How long should you do the press? How many times a week should you pump your abs and is it possible to pump your abs every day? Training must be regular

Svetlana Markova

Beauty is like a precious stone: the simpler it is, the more precious it is!

Content

Every year, with the approach of the beach season, many begin to resort to a variety of ways to quickly lose weight and transform caterpillar folds in the form of fat on the sides and a round tummy eaten over the winter into a beautiful relief. Girls and guys focus their efforts on their abs, but they don’t always do it correctly, because they simply don’t know how much they need to pump their abs to get rid of their belly fat. Let's figure out how, when, and how many abdominal exercises you need to do to form a flat, elastic stomach and a slender, wasp-shaped waist.

Is it possible to lose belly fat by pumping up your abs?

In the fight against excess weight, sport takes precedence in effectiveness - physical activity always helps to quickly adjust your body, so most women who are losing weight prefer to pump up their abs to lose weight in their belly, but not everyone has satisfactory results. This is because you cannot completely get rid of fat folds around the waist by doing exclusively abdominal exercises, without taking other measures to eliminate excess weight. Such exercises can only help strengthen muscles and tone them, but they cannot remove fat deposits.

It would be right to start losing weight in the stomach by adjusting your usual diet, because only with an energy deficit do calories begin to be effectively burned, and at the same time fat cells. However, you should not torture yourself with strict diets - nutrition should always be balanced, and not cause damage to health in the name of a slim, fit figure. For this reason, it is advisable, before losing belly fat and pumping up the abs with the help of special exercises, to give up high-calorie foods (sweets, starchy foods, fatty foods) and strictly control the volume of food consumed.

How long does it take to pump up your abs?

No nutritionist or professional trainer can answer this question unequivocally. This could be a month or six months. The time it takes to pump up your abs and get rid of your belly depends on several important factors. This:

desire to lose weight and adjust your waist;
the amount of excess weight, and not only in the stomach;
the severity of gastronomic restrictions;
frequency and intensity of training;
regularity of exercises;
timely and feasible increase in load;
strict adherence to the execution technique and the required rhythm.

How many times a week should you pump your abs?

The duration of the struggle for a slim waist, elastic abs, and attractive abdominal contour directly depends on the intensity, clarity, and regularity of training. To make fat folds go away quickly and irrevocably, you need to pump up your abs every day. You don’t have to spend money on expensive classes in the gym (although with the help of special exercise machines it will be much easier and faster to lose weight and shape your waist), you can calmly exercise at home, simply hooking your toes on the bottom of the sofa. The main thing is to perform the exercises regularly, carefully working each muscle.

How many times a day should you pump your abs?

Professional trainers claim that in order to quickly lose belly fat in order to form sculpted abs, at the very beginning of the training journey, the number of repetitions of abdominal exercises in women should be at least 30, and then gradually increase to 50. Men can expand this range, because they have better endurance and physical fitness. To quickly lose fat and pump up your abs, you need to regularly pump up all the muscles - rectus and oblique, and it is better to do training in the morning and evening.

How many approaches to do the press?

The number of press approaches per day is determined strictly individually. There is no need to exercise through force - such efforts can result in poor health and loss of interest in training. In the initial stages, you can divide the number of approaches up to 10, each time giving the body the opportunity to restore its strength. Exercises should not exhaust the body or be accompanied by unpleasant sensations. Listen to your body - divide the recommended number of repetitions into as many repetitions as your physical fitness and health allow.

Press table

In order for the fat to disappear from the belly as quickly as possible, and the treasured attractive cubes to appear in its place, you need to train according to a well-designed scheme. How to do the press correctly in order to remove the belly, a special table for swinging the press will tell you. It can be developed for different periods depending on the neglect of the press and the desired final result. Such programs exist in different variations - separately for girls, men, for a week, two, even a month. For example, girls who are just starting to correct their waist can train according to the following scheme:

	Number of repetitions divided into separate approaches
	5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5 – 5
	5 – 5 – 5 – 10 – 10
	5 – 5 – 5 – 10 – 10 – 5
	5 – 10 – 10 – 10

Handsome and relief press want to have all men involved sports. But unfortunately, these beautiful “cubes” do not appear just like that. Unfortunately, the majority of athletes use methods that are completely wrong. Very often, while watching the guys in the gym, you met a person who “did press” countless times, approach after approach, but no significant changes were observed. This is basically what happens. Let's all figure out how to properly carry out ab workouts.

Abdominal muscles, you must train just like others muscle groups, depending on how you want them to look. And don't forget about the right diet.

No matter what anyone says, abdominal muscles"prepared" in the kitchen. If you want to have pumped up abs, then 90% of this is due to strict diet and only 10% of this depends on physical exercise. You can have the best in the world set of exercises, but if you have a layer on your stomach fat, then no one will notice anything. Therefore, the first thing you need to realize is that the right diet this is the single most important factor. There is no other way, unless you are the lucky owner of good genetics that allows you to eat whatever you want and not gain weight.

Now let's take a look at all the truth about abdominal muscle training.

Frequency

One of the frequently asked questions is: "" Some people think that this needs to be done every day.

Now ask yourself: “When actually muscles grow and become stronger? Answer: “During rest.”
Therefore, if you force these muscles to work every day, then one of two things happens:

You do not allow your muscles to recover between sessions, which leads to a further deterioration in their general condition and a decrease in results, or
You are not stressing them hard enough, which is not preventing them from growing.

No matter which of the above problems you have, the situation needs to be corrected. To determine how often you should exercise abdominal muscle training, you also need to consider your overall goals training.

If you're only interested in strength, you'll want to use heavy weights. In this case, you need more time to recover, therefore, two to three times a week is enough.
If your goal is to strengthen the spine area, then the exercises should be performed 3-4 times a week, lifting less weight more times.

Some believe that because abdominal muscles less, then they can also be given less time for recovery. But this is completely wrong; in terms of their chemical composition, the abdominal muscles are exactly the same as, say, the muscles of the chest.

The more you work your muscles, the more damage you cause, and the more time you need to rest. Therefore, there are no additional benefits of daily abdominal muscle training.

Number of repetitions

Now you need to decide on the volume of training and the weight to be lifted. Should I lift my torso 100 times or is 8-12 times enough, as with other exercises?

Here again you need to remember your goals. You need to understand that the weight lifted and the total number of lifts lead to completely opposite results.

If you want to completely eliminate injuries during training (and, of course, demonstrate to everyone those same notorious “abs”, which, as we have already determined, mainly depend on your diet), then two to four approaches will be enough.

It must be remembered that abdominal muscles adapt very quickly to the exercises being performed, so it is necessary to modify your exercises regularly, especially if you use weights during the exercises.

You need to choose three or four different exercises and do one every week. You can do the same exercise several times in a row, but after that move on to another.

On the other hand, if your main goal is to build strength, then a few (3-6) reps, gradually increasing to 6-10, are sufficient. This is quite enough to give the necessary impetus to muscle growth in this area, on the assumption that the abdominal muscles will receive the necessary rest between exercises.

When should you train your abdominal muscles?

Another factor you should consider is when to exercise. abdominal muscle training. In this regard, it must be remembered that the abdominal muscles are involved during almost all physical exercises with weights.

And if the muscles are tired during lifting of the torso (legs) during exercises only for the abs, then during other exercises this can lead to injuries, which often happens if you use heavy weights. For the purpose of exclusion injuries, do abdominal muscle training at the end of your entire complex.

Selection of exercises

Finally, you need to decide on the types of exercises to train your abdominal muscles.

A common misunderstanding arises because many people believe that you need to do separate exercises for your upper and lower abs. In fact, it is very difficult to separate these two muscle groups, and when performing abdominal exercises, they all interact simultaneously.

What you really need to pay attention to (if your goal is to develop strength) is to reduce support during exercise (as much as possible). This will be much more effective in strengthening muscle tissue.

A good choice when determining exercises for abdominal muscles There will be a sports ball, a “clock” exercise (rotating your legs in a circle while lying on the floor) or working with an assistant with medicine balls.

Among other things, try to choose exercises that provide a large amplitude so that you can strengthen abdominal muscles from all possible angles. Here, lifting your torso with bends, lifting your legs with weights, and bending forward while holding a cable with a suspended weight are suitable.

If you can't think of any new abdominal exercises, don't hesitate to approach a trainer.

There are many exercise equipment you can use to improve your exercise routine, and a trainer will be able to help you with this.
In addition, in order to prevent muscles from adapting to exercises, a trainer can simply modify your exercises slightly (change the starting position of the body, for example), and your muscles will continue to develop.

Conclusion

Remember these simple ab workout basics. This is one of the muscle groups that many people are concerned about.

Don't forget that the lack of results and improvements in this case is mainly caused by incorrect diet, and not physical exercise, so pay attention to the tips above and get those very “packs” you dreamed of.

Every little thing matters in bodybuilding, so if you want to pump up your abs quickly and effectively, you need to figure out the number of approaches and repetitions. The main thing you must realize is that if you have a thick layer of fat, you will not see the desired cubes, regardless of the intensity of the training.

To work out the abs, experienced trainers and bodybuilders advise working in the range of 20-30 repetitions per approach, but everything is not so simple. It's not so much the repetitions that matter, but the duration of the load. You should try to perform each set for 40-50 seconds, and how many repetitions of the press you will have time to do depends on the complexity of the exercise: crunches can be performed up to 30 times or more, and when lifting legs while hanging on the bar, you can have time to perform 10-12 technical repetitions. In both cases, the abdominal muscles will receive the same load.

It is not recommended to work in one approach for more than a minute, otherwise the muscles will become acidified due to the release of lactic acid. This slows down the recovery process and interferes with muscle growth. Try to choose such exercises and work in such a mode as to achieve a burning sensation.

If you can easily perform 30-40 crunches without straining, you need to increase the load. To do this, pick up weights (dumbbell, barbell) or switch to more complex exercises.

Video

Optimal number of approaches

It’s clear with repetitions, but how many sets of abdominal exercises should you do? Here, for beginners and experienced bodybuilders, the answer is the same - from 3 to 4 approaches for each exercise. The number of exercises in a complex can be different: beginner athletes only need one, while professional athletes may need two or three or even more.

Competing bodybuilders who train intensively can increase the number of approaches to 5-7 in order to work the muscle fibers in the abdominal area as deeply as possible.

Another topic plays an important role: how much rest do you need between abdominal exercises? The break should not be too long so that the muscles do not have time to cool down. Try to work intensively, resting no more than 40-60 seconds between sets.

How long to train?

The number of weekly ab workouts also plays a role for both beginners and experienced athletes. On average, it is recommended to conduct two abdominal training sessions per week, working to failure each time. For beginners, you can limit yourself to one workout per week so that the abdominal muscles, which are not ready for new loads, have time to recover.

Gradually, your abs will become stronger, and you will be able to train them twice a week with the same effectiveness. When you gain experience, listen to your body. If your abs are still sore after a previous workout, you shouldn’t do a new workout.

There is often erroneous information on the Internet that you need to train your abs every day to achieve quick results. Coaches and experienced athletes do not recommend repeating this mistake, otherwise you will overtrain and your results will stagnate. Of course, at first the abdominal muscles will pump up a little, but it is impossible to develop them indefinitely in this mode. So, limit yourself to one or two workouts per week.

Want to know the best way to get in shape and have a beautiful flat stomach?

If you ask a few “experts” in the field how many times a week you need to train your abs to get a six-pack, you will get a lot of different advice and recommendations and be even more confused about what to do next. All "experts" will have different advice on what exercises you should do and how often you should train your abdominal muscles.

I will not say that they are all spreading false information and disinformation. But there are a lot of fables in these stories, so I want to tell you how often to pump up your abs and how to do it correctly.

First, let’s figure out whether it’s possible to pump up your abs every day or do you need to take a break?

First, I want to remind you of something that people often forget: the abs are the same muscles as any other in our body.

Like anyone else, they need time to recover.

Remember, during exercise you stress muscle fibers and even damage them to a mild degree. This damage is a good thing, because in response to it, the brain gives a command to build new, stronger and larger fibers that can withstand the increased load - this is called supercompensation.

Here you need to take into account that the recovery process does not occur during training, but after it.

Therefore, if you do not give your muscles time to recover after training, you will not get anything good from the training.

More doesn't mean better. And this rule applies to all muscles, not just the abs.

The harder a person works on his abs, the less time he gives his muscles to recover, the further his goal becomes, the slower his progress and the greater the likelihood of causing real damage to his body.

How often can you exercise your abdominal muscles?

If you don't want to overtrain your muscles, you need to know: how much is too much?

Some people advise working out your abs every day in order to quickly get the coveted 6-pack.

As you probably already guessed, I disagree with this statement. The abdominal muscles need to be given sufficient time to recover before being stressed again with grueling workouts.

There is another important fact to consider: the abdominal muscles recover faster than other muscle groups, simply because they work every day. They support your spine during any movement you make.

Even those who lead a sedentary lifestyle use their abdominal muscles on a regular basis. After all, these muscles not only give definition to the abdomen, but also work to keep a person upright and maintain balance and mobility in almost any human activity.

This means that the abs can be worked more often than any other muscle group.

But training every day is too often.

We are all different, and that is why it is difficult to answer the question of how often to train your abdominal muscles. There are many individual factors that will influence the answer, such as diet, lifestyle, fitness level and training style. All of them affect the speed of recovery.

The most common training option includes classes every other day.

Exercise and subcutaneous fat

Choice also plays an important role.

You can do dozens of body lifts and twists, but still not get a visible result. Among other things, this approach can lead to back pain and muscle imbalance.

It is very important to get rid of fat deposits throughout the body, and not just on the stomach, only in this case the tummy will be prominent.

This is why isolated ab workouts don't work for fat loss.

The abdominal muscles are relatively small in size. They don't require a lot of calories to work properly, which means that training solely on your abdominal muscles won't have much of an impact on your overall body fat.

Such workouts will not even remove belly fat. And numerous studies provide direct confirmation of this.

You need to train so that fat is burned specifically around the working muscle, otherwise the body will break it down where and how it is convenient for it. The specific order and amount of fat the body uses is determined by gender, genetics, the presence of various chronic diseases and a number of other factors.

This doesn't mean that abdominal workouts are useless. These muscles are vital for performing all daily activities and maintaining balance. We need them to be strong.

And even if you don’t care about your strength, but only about the appearance of your abdominal muscles, then the first thing you will do is train these muscles.

Think about it:

If you lose all the excess fat but don't gain muscle, will your six pack still show?

No. You will simply have a flat stomach because without proper muscle training, they will not become noticeable.

How to burn fat correctly?

To get rid of fat around your abdominal muscles, you need to focus on full-body strength training.

This may sound strange, but consider what we talked about earlier.

The most effective way to lose a few extra pounds is to do something that will burn a lot of calories, not to train a specific muscle group.

To burn a ton of calories in a short period of time, you need to concentrate on performing complex exercises for all muscle groups.

These are exercises, like the deadlift, that use the largest muscle groups and some smaller ones to maintain balance and provide support.

Conclusion

But, remember, if you are trying to get rid of excess body fat and add definition to your stomach, then working out your abdominal muscles will not be enough.

To increase your metabolic rate and remove excess fat, you need to train your largest muscle groups using compound exercises.

Almost any ordinary visitor to the gym comes there with one goal in mind to get the coveted abs, but this is the prerogative of more men, while women need a flat stomach. Arriving at the gym, both of them first begin to train their abdominals, they say, since you need abs, then they need to be trained.

At first glance, this logic may not raise any objections. But, to be honest, this approach is not entirely correct.

In order to properly load your muscles, you need to know their structure and functional purpose.

The abs consists of 4 muscles:

Rectus abdominis muscle (these are the 6-pack that many people strive for). Its functional purpose is to twist the torso in the lumbar spine.
External oblique abdominal muscle (without its good development, the abs will not look aesthetically pleasing). Look at professional athletes, it is the oblique muscles that form the V-shaped lines in the lower abdomen. The main function is to bend the torso to the left and right sides of the axis of symmetry of the body and rotate the pelvis to the left and right.
Internal oblique abdominal muscle. It is not visually visible, as it lies under the external oblique muscle, but is no less important for humans. Its responsibilities include rotating the chest in the opposite direction relative to the pelvis, and during bilateral contraction it flexes the spine.
Transverse abdominis muscle. The duty of this muscle is to support the internal organs. Its functions include turning the chest in the same direction relative to the pelvis.
Well, we figured out the functions of muscles. Now let's answer the main question.

How many times a week should you pump your abs?

In order for the abs to be harmoniously developed and delight you and those around you on the beach, you need to pay enough attention to each of the muscles of its components! At the same time, you will be able to see the fruit of your labor only if the fat layer on your stomach is thinner than 1-1.5 cm. And for this, I think you can already guess what needs to be done? No, not everyone guessed it? Well, of course, it is necessary to consume only high-quality and healthy products!

And here’s another important note, since I often see people in the gym training exclusively their abs, or those who, in addition, still do a couple of exercises for their arms.

To have well-developed abdominal muscles or a flat stomach, the training must be complete, that is, it must contain exercises for all muscle groups, because 6 cubes, without developed pectoral muscles or lats, don’t look very good! In addition to this, you are unlikely to be able to reduce the percentage of subcutaneous fat.

Be sure to watch the training videos before you start training!

Girls for a flat stomach

For a flat stomach, 2 workouts per week will be enough for girls, and it does not require the use of large weights or a large number of exercises. The number of repetitions in each approach should be such that by the end of the exercise you feel a burning sensation in your abdominal muscles. Remember that this is a muscle like any other and it also needs to recover in order to grow. Therefore, at least 2-3 days should pass between abdominal workouts.

I would recommend training your abs along with other muscle groups on the same day, but put it at the end of the workout, since if you load it at the beginning, it will be more difficult for you to perform basic exercises. It is enough to do 1-2 exercises.

For men for cubes

In order to have cubes, the abdominal muscles need to be subjected to hypertrophy, that is, an increase in volume; this is done, just as with other muscle groups, through the use of additional weights in the exercises and a small number of repetitions. The number of repetitions should not exceed 15; the weight of the equipment should be selected so that your muscles burn significantly during the last repetitions.

But for the appearance of cubes such measures are not always needed, perhaps you already have them, but the fat layer prevents you from seeing them, in which case it will help you! Oh, I almost forgot, training your abs 2-3 times a week will be enough!

Did you know that some bodybuilding stars don't do abdominal exercises at all? At the same time, they have an excellent torso and there are no secrets here, it’s just that the abs are classified as stabilizer muscles and are involved in almost all exercises. Even when you're working your biceps while standing with a barbell, it stabilizes your body. Like this!

What does it mean? The fact is that the abdominal muscles can also grow from indirect load, especially from the one they receive when performing basic movements (deadlift, squat). What I'm getting at is that perhaps you have the genetics in which you don't need to pump up your abs, except maybe do 1-2 exercises a week.

For drying

It has been known since ancient times that local fat burning does not exist, so abdominal training itself is unlikely to affect the amount of subcutaneous fat. We can only give a recommendation that during the drying period there is no need to place a strong emphasis on abdominal training, since you will no longer gain volume, but to prevent muscles from destruction (due to drying) 2 workouts consisting of 2 exercises will be enough .

Moreover, you can do one workout in a multi-repetition mode, but do not try to break weight records, since during the drying period, joints and ligaments are more susceptible to injury. Be careful!

At home

As Denis Borisov (one famous blogger) says, and I join him: the press is a muscle group that can be pumped up at home no worse than in the gym. And there is one good reason for that!

The fact is that this muscle is not at all demanding on the availability of exercise equipment and all sorts of related devices. When training it at home, I would advise you to do this no more than 3 times a week, putting the exercises at the end of the workout. And don’t lean on the dumplings so that your abs are still visible!

A few final words

The abs are, of course, the muscle group that gives the body an aesthetic appearance and has long been an indicator of good physical fitness for many. But I repeat once again, the picture will be much more complete if, in addition to the abs, other muscle groups are well developed!

The main thing is to remember to watch your diet - eat high-quality and healthy food to keep the level of subcutaneous fat low and then you will be number one on the beach, if of course you need it.

That's all. Subscribe to the blog, read interesting articles and share with friends! See you soon, comrades!

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