Abs work: How much is too much?

[Gearloose]

I brought home that abdominal crunch bench I asked about the other day.

This is the one: http://www.bigfitness.com/adabcrbe.html It was $49.99 at Play It Again Sports in Joplin.

I set it up this evening and did a few bodyweight only sets on it just to try it out. Just a bodyweight crunch put quite a pull on my abs and felt completely different from the selectorized Cybex ab machine I've been using the last 9 months. I like it a lot!

(Notice a trend? I'm gradually getting away from the selectorized machines and moving to free weight exercises.)

Now for the question in the subject line. I've read a number of different opinions on how much ab work is too much. Opinions seem to range from never to once a week to every day. The most logical I read is "treat them like any other muscle." Thing is, from what I read, abs and the job they do is not like every other muscle. Abs are in use almost continuously except when we sit relaxed and when we sleep. I'm currently doing abs twice a week. Before I split my routine I was doing them three times a week.

I'd like to go back to three times a week, or even four now that I'm in the gym four days a week. Whatever I do, I'm switching to the crunch bench and getting off the machine.

What do you think? Is it possible to overtrain abs?

[pseudonym]

overtraining abs ? I'd have thought pretty unlikely/difficult to do given, as you say, the do so much work usually they're pretty 'fit'.

Going heavy is another matter, I find if I train my abs heavy (as I am doing these days) a good three day recovery period is necessary, I find it actually quite easy to tell when my abs are ready again - they are one of the few muscles in my body that let me know clearly what's going on with them . Sore/weak and squidgy feeling means 'do not work', tight and strong feeling means 'lemme lift something' and there's usually not much in between for me.

Eperiment and see how ya go, I doubt you'll be likely to do yourself an irreprable overtraining injury with too many bodyweight situps (even inclined ones) so have at it as often as you feel like and see how you respond.

just what I rekon

[DarkLord]

Well, for one thing I sure wouldn't reckon that you train more than once a week. Second I preferably like to do three sets of high incline sit ups and two or three sets of cable crunches.

[threenorns]

i do abs *really* heavy twice a week - mondays and thursdays.

i wouldn't go doing them more often, though, unless you're doing the light weight/high rep thing.

[DarkLord]

Abs should definately be treated like any other muscle and in order for them to fully develop, ONCE a week is definately sufficient. You wouldn't train your biceps twice a week would unless your up for competion maybe. For growth though, once a week.

[pseudonym]

I disagree that abs shoud be treated like every other muscle (at least for my body). My abs are not like my pecs which are not like my glutes which are not like my calves so on and so forth.

Different frequencies/intensities get different/better results depending on the muscle, my abs recover a helluva lot quicker than my pecs and my pecs in turn respond much better to high intensity training then do my calves which respond well to 10-15 rep 'pump out' type workouts... see what I am getting at ?

This is all, obviously, just from my own limited lifting experiences, but as I get more accustomed to my body and judging how it likes certain things I am beginning to see that all muscles are not created equal (at least for me).

And I have noticed that the heavier I work my abs the bigger they get (so much so I can look like I have a pot belly in the wrong posture ... yeah that quick) ... if strong abs weren't so darned important in squatting/DLing big I'd think about lowering the weight and going to higher reps ... guess I just better go heavier on my chest workouts to keep them out front

[DarkLord]

When I say they should be treated like any other muscle I basically mean train it once a week but training them itself, yes I agree they all respond differently ( I think).