Should you Work your Abs Everyday?

By Jeff Ochoa August 9, 2018 Fitness, Healthy Tips, Six Pack Abs 1 Comment

Should You Work Your Abs Everyday?

It may seem logical to assume that working your abs each day is going to help you achieve your goals. However, let’s not forget that your abdominal muscles are like any other muscle groups in your body and they need rest in order to build. If you have been thinking though as to what will really work for you and feel a bit confused, well, you are not alone. The fitness community would constantly debate on the topic of whether everyday ab workouts are really beneficial or not.

Some professionals agree that like all the other muscles in your body, your abs will only be stimulated for growth if you give it recovery time in between your workouts. Your muscles will get bigger when you follow a routine where you workout your abs and then give it time to repair and build, and then repeat the same cycle over again. Accordingly, if you don’t give it a rest, it won’t also have the opportunity to rebuild and grow. The laws of hypertrophy dictate that the break down, repair, and rebuilding of muscles, including the abs, is the best way to go.

Meanwhile, the abs muscles have a relatively unique function that this contention may not always be applicable. The abs forms the bridge between the upper and lower body and helps keep it together. As such, a commonly-held idea is that the abdominals are endurance muscles that are not subject to the laws of hypertrophy. If this is true, then you should be working out your abs as often as you want or everyday for that matter.

So between these two schools of thought, which one should you be following in achieving a strong core and flat abs? Here are what the fitness experts have to say:

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Not highly-recommended

At the Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina, a professor of health exercise & sports science by the name of Alex Koch believes that you can do exercise for your abdominals daily. However, Koch does not recommend this because yes, you can train your abs everyday to develop endurance but it is not necessary that you do so. The abs are like all your other muscles. If you want them to be bigger and stronger, then it will only require training as well as challenging them using targeted core workouts at least twice a week.

Not made for the everyday grind

The Founder and CEO of Bandana Training, Rob Sulaver contends that the abs have a muscle fiber makeup that is not made for daily training. The rectus adominis is a slow-twitch muscle fiber like that of the arms and thighs. After proper training, they would need time for recovery.

Holly Rilinger, a star in an elite fitness show called Work Out New York, pointed out that even if you do workout your abs daily, it is going to be an ineffective program. This is because in most of the exercises that you perform, you already are engaging your abs. Exercises such as squats, push-ups, or even biceps curl also work your abdominals even if they are not what you are initially targeting.

Enough is enough

When done right, and that means if you were able to work your abs hard enough, then you are sure to feel it the day after. And when that happens, you will agree that you will need to rest them – in fact, it will be hard for you to make any huge movements. Dominique Hall, a New York City trainer, suggests that you have to listen to what your abs are telling you. In case you are having trouble doing that, you can simply track your workouts and be consistent in following your routine. This way, you will be motivated to get better and better each time.

As you do so, you will realize that working your abs out every other day at most, is going to give you the results that you are looking for. The more that you work your abdominal muscles and then giving them time to rebuild, the faster that you will see your dream six pack. This is considering that your body fat has already dropped to 18% for women and 12% for men.

So now you get it. Daily ab workouts is not the answer. Here is what you should be doing:

Find an exercise that will work your abs effectively

You will know that you have done it right when the next morning, you feel the need to recover more than feeling ready to go for more or repeat the same movement. As such, if you have been doing crunches and you are able to do more in the next couple of days, then the crunches are not working your abdominals as hard as they should be. You may need to try harder movements.

Eat smart while you train

Diet and exercise has to go together and in working to sculpt and strengthen your abs, you have to practice smart eating habits. A beautifully toned midsection will only reveal itself when you are able to complement a heavy workout with a low-calorie food intake.

Go for total body exercises too

It is actually more efficient to go on a comprehensive fitness routine on a daily basis than to target your abs exclusively. High-intensity cardio exercises should be part of your routine together with strength training for all your other muscle groups. A full-body HIIT or high intensity interval training will make you lean and reveal your six pack more. This kind of practice burns more calories as well as boosts your metabolism. You are sure to burn more calories this way and even when you rest, you will also burn more calories than fat will. Doing this 20 minutes daily is good exercise or you can go longer should you have the stamina.

Do more functional abs exercises

Remember that your everyday movements actually make use of your abs muscles and this means that you can also do functional exercises that work your abs. Crunches are not the only exercises that you can do. As such, you can mix it up with a high-knee jumping rope, sprints, or front squats. This way, you are able to stimulate your abs in a variety of ways – even do it everyday as compared to working it out daily and then suffering from an injury. You can stream these same movements via Beachbody On Demand along with other ab workouts included in programs like PiYo, CORE DE FORCE, and Hip-Hop Abs.

Are you ready to lose weight, build muscle, or feel more fit? Join Beachbody On Demand, and get unlimited access to Beachbody’s world-famous programs, including 80 Day Obsession, 21 Day FIX®, Insanity, P90X® and 100’s more. Don’t miss out on your chance for amazing results. Sign up today!