# can you over train abs??



## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

A while ago someone said to me that your abs are the one muscle group that you can train every day, and until now I never thought to question this......

currently I train my abs for 15 minutes 5 times a week.......

leg raises

lean backs with 5kg on my chest

sit ups with 5kg on my chest

v crunches

roll outs

and a few others

am I doing more harm than good, or is this ok.....

any thoughts would be greatly appreciated :thumb:


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## evad (Mar 17, 2008)

yes you can i think chuck

it hurts if you pull something, and also it's hard to tell if you need the toilet or have pulled your ab, i cannot tell the difference half the time


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## The Bam (Dec 4, 2007)

your core is a very large muscle group and you can give it some stick and it will recover relatively quickly if your doing abs most days I would recommend you spit lower abs and upper abs and alternate

hope this helps :thumb:


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

lol......davetherave

thanks for the input, Ill keep that in mind :lol:


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## stavmangr (Nov 25, 2008)

clairey.h said:


> A while ago someone said to me that your abs are the one muscle group that you can train every day, and until now I never thought to question this......
> 
> currently I train my abs for 15 minutes 5 times a week.......
> 
> ...


Have a look on this mate:


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## spike1 (Mar 10, 2009)

i try and train my abs at the end of most work outs, never done me any harm.

dont have the best genetics for abs though, i am really lean and yet only have a 5 pack haha

rather that then a belly though


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## fataldesire (Nov 26, 2008)

Just do not over train them. Dont do too much in 1 day on them. I train mine 5 days a week also, a little cardio here and there and crunches, leg raisers etc. Never had a problem until I did heavy sets with the medicine ball on a decline bench. A partner throws the ball to you and you go down, half way back up throw the ball to him back down and extend your arms out when you catch it. I used a 15 lb ball, and felt like I had a hernia. Could not walk correctly for 10 days. I will never ever be stupid and do something like that again. Pain was insane.


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## jonathan1758 (Aug 29, 2008)

I do mine for about half an hour twice a week. Tend to train them on day after arms sometimes with a bit of legs so that bi's and tri's have time to recover before chest, back etc again.. Does the job for me.

Avatar from last year, need to take a new one..


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

thanks for the input......

cant go gym today anyway as my sons poorly.......

will maybe try seperating lower and upper abs in the workout as I do tend to train them hard, so at least there will be a small rest period..... :thumb:


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## Goose (Jan 29, 2009)

You can certainly undertain them which I do..


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## adlewar (Oct 14, 2008)

i've always considered abb's to be the same as any other muscle, train hard once a week...job done........ :tongue:


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## itraininthedark (Oct 3, 2007)

abs?? what are they? i aint seen them in so long i dunno what they are?!?!?


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## BassJunkie (Nov 10, 2008)

You can overtrain them, just like any other muscle group. I personally only train them once a week, doing ab wheel rollouts and turkish get-ups.

If you want to do something every day try this http://fitnessblackbook.com/six-pack-abs/bruce-lees-secret-six-pack-ab-exercise/

It may seem a little odd but read through it. I was unsure about it but then realised that I've always been able to flex my abs pretty well and they are reasonably big before I started doing any bodybuilding because almost all of my martial arts involved doing this type of breathing exercise. It works for me (I do it every day when I remember) so it might work for someone else too.


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## borostu82 (Aug 8, 2011)

i never train abs. never have and when i dieted down for my first club show i have my ab's right thru. I'm sure someone started a thread on ab's before about trying to increase his number of ab's


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## Heineken (Feb 6, 2009)

Goose said:


> You can certainly undertain them which I do..


:laugh:


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

just read through the link thanks for the info......

I do the usual ex hale and in hale stuff but this should be worth a go....

hey if its good enough for bruce lee then Im sure I can bring myself to try it...lol :thumb:


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

borostu82 said:


> i never train abs. never have and when i dieted down for my first club show i have my ab's right thru. I'm sure someone started a thread on ab's before about trying to increase his number of ab's


my hubby never trains his abs ethier, but as he lifts a lot heavier weights than me, a lot lot heavier that is, I think thats where is ab strength comes from......


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## a.notherguy (Nov 17, 2008)

clairey.h said:


> my hubby never trains his abs ethier, but as he lifts a lot heavier weights than me, a lot lot heavier that is, I think thats where is ab strength comes from......


i agree - my abs feel better now (tho i still cant see them lol) since i gave up ab training and started to increase my deadlifting. It seems to work out my whole abs, top, lower and obliques better than crunches ever did.


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## adlewar (Oct 14, 2008)

a.notherguy said:


> i agree - my abs feel better now (tho i still cant see them lol) since i gave up ab training and started to increase my deadlifting. It seems to work out my whole abs, top, lower and obliques better than crunches ever did.


exactly, most compound excercises are training your core/abb's, thats why i hit them hard once a week just to finish them off....

seeing thems down to diet tho, everyones got abb's, just most are not visible........... :thumbup1:


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## BassJunkie (Nov 10, 2008)

clairey.h said:


> just read through the link thanks for the info......
> 
> I do the usual ex hale and in hale stuff but this should be worth a go....
> 
> hey if its good enough for bruce lee then Im sure I can bring myself to try it...lol :thumb:


It's simple martial arts stuff, a lot of the martial arts i've use this sort of stuff.

Just gotta make sure that when you exhale you breathe through your teeth to make it hard to do (willl make a loud hissing sound) and you are flexing you abs out as hard and as far as possible.


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

i will be getting some strange looks then when I next do my abs........... :lol:


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## BassJunkie (Nov 10, 2008)

clairey.h said:


> i will be getting some strange looks then when I next do my abs........... :lol:


  You don't have to do it straight after your workout, just do it infront of the mirror before bed. It's not working them out in the usual way, it's just teaching your brain how to flex them, but it also makes them better when you aren't flexing too. Which means you can do it every night as it doesn't damage the muscle and interfere with recovery.


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

thanks for that....glad I dont have to make a prat of myself....lol


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## BassJunkie (Nov 10, 2008)

No problem.


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## Beklet (May 13, 2005)

I don't train abs either - I do sometimes, if I'm bored, but generally I consider deads and squats to be good enough - if I ever have to diet down for a contest I may find I was massively misguided :laugh:


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

Im sure that would'nt be the case....lol


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## clairey.h (Feb 8, 2009)

yeh having trouble twisting to the right today.....

and ive got a bloody cough coming to.....lol... :lol:

same as though, I do lots of different types of ab work, and stretches, I just enjoy that part of my workout :thumb:

I didnt want to be doing more harm than good though by overtraining, but I think im doing ok, just have to realise when im doing to much and also more importantly when im not doing enough......


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