Is it counterproductive to do ab workout every day?
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Anonymous
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I am an inexperienced exerciser so need to ask. I have been doing a 20 minute abs exercise every day for over a month now. I do other things too but do the abs every day. I was told that this can be too much with low returns in the long run.
What is the consensus on this if there is one? |
Anonymous
| Keep it up! You’re going to look amazing by summer. The returns take a while, but then you wake up one morning with obliques and the beginnings of a washboard. |
Anonymous
Welll...not necessarily. If you have a lot of excess fat you are not going to see abs no matter how strong they are. Op its not hurting to do abs everyday if you are trying to strengthen them. If you want to "tone" you need to lose weight. |
Anonymous
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Where are you hearing that it's "too much" or that the returns will be small?
Also very relevant: what is your ab workout? The "return" on certain old fashioned abdominal exercises like crunches is pretty low and I would not waste time on that. But spending 20 minutes a day on a proper core workout that incorporates resistance and body weight exercises, and incorporates your entire core (obliques, pelvic floor, and glutes, in addition to what people generally think of as your "abs") is not too much and should deliver great returns in terms of core strength and stability, which should improve your posture, help you to look better, and also make all other exercise easier and more efficient. I do daily core exercises in part to ensure that I have proper alignment and weight distribution in the cardio I do. I'm prone to back problems since having a baby and the culprit is almost certainly weakness in my pelvic floor. So regular core work is essential for keeping my body healthy and preventing injury for me. |
Anonymous
Right. And when she loses the weight the abs will be there in full force. |
Anonymous
| I just looked this up the other day. According to numerous fitness articles on the internet, all muscles need adequate time to rest and recover. So you should not work your abs every single day. |
Anonymous
| Almost every day is fine for abs. I would do 4-5x and the other days use those 20 for another form of activity you enjoy. |
Anonymous
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Thanks everyone, OP here. I am 5'5'' and weigh 135 lbs. I am not overweight but want to tone my body after 2 kids, there are some flabby situations happening in my core area. I think I will move to 5x a week and incorporate more of the other stuff I am doing.
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Anonymous
| It's great to have a strong core (entire core, including back, glutes, etc.) - it will help you reduce risk of injury with other exercise like running. You're not going to be able to spot reduce flabbiness, though. You're going to take off flab by losing more weight. I agree that 135 isn't overweight, but if you want to see defined abs, unless you have something like diastasis recti, you probably have to lose weight. (That's not a jab - I'm a similar weight, and accept that my focus can be on health, being strong, etc., not on aesthetics). |
Anonymous
OP here. Great points. Thanks very much - something for me to think about because that means changing my diet. Again, I never worked out much before so good to hear all perspectives. |
Anonymous
| I don’t think it’s counterproductive but more of a bad use of time. Would you work your biceps everyday? |
Anonymous
| I’m on Evlo and they say you absolutely should not do abs every day. They are all PTs FWIW. |