds like some "Infomercial Information" with words like "toning" Toning is a ridiculous word.. IF you are fat, you can do 400 reps a day, like you suggest, and your abs won't be "toned".. But if you build MASS, and then get to a respectable body fat, you will have one hell of a set of abs.

I will reiterate.... If you have enough mass on your abs, and you are LEAN enough, they will be "chiseled" The problem is allot of people don't have enough muscle mass there.

No one is saying to limit it to 1 movement.. Just that retarded amounts of reps are not necessary. But if YOU feel they are, then by all means go for it.

Ill tell you from experience, that "i" personally have gotten better results by training abs 1-2x a week, heavy, low volume, then when i used to believe "20-30" min of ab work was needed. But again, that is me, and what works for me may not work for everyone..

You can choose to do what you like however, that is your call, but don't preach that stuff as gospel because there are MANY people who don't even train abs directly, or do them infrequent/heavy, and have strong abdominals.

 

[The Anarchist]

You don't do 2x 60 BB bench, 60 decline bench, 60 flies for chest do you? Why should abs be any different?

Well I'm benching 5x5 with heavy weights for strength

And I'm not doing all these crunches for beach muscles, its all for conditioning for kickboxing, I want a really strong core.

all those crunches/leg lifts are just bodyweight exercises....I mean I don't have a metal plate on my chest when I do sit-ups or w/e...

I'm gonna cut it down to 4 days a week on abs.....and 2 times a week for the lower back raises.

 

[TexasLifter89]

I train abs every other day and it keeps them fairly toned and constantly growing, along with my obliques. Different people respond differently depending upon body type and composition. There is nothing wrong with training them 2x/week but at the same time there is nothing wrong with training them every other day as i do. I would recommend doing the following as it has worked for me significantly:

My AB/ Oblique workout
Leg lifts:
6 inches-30 second
8 inches-45 seconds
10 inches-45 seconds
6 inches-30 seconds
4 inches- 25 seconds

That is one set. I do 3 of those

bridges
left side- 1 minute
right side- 1 minute
standard bridge- 1.15 minutes

i do that 3 times around as well

bicycle alternating situps
this targets obliques & Abs. with this excercise i do 3 sets of 10-15 reps depending on how i feel.

45 degree decline situps
then i do 2 sets, 20 reps on

**Keep in mind as well 2-3 minute break in between each set. its long but it will pay off just look at my avi.

hope this helps, if not PM and i can answer any question to the best of my ability

 

[Frank Reynolds]

**Keep in mind as well 2-3 minute break in between each set. its long but it will pay off just look at my avi.

YOU are lean.. of course your abs are visable..lol

Like i said... Why is it that abs should be treated different then any other muscle? Give me any good reason? If you feel that "toning" occurs, then every muscle should be trained with the same philosophy, as you want every muscle to be "toned"... I ****ing hate the word toning..lol

It is funny how people throw all their philosophies on training, out the window when it comes to abs.

 

[drummaboyzl]

why dont you post a pic up of your core with your workout then impreziv

 

[The Anarchist]

It is funny how people throw all their philosophies on training, out the window when it comes to abs.

Well I've talked to a lot of fighters about it, and none of them use weights (except medicine balls) when specifically working abs/core so people suggested high repetitions and that its okay to work abs more than other muscle areas, and doesn't your core recover faster as well?

 

[TexasLifter89]

its just that abs to most people are a show muscle. and people like show muscles to be bigger. Thats why you will see the idiots who only work arms, chest, abs, and upper body because they are show muscles al though we all know that working the same muscles everyday actually does the opposite. that is my answer to your question. others responses may differ from mine though.

 

[drummaboyzl]

Well I've talked to a lot of fighters about it, and none of them use weights (except medicine balls) when specifically working abs/core so people suggested high repetitions and that its okay to work abs more than other muscle areas, and doesn't your core recover faster as well?

yes core does recover faster. and as far as medicine balls thats what i use for the basic movements

 

[TexasLifter89]

Well I've talked to a lot of fighters about it, and none of them use weights (except medicine balls) when specifically working abs/core so people suggested high repetitions and that its okay to work abs more than other muscle areas, and doesn't your core recover faster as well?

thats true yes. Im a fighter as well, and we end every training session with core workouts. its taught in the fighting to train your core more and its the base so it must be the strongest. we have to lay on our backs, make a bow shape with the top of our heads on the ground and our heals on the ground have have our coach walk around on our abs for sometimes 3 minutes at a time. this is highly preached routine in the wrestling world

 

[Frank Reynolds]

why dont you post a pic up of your core with your workout then impreziv

How bout this...

1. I will when i am done dieting for the summer..

2. Ill post one from pre diet, where i am fat and u can still see some ab..

Lets see your TONED core drumma.

Your missing the point... I said from the beginning it is a BF% thing. What do you want to prove? That i don't have as ripped a 6pack as your boy who is 5+% leaner then i am? lol IS that a measure of strength?

How bout answering this question... Take two 100% identical people. The only difference is one has more muscle mass in the abs.. Put them both at 15%, whos abs are going to be more visible?

 

[Frank Reynolds]

its just that abs to most people are a show muscle. and people like show muscles to be bigger. Thats why you will see the idiots who only work arms, chest, abs, and upper body because they are show muscles al though we all know that working the same muscles everyday actually does the opposite. that is my answer to your question. others responses may differ from mine though.

I can't make any sense out of that post bro.. Can you rephrase it?

I see the idiots in my gym, who only work "bis/chest every day" also doing 200 reps of cruches in the corner.

 

[drummaboyzl]

and this is right after my recomp and a bulk on neovar and rpm

 

[Frank Reynolds]

and this is right after my recomp and a bulk on neovar and rpm

That just proved my point exactly.

 

[swoosh]

From what I understand ab muscles aren't that big at all. They are pretty much flat. I figure the only reason to work them out is to make them stronger so you have a stronger core.

For any normal person, working their abs out to make them bigger its not going to happen. Also doing high reps aren't going to "tone" your abs. Yes it will burn more calories, and in turn burn more fat, but it won't spot reduce the fat over your abs to "tone" them.

So my theory is... work your abs to build a stronger core. No real other reason. If you want to have a 6 pack, diet.

I work my abs directly MAYBE once a week, probably once every two weeks. I indirectly work them with other exercises. I have a 6-pack and I owe that to having less than 10% bodyfat.

 

[Frank Reynolds]

From what I understand ab muscles aren't that big at all. They are pretty much flat. I figure the only reason to work them out is to make them stronger so you have a stronger core.

For any normal person, working their abs out to make them bigger its not going to happen. Also doing high reps aren't going to "tone" your abs. Yes it will burn more calories, and in turn burn more fat, but it won't spot reduce the fat over your abs to "tone" them.

So my theory is... work your abs to build a stronger core. No real other reason. If you want to have a 6 pack, diet.

I work my abs directly MAYBE once a week, probably once every two weeks. I indirectly work them with other exercises. I have a 6-pack and I owe that to having less than 10% bodyfat.

:goodpost:

 

[Hank Vangut]

^^---first i'd like to state that i love it when i see hot girls at my gym doing this excercise!

second, my priority list for developing nice looking abs -
1. diet
2. big compound/olympic lifts (dead, squat, snatch, press, clean)
3. isolation moves like crunches and leg lifts.

i rarely get to the 3rd priority myself. maybe once per month at most.

 

[The Anarchist]

So my theory is... work your abs to build a stronger core. No real other reason. If you want to have a 6 pack, diet.

Yeah thats my whole objective to have a strong core, I've never really had any real ab muscles cause I used to be really skinny.

I'm hoping that cardio 3 times a week to help cut me down

 

[TexasLifter89]

well if you are trying to build a stronger core i suggest you do bridges wiht your head and heals. thats what all my trainers have had me do for core strength along with the leg lift thing i sent you.

 

[Medic]

HEY! how about if you want abs you do some core stuff (for strength reasons only imo), and actually get lean you fattys and maybe you'll see some bumps near your belly button

 

[swoosh]

Heres two pics of my mid section. Like I said before I work my abs out MAYBE once every two weeks.

It's all diet.

(sorry about the quality, but you get the drift)

 

[nparisi]

It doesn't matter if you do 1,000 reps, or 12 reps, if you are lean enough, your abs will show. That's why I get sick of all these really skinny kids who look like POWs to me talk about how they are 'big' cuz they have a six pack, but they have no muscle.
DrummaBoy, I'll post some pics when I finish my cut man. My before pics are pretty bad I had a nice gut. I have been doing around 12-14 reps in my ab workouts with the plank thrown in every now and then. I agree the word "toning" is thrown around way too much. I had this old man at my gym come up to me while I was doing hanging side crunches with like a 15lb. dumblell and tell me I should do no weight and around 60 reps if I wanted to lose fat on my obliques...:fool2:I thought man I think 20 minutes of cardio will be way more effective.
If you have a minute go check out the "pics" section, and look for Swole210(i think that's his name)'s posting: Swole210 downsized a bit. He got his bf down pretty low, and I'd call those abs "chiseled" and he said in his posting he didn't do any ab work. If your bf is low enough, your abs will show, regardless.

 

[drummaboyzl]

ive actually been researching a bit and ive come to admit that i was wrong and yall were right....mostly.
your abs showing is 95% about how lean you are. but even still, after i get a great ab workout in my abs look full and you can see them more clearly than if i hadnt worked them at all.
im starting my cut in about 2 weeks....till then ill keep 'growing' them so they are vivid after my cut

 

[nparisi]

ive actually been researching a bit and ive come to admit that i was wrong and yall were right....mostly.
your abs showing is 95% about how lean you are. but even still, after i get a great ab workout in my abs look full and you can see them more clearly than if i hadnt worked them at all.
im starting my cut in about 2 weeks....till then ill keep 'growing' them so they are vivid after my cut

Best of luck to you man. My cut has been a *****...Still not quite where I wanna be, I got a month left...

 

[drummaboyzl]

well actually im doing a 2 month cut. but ill take pictures before, 1st month, and after.

 

[Bile]

Hey bros waddup, new to the forum but not new to working out. Anyway I do Abs twice a day, 6 days a week. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays Ill make my guys do 5 sets of 50 crunches and then we'll go on a 4 mile run. As part of a cool down we do again 5 sets of 50 crunches. Afternoon or evening depending on schedule Ill do weighted crunches after my workout as part of my cooldown usually 5 sets of 25 weighted crunches. and Thursday

On Tuesday and Thursday Ill have my guys jog with me to these pullup bars down the street from our company and we'll do what I call Powersets (basically 50 pushups, 100 crunches, 10 pullups and 50 squats. 10 sets total.), which usually takes about an hour. After my weight lifting workout in the evening Ill do 5 sets of 25 reps on the Nautalus Crunch machine followed by 100 crunches.

On Saturdays I hit abs real hard in the morning since I have more time. Ill do 10 sets of 50 crunches, 50 leg lifts and 100 obliques. Again after my evening workout I do weighted crunches 5 sets of 25 reps.

Last time I took the APFT I did like 107 situps, so it does work. Well at least for me.

 

[RoadBlocK]

There were some really good points in this thread, although I dont agree with the way everything was posted. But I think I may have gotten a few ideas from some of what I read.

All I can add is that I train abs differently on purpose because I dont want them to grow, all I want is firmness, and looks achieved by 90% diet and 10% training, so I do light ab work 15-20 rep sets every other day, it may not be enough, but if I ever get to sub 10% bodyfat, then I can judge and possibly rethink my training.

 

[Medic]

If your bf is low enough, your abs will show, regardless.

exactly, ab work should be done for core strength only IMO

 

[Medic]

Also, my abs show the best after high sodium, lots of water, and then cutting sodium and water and carbing up ... not after an ab work out

 

[nparisi]

Also, my abs show the best after high sodium, lots of water, and then cutting sodium and water and carbing up ... not after an ab work out

Maybe I'll give that a shot! Mine need to SHOW!!!!