How many reps for abs

I have a pool of ab exercises I can do at any given time. Through trial and error, I've found that these moves produce the best results. I don't need more variety than that to achieve my desired look.

Depending on what's open at the gym, I'll do two moves with added resistance and another that's a static hold like a vacuum. In all, I think three exercises is plenty of direct work on ab day. For the upper-ab region, my favorite move is a standing cable crunch. To work the upper abs directly, stabilize your lower body as you curl your upper body down, hinging at the hip.

Visualize doing a cable crunch on the floor in which your lower body doesn't move. A video posted by Craig Capurso During a hanging leg raise, which better targets the lower portion of the rectus abdominis, it's just the opposite: Your upper body is stabilized and you raise your legs up, which curls your pelvis up.

When training lower abs, you have to visualize the hip engaging in the opposite way than when you're doing a standing crunch for the upper abs. The key part of the movement is the hip hinge. Almost every ab movement I do is with added resistance. Resistance movements allow you to train in lower rep ranges, which better breaks down the muscle fibers. In my opinion, the biggest mistake people make when training abs is doing too many reps with no added weight, such as bodyweight exercises.

You need resistance if you want to thicken up the six-pack and create that shadow on your midsection. I'd say the most underrated exercise is the vacuum pose that works the transverse abdominis, a foundation muscle that's not visible.

Think of a plank done standing, Frank Zane-style. You suck your belly button in to the back of your spine, which helps increase the strength of that foundational wall. It's just pulling your abs in and holding it. That's really about the mind-muscle connection. You can even consciously pull in your inner abdominal wall and try to actually squeeze it back to your spine as you complete almost any exercise.

A flat stomach not only looks great; it's also a boon to your health—especially when compared to abdominal obesity, which is correlated with several health risks. But are all these abs-training products really getting us any closer to the abs of our dreams? If not, it's probably no fault of your own. So much inaccurate information has been circulating for so many years, that there are few muscles more misunderstood than the abs. I've seen so many mistakes firsthand that I figured it was time to clear up the confusion.

When it comes to training your abs, there is a right way and wrong way to do it. Are you guilty of any of these top abs-training mistakes? Find out! Crunches are a great way to target the abs, but there are more effective ways to work out! For one, crunches mainly work just one of the muscle groups in your core: the rectus abdominis.

And they only work it from one angle. You can train your abs without every doing a single crunch, and if crunches are your go-to abs exercise, it's probably time that you do! Need some crunch-free workout ideas?

Many people do more, thinking it will help them spot-reduce lose fat from the belly, but that is a myth. In fact, if you are doing your exercises correctly, repetitions are all that you need to target those muscles and get results.

Here's an easy rule: Train the abs like you would any other muscle, which typically involves sets of repetitions per exercise. Whether it's a DVD, a piece of equipment, or just a series of exercises, doing the same exercises each time you work your abs will only get you so far. Your abs routine will become, well, routine, and you won't be challenging your muscles anymore.

Change up your workouts and mix up your exercises regularly, including a variety of moves to work your abs in different ways see mistake 7 below. One of the suggested workouts in this article calls for supersets, and for good reason: they keep the burn going longer to achieve superior results in minimal time.

However, given supersets are very taxing and will leave you feeling exhausted, one session per week using this technique should be enough. Remember, all training, regardless of what body part is targeted, has a systemic effect on the whole body.

This is why some bodybuilders choose to do train the same body part with one light and one heavy workout per week. The same applies to abs. Given abdominal training uses, for the most part, bodyweight, rep range is the variable that will need changing week to week. While keeping form perfect, aim for one to two reps more weekly on all abdominal exercises.

Eating well and sufficient aerobic work go hand-in-hand with a good abdominal training program. Training the abs religiously will not make an ounce of difference to how they look if they are hidden under mounds of fat. Depending on your individual metabolism , diet and body fat level , it is best to do between 30 and 60 minutes of aerobic work two to five times a week.

Work with these figures to find what works best for you. But again, whether this will work for you hinges on diet, existing body fat levels and metabolic rate. The important thing, though, is to find a suitable level of aerobic work and stick to it. Anaerobic, on the other hand, literally means "without oxygen". Anaerobic exercise, then, does not require oxygen to generate force. Anaerobic movements use fast-twitch muscles for short bursts of intense activity lasting only brief durations of time ranging typically from a few seconds to up to a minute.

Examples of anaerobic exercises includes isometric holds, sprinting, and high-intensity weightlifting. Maintaining a low-fat, low simple sugar, high complex carbohydrate , high protein diet is essential for anyone wanting to reveal his or her six-pack. All the information you will ever need to design the perfect diet can be found here on Bodybuilding. The important thing is how disciplined you are and your willingness to improve. With the plan this article has provided and the information available on diet, there is no excuse.

If you want perfect abs, it is all up to you. As an active martial artist, bodybuilder and accredited personal trainer, David employs the latest cutting edge research to enhance his own progress. Want Perfect Abs For Summer? Look No Further. I am excited for you to begin using these exercises and would love to hear and see how you have added them into your workouts! We hate spam! Your email address will never be sold or shared with anyone. You can unsubscribe at anytime. See my profile page for more information!

Simple and easy to understand with principles that have multiple applications. Great work and many thanks! Progressive Overload The basis for increasing any parameter of fitness strength, size, endurance, etc. You must progressively overload your muscles to advance.

To gain strength, increase the weight used in your workouts. To increase muscle size, handle heavier weights and increase the number of sets you do. To increase muscle endurance, decrease your rest time between sets or increase the number of repetitions or overall sets.

Everything is progressive. This concept underlies all physical training.