From: grs02502@stat.appstate.edu
Newsgroups: misc.fitness
Subject: Re: Abdominal Workouts
Date: 15 Apr 92 20:59:44 GMT
Organization: Appalachian State University

In article <1992Apr15.113848.1194@uwovax.uwo.ca>, mcyze@uwovax.uwo.ca writes:
>>In article <wood.703215522@kong> wood@kong.siemens.com (Jim Wood) writes:
> 
>>** apr92_20@doe.carleton.ca (Anand Raju (Temporary Account 97.589)) writes:
>>** 
>>** >A friend lent me a booklet called "Legendary Abs"
>>** >...
>>** >Would I get results faster if I increase it to every day?  I can
>>** >see why working out other day is preferred if you want to increase
>>** >muscle mass, but these exercises are to tone rather than build.
>>** 
>>** I do abdominals 5-6 days per week religiously, and my goal is to
>>** *tone* rather than to build mass.  For toning there should be no
>>** restriction to every other day, unless you just plain don't want to
>>** do it!
> 
>>  Here I go up on my soapbox again.
> 
>>  I think that what most people call "toning" is just a combination of
>>bodyfat reduction and moderate muscle growth, that is, they want some
>>definition in their body. It seems that many people think that this
>>combination of goals requires a different basic training paradigm than
>>"ordinary" weight training or fat reduction techniques. This often
>>leads them to everyday workouts and/or spot reduction attempts.
> 
>>  What people don't seem to realize is that this combination of
>>bodyfat reduction and muscle growth is pretty much exactly what
>>bodybuilders aim for and they have developed some fairly effective
>>basic guidelines for achieving them. Two of them which seem to be
>>consistantly violated by the "toners" are to give bodyparts at least
>>two days of rest (i.e. don't work them every day) between workouts and
>>to do multiple sets of roughly 6 - 15 repetitions per set.
> 
> 
> I've been natural bodybuilding for a little over four 
> years.  For the first three years, I worked my abs a maximum of three 
> times a week.  This produced a bit of development, but certainly no washboard
> (fat wasn't the culprit - I was measured (immersion technique) to have
> a total body fat of 6%).  I asked my friend, who has a perfect washboard
> stomach, what excercises he did.  He told me he worked his abs six times
> a week, and essentially only did 1/4 sit-ups.  So... I tried working
> my abs more often (4-5 times a week).  It worked!  Within two months I
> noticed a great increase in definition and strength.
> 
> 
> Here's my routine:
> 
> 10x Hanging leg raises
> 5x  Hanging knee-ups
>   15 second rest
> 10x Hanging leg raises
> 5x  Hanging knee-ups
> 35x Lying 6" leg raises
>   15 second rest
> 25x Lying 6" leg raises
> 40x 1/4 sit-ups
>   10 second rest
> 25x 1/4 sit-ups
> 20x crunches
>   rest a bit, then do a few more crunches until you can't do any more
> 
> I work out two days on, one day off - so I end up working my abs 
> every workout, a total of 5 days a week.  This seems to be a nice 
> middleground between how often I'm 'supposed' to work abs, 
> and the possibly excessive 'every day' approach.
> 
> According to science, I am overtraining.  According to my results,
> however, I am not overtraining.  
> 
> Of course, as with all bodybuilding, what works for me might
> not work for anybody else.
> 
> 
> Mike.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mike Cyze                          |    
> Department of Geophysics,          |   The future is wavelets...
> The University of Western Ontario  |     
> London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada   |  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> phone:    Dept. Office, (519) 661 3141
> Fax:                    (519) 661 3837
> Internet: mcyze@uwovax.uwo.ca OR mcyze@hydra.uwo.ca OR mcyze@uwo.ca
>           OR (last resort) a09@seis.gp.uwo.ca
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

     I think the point is you were growing not "toning".  Your muscle adapted
to the stess and grew.  You can do the same thing with any other bodypart. 
Instead of doing a 9-12 set workout for chest twice a week, why not just do 3
sets every day.  I will stick with the twice a week workout.  It gets results
just as well (if not better for most people) and you don't spend your life in
the gym.  

P.S.:  Sounds like a problem with ab thickness.  Also may have been solved by
doing weighted crunches or weighted pulley crunches.