Training Abdominal Muscles

I have heard many people ask me if training abdominal muscles everyday is necessary for a strong and flat stomach.  You should treat your abdominal muscles like any other muscle group, which means you shouldn't train them every day. Your abdominals, like all of your other muscle groups, need recovery time between workouts. Not only that, but your abdominals are used for just about any movement you do.

As with any resistance training exercise, you ideally want the last few repetitions to be difficult to complete.  Performed correctly, 10 to 25 repetitions for one to three sets of abdominal exercises provide a more than adequate training stimulus. If you can perform more than 25 repetitions of an abdominal exercise, you are most likely performing the repetitions too rapidly or with improper form.  After awhile, you may also need a more intense abdominal exercise to perform.

You can increase the challenge and intensity of abdominal exercises by using added resistance, moving more slowly, and performing the exercises on a slant board or exercise ball so that your head is at a lower elevation than your legs.  A tougher way would be performing a seated version of an abdominal exercise.  Please ask me for the correct and proper form in performing any abdominal exercise.