ab workout frequency?

Hiya Supa, Again, I am not sure if there are any potential injury risks here. I was just floating the thought out there is all. But there is one other reason and Phillip's post reminded me it was a point I forgot to make. One of the best things about crunches is that they isolate the abs better than situps. Situps create a very easy temptation to use your back, neck, shoulder and arm muscles and that reduces their effectiveness in some cases. It all depends on the person, and thus I am not making any judgements here since I do not know you, just putting out there how it works for most people. Additionally there is with abs the issue of what I call "peak effectiveness." If you do a set of 10 on the bench press for example, each and every repetition is going to have significant value. Same applies to many exercises using weights. The issue with abs however is that since there is no additional weight involved with a situp, and since the ab muscles are used quite frequently in the course of your normal daily activity, it takes several reps to get to the point where you are doing some serious work. If I do a set of 100 crunches, it will take 40-50 before I really begin to feel it because it takes time to work to the stress point. Therefore, in a set of 100 crunches, 40-50 will get me to the point of a good workout, and only the latter 50-60 will actually be the workout. As I do more sets immediately after, the workout point (ie where they start to burn) will come faster and faster. So subsequent sets will become increasingly efficient and effective. Let me present a scenario here. Four sets of 100 crunches each... I do all four at once with 15-20 seconds rest between each set, and a good theoretical outcome is as follows. This is a realistic outcome based on my experience, so it is not total guesswork LOL. Set 1- 40 crunches to get to where I start to feel it- to where the workout is happening. So in this set, 60 crunches have been an effective muscle builder Set 2- 30 to get to workout, 70 effective crunches. Set 3- 20 to get to workout mode, 80 effective crunches Set 4- 10 to get to workout mode, 90 effective crunches. Net total- 100 crunches to get me to the workout point, and 300 crunches that actually do serious work to improve my abs. Now let us say I do two sets of 100 twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. By nighttime, my abs are fully relaxed again so I get a repeat of Set 1 and Set 2 above both times as follows, Morning Set 1- 40 to get to workout point, 60 effectives Set 2- 30 to get there, 70 effectives Evening Set 1- 40 to get to workout point, 60 effectives Set 2- 30 to get there, 70 effectives Net total- 140 crunches to workout point, 260 that do serious work to my abs, BUT also I have missed out on having the benefit of sets 3 and 4 in the first example where I get 80 or 90 consecutive crunches to really work me out. Once you are at workout point, each additional crunch or situp will have a greater effect that the one before it. So the 40 good crunches/situps you lose have a greater value each that the ones you have achieved. Hence, by doing it all at once, it is a reasonable guess, assuming the sets are the same length and the exercises are effective, that you could do 550-600 situps in one sitting and get the same results as doing 800 in a day at two separate times. I think situps can be great. I do not do them because I prefer the crunch method since it gets me faster results. So I am not saying you need to abandon situps. But do give them a try and see what you think. A very effective workout is to mix it up- doing sets of situps, then crunches, then crunches with your legs up, and then crunches where you lean to one side and the other. It will give you a more rounded workout of all the muscles in your abs, and by switching it up you can do more without stopping, which is key. The less rest the better when it comes to your ab routine since you do not want to lose that "peak performance" point that is achieved about halfway through the first set. The longer your rest, the more time you spend achieving that point again in the next set. Hope this helps! Tom.

Hiya Supa, Again, I am not sure if there are any potential injury risks here. I was just floating the thought out there is all. But there is one other reason and Phillip's post reminded me it was a point I forgot to make. One of the best things about crunches is that they isolate the abs better than situps. Situps create a very easy temptation to use your back, neck, shoulder and arm muscles and that reduces their effectiveness in some cases. It all depends on the person, and thus I am not making any judgements here since I do not know you, just putting out there how it works for most people. Additionally there is with abs the issue of what I call "peak effectiveness." If you do a set of 10 on the bench press for example, each and every repetition is going to have significant value. Same applies to many exercises using weights. The issue with abs however is that since there is no additional weight involved with a situp, and since the ab muscles are used quite frequently in the course of your normal daily activity, it takes several reps to get to the point where you are doing some serious work. If I do a set of 100 crunches, it will take 40-50 before I really begin to feel it because it takes time to work to the stress point. Therefore, in a set of 100 crunches, 40-50 will get me to the point of a good workout, and only the latter 50-60 will actually be the workout. As I do more sets immediately after, the workout point (ie where they start to burn) will come faster and faster. So subsequent sets will become increasingly efficient and effective. Let me present a scenario here. Four sets of 100 crunches each... I do all four at once with 15-20 seconds rest between each set, and a good theoretical outcome is as follows. This is a realistic outcome based on my experience, so it is not total guesswork LOL. Set 1- 40 crunches to get to where I start to feel it- to where the workout is happening. So in this set, 60 crunches have been an effective muscle builder Set 2- 30 to get to workout, 70 effective crunches. Set 3- 20 to get to workout mode, 80 effective crunches Set 4- 10 to get to workout mode, 90 effective crunches. Net total- 100 crunches to get me to the workout point, and 300 crunches that actually do serious work to improve my abs. Now let us say I do two sets of 100 twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. By nighttime, my abs are fully relaxed again so I get a repeat of Set 1 and Set 2 above both times as follows, Morning Set 1- 40 to get to workout point, 60 effectives Set 2- 30 to get there, 70 effectives Evening Set 1- 40 to get to workout point, 60 effectives Set 2- 30 to get there, 70 effectives Net total- 140 crunches to workout point, 260 that do serious work to my abs, BUT also I have missed out on having the benefit of sets 3 and 4 in the first example where I get 80 or 90 consecutive crunches to really work me out. Once you are at workout point, each additional crunch or situp will have a greater effect that the one before it. So the 40 good crunches/situps you lose have a greater value each that the ones you have achieved. Hence, by doing it all at once, it is a reasonable guess, assuming the sets are the same length and the exercises are effective, that you could do 550-600 situps in one sitting and get the same results as doing 800 in a day at two separate times. I think situps can be great. I do not do them because I prefer the crunch method since it gets me faster results. So I am not saying you need to abandon situps. But do give them a try and see what you think. A very effective workout is to mix it up- doing sets of situps, then crunches, then crunches with your legs up, and then crunches where you lean to one side and the other. It will give you a more rounded workout of all the muscles in your abs, and by switching it up you can do more without stopping, which is key. The less rest the better when it comes to your ab routine since you do not want to lose that "peak performance" point that is achieved about halfway through the first set. The longer your rest, the more time you spend achieving that point again in the next set. Hope this helps! Tom.