Hi everyone,
I'm one of the newbies getting serious about getting in shape with the New Year. I'm going to use resistance training and cardio. I just ordered a subscription to Oxygen magazine and started the couch to 5k program. I know you're suppose to skip a day or two between working the same muscle group, but I seem to remember hearing that you can work your abs every day. Is this true?

Abs are a muscle group like any other.

Muscle is built *outside* the gym during rest periods.

Many people, such as myself, do not do ab exercises at all - a good full body program with exercises such as squats, benches, deadlifts, etc. will incorporate abs when done properly.

Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. You will not see abs until your bodyfat is low - maybe 18% for most women, which can take a long time.

What is your goal? Overall strength? To SEE abs?

I work out my abs every day with Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred Level 2 and the additional regular crunches I always tag onto the end of my Shred. I do miss an occasional day though. In December I missed the 14th and 24th.

It hasn't caused me any problems. Jillian has said 30DS is meant to do every day though. So I don't know.

My goal is overall strength. I'm a real weakling I still remember the humiliation in gym class when I realized I couldn't do sit ups while the whole class watched. I was a cross-country runner and thought it would be easy. I still struggle with any type of ab exercise.

I don't need to SEE my abs. My dh already stated he doesn't care for that, but I would like them to stop jiggling so much as I'm buttoning up my pants.

One of my specific goals this year is to be able to do pull ups, and I think a strong core would help with this.

The abdominal muscles are made up predominantly of slow twitch fibers with excellent blood flow so they have really good recovery abilities, so you can work them with greater frequency. However, I would ease into high frequency training and not jump into a daily routine. Even though they have superior recovery ability, if they are previously untrained the stress should be progressed gradually.

I would really focus on the role of the abdominals in stabilizing the lumbar spine and resisting rotation. These are their primary functions even though most people insist on focusing their abdominal training on working them as a prime mover and doing mostly trunk flexion movements. Especially since one of your goals is to hlep you do a pullup, focusing more on stabilization is going to be important.

I would start off with some static stabilization movemens such as plank variations and when you have sufficient static stabilization strength, move into some dynamic stabilization exercises such as roll outs, plate switches, hand switches, etc. Throw in some anti-rotation movements such as pallof presses and landmines and you will be on your way.

Thanks for the info but some of it was over my head.

I'm familiar with plank variations.

I have a good idea what roll outs and hand switches are.

But I have no idea what plate switches, pallof presses, or landmines are.

I had totally spaced checking youtube. Those are some great exercises. Thank you!

Did you find the plate switches? They're one of my favorites at the gym...makes LOTS of NOISE. I usually grab six to eight plates to stack for optimal annoyance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyuyssU0uXU

I second the advice to focus upon the stabilizing abdominal muscles for the improvement of your pullups. One of the best methods of training the TVA is just using the drawing in method. That is, sucking in your abdominals and holding them in tight for as long as you can. (Not holding your breath though) You can do this anywhere, anytime during the day.

The Pallof Press. They appear easy but they aren't as you push your arms out, the cable will try to pull you to the side, forcing you to engage your obliques to resist rotation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9luc3...eature=related

The Landmine: Again, the weight will try to force you to rotate, but you must resist rotation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRvJ0...eature=related

Sorry it took so long to answer back. I've been sick. I was able to find all the exercises on youtube. The same links in fact except for the landmine.

"The Pallof Press. They appear easy but they aren't as you push your arms out, the cable will try to pull you to the side, forcing you to engage your obliques to resist rotation."

It's funny you mentioned this because when I saw it I literally thought, "That doesn't look like it's doing much."

"Did you find the plate switches? They're one of my favorites at the gym...makes LOTS of NOISE. I usually grab six to eight plates to stack for optimal annoyance. "

I hadn't considered the annoyance factor. I'll be doing my workouts at home for a while, so when I'm ready for the plate switches I might have to strategically time them.

Thanks also for the tip about the drawing in method. It works great when I remember to use it.

Can you? Yes. Should you? It depends on your goals. If you are looking for balance training and endurance, then yes. I would do a program focused on those pieces of it more than specific ab-focused exercises everyday. The planks, ball work, instability discs, yoga balance poses and power sports moves would be great every day (with at least one day of rest per week). For muscle building and strength rather than endurance training, I would focus more on specific muscles and train them to fatigue at most every other day. Weighted lower body raises on the straps or roman chair, v-sits, jack-knifes on the ball, cable curls, etc. Stick to a 3X10 pattern (sets, reps) or even try pyramid sets (low weight, 15 reps, med weight 10 reps, heavy weight 8 reps, very heavy weight 6 reps). Same stuff to build muscle anywhere else on your body. Also, rest longer between sets and make sure to get plenty of protein in your diet.

You people are evil! Just evil!!!

Those feel awesome!

Thank you for the advice. I did change my workout plan to only work my abs every other day. Right now I'm focusing on plank variations, v-sits, bird dog, and the drawing in method when I'm out and about.

I have a couple more questions. When in the workout should you focus on your core? I've been doing it after arms and before legs. Does it matter? Also, I noticed after a major carb dinner, the next morning, it took a lot longer to get my muscles warmed up, and my workout wasn't as good as it has been. Do you think that was lack of protein?

When programming your core exercises, ask yourself:
1. Is their an advantage to working other muscles prior to the particular core exercise?

For example, for the pallof press and landmine, if your arms are already pre-exhausted, they will not be able provide as much assistance in resisting rotation really forcing your obliques to do the work.

2. Is their a disadvantage to doing an exercise following a particular core exercise.

For example, I wouldn't want to load the spine heavy on movements such as heavy squats and deadlifts after doing my stabilization core exercises such as planks. I want to make sure my stabilizing muscles are not already exhausted so that they cannot give me the support required. Whereas doing the stabilization exercises after the heavy movement will really stress the stabilizing muscles more as they have already been worked hard, so there is also an advantage to be had doing them after.

If there is no yes or no answer to the above questions, where to work in the core exercises is a matter of personal tastes and personal priorities.

Personally I like to include my core work, as well as prehab and corrective movements as active rest between sets of secondary movements.

For example:

1. Squats

2A: Pullthroughs
2B: Palloff Presses

3A: Bulgarian Split Squats
3B: Ab Pulldowns

4A: Sled Drag
4B: Planks

I agree with Depalma. Where you place a particular body part depends on your focus for the workout. You will work your core in almost every exercise you do indirectly - like the squats mentioned above. If you can fit it in your schedule, a just abs day is great! If not, a lot of people do it on leg day.

Back in the day, my split was 3 days on, 1 day off with this rotation: push muscles, legs/abs and pull muscles. You will exhaust yourself doing abs on the same day as your pull muscles (typically back and biceps). You could put them with your pull muscles (chest, shoulders and triceps) but that's a busy day! At times I have done abs on my rest day (sounds terrible, doesn't it!). I would do a short cardio workout (20 mins) and then really focus on abs. If you did that in addition to abs on leg day, you might get more of a balanced focus on them w/o sacrificing leg day. Remember, variety builds symmetry. Change things every 6 weeks or so.

I am not sure that it was lack of protein, but more overload of carbs. Your muscles hold a lot of glycogen (carbs) and typically it takes 15-20 mins for that initial carb load to deplete. If you have ever gotten the rush from a workout that comes in about that time, it's related to that depletion. Once it's gone, your body feels so much better and the endorphins come in that keep you from feeling as much discomfort, pain, and mood depression. Too many carbs in your system and it might not happen. You'll feel sluggish and crummy the whole time. Keep your carbs to complex sources - fruit, veggies, whole grains, etc and you'll be fine. Protein is important also, but you won't notice workout fatigue unless you are severely missing it.