How Many Times a Week Should I Do Abs Reddit

Why Training Abs 2-3 Times a Week Beats Daily Crunches

The real answer to 'how many times a week should I do abs reddit' is 2-3 times per week, because your abs are a muscle that needs recovery to grow, not a magical body part that defies biology. You've likely been told to do crunches every day or hold a plank until you shake, only to look in the mirror a month later and see zero change. It’s frustrating. You feel like you’re putting in the work, but the results aren't there. The problem isn't your effort; it's your strategy. Your abdominals are a muscle group, just like your chest, back, or biceps. You wouldn't train your chest seven days a week and expect it to grow, would you? It would become overworked, fatigued, and wouldn't have time to repair and get stronger. Your abs are no different. They need intense stimulation followed by 48-72 hours of recovery to actually build the dense, blocky muscle that creates a visible six-pack. Training them daily with high-rep bodyweight exercises only builds endurance, which does very little to change their appearance. To make your abs 'pop,' you need to make them bigger, and that requires treating them like every other muscle you want to grow: train them hard, train them with resistance, and then let them rest.

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The Ab Training Mistake 99% of People Make

The single biggest mistake keeping your abs from showing is treating them like an endurance muscle instead of a strength muscle. Think about it: would you try to build bigger legs by doing 500 bodyweight squats in one session? No. You’d load up a barbell and do 3-4 sets of 8-12 heavy reps. The same exact logic applies to your abs. Doing 100 crunches or holding a 3-minute plank primarily trains your slow-twitch muscle fibers, which are built for endurance. They are very resistant to fatigue but have limited potential for growth (hypertrophy). To build the visible, 'brick-like' abdominal muscles you want, you need to target the fast-twitch muscle fibers. These fibers respond to heavy loads and lower rep ranges-typically in the 8-15 rep range. This is where progressive overload becomes non-negotiable. Progressive overload is the principle of continually increasing the demands on your muscles to force them to adapt and grow. For abs, this means adding weight. A bodyweight crunch is always just your body weight. But a cable crunch can go from 50 pounds to 60 pounds to 70 pounds over a few months. That escalating resistance is what forces the muscle to get thicker and more defined. Without adding weight, you're just spinning your wheels, practicing the same movement without giving your abs a reason to change. You're getting better at doing crunches, not better at building abs.

That's the entire concept: treat your abs like your biceps. Add weight over time. Simple. But here’s the hard question: what weight did you use for your main ab exercise four weeks ago? And for how many reps? If you can't answer that instantly, you're not actually doing progressive overload. You're just exercising and hoping for the best.

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The 8-Week Ab Hypertrophy Protocol

Forget endless crunches. This is a simple, effective routine designed for one thing: muscle growth. You will train your abs twice a week on non-consecutive days, for example, Monday and Thursday. This gives them 2-3 full days to recover and grow. Each workout should take no more than 15 minutes, but it will be more challenging than 30 minutes of bodyweight fluff.

Step 1: Choose Your Exercises (The 3-Movement Plan)

To build a complete set of abs, you need to train them from different angles. Your workout will consist of three exercises: one top-down, one bottom-up, and one rotational.

• Top-Down Movement (Upper Abs): Weighted Cable Crunch. This is the king of ab-building exercises. Kneel in front of a high-pulley cable machine with a rope attachment. Grab the rope and pull it down until your hands are on either side of your head. Crunch down, bringing your elbows toward your knees, focusing on curling your spine. Do 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
• Bottom-Up Movement (Lower Abs): Hanging Leg Raise. This is challenging but incredibly effective. Hang from a pull-up bar. Keeping your legs as straight as possible, raise them up until they are parallel to the floor or higher. Control the descent. If this is too hard, start with Hanging Knee Raises. Do 3 sets to failure (as many reps as you can with good form).
• Rotational Movement (Obliques): Pallof Press. This builds core stability and defines your obliques. Stand sideways to a cable machine with the handle set at chest height. Grab the handle with both hands and step away from the machine to create tension. Press the handle straight out from your chest, resisting the cable's pull to twist you. Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps per side.

Step 2: Apply the Progressive Overload Formula

This is where the magic happens. For your weighted exercises (Cable Crunch and Pallof Press), pick a weight that makes it challenging to complete 10-12 reps. Your goal is to get stronger over time.

• The Rule: Start with a weight you can do for 10 reps. In your next session, try for 11. Keep using that same weight until you can successfully complete 15 reps with good form.
• The Jump: Once you hit 15 reps, it's time to increase the weight. Add 5-10 pounds to the stack. This will likely drop your reps back down to around 10-12.
• Repeat: Now, your new goal is to work your way back up to 15 reps with the heavier weight. This cycle of adding reps, then adding weight, is the engine of muscle growth.

Step 3: The Body Fat Reality Check

This is the most important part. You can follow this ab protocol perfectly and build an incredibly strong core, but you will not see a six-pack if it's covered by a layer of body fat. Ab exercises build the muscle; a calorie deficit reveals it. There are no shortcuts here. For men, abs typically start becoming visible at around 15% body fat and get sharp below 12%. For women, this range is generally around 22% body fat and below. If seeing your abs is your primary goal, your focus on nutrition and maintaining a consistent calorie deficit is just as, if not more, important than your ab training.

Week 1 Will Feel Wrong. That's the Point.

Switching from daily, high-rep ab work to heavy, twice-a-week training will feel strange at first. You'll be done in 15 minutes and might think, "That's it?" Trust the process. Here’s a realistic timeline of what to expect.

• Week 1-2: The Soreness Phase. After your first weighted ab session, you will likely experience deep muscle soreness (DOMS) in your abs for 2-3 days. This is a great sign. It means you’ve finally created enough stimulus to force the muscle fibers to break down and rebuild stronger. During this phase, you won't see any visual change, but you'll feel the difference.
• Month 1-2: The Strength Phase. This is where you'll notice real, measurable progress. The weight you're using on cable crunches will have increased by 10-20 pounds. You’ll be able to do more reps on your hanging leg raises. Your core will feel tighter and more solid during other lifts like squats and deadlifts. Visually, if your body fat is low enough, you might start to notice your abs feel 'harder' under the skin.
• Month 3 and Beyond: The Visual Phase. If you've been consistent with progressive overload AND have managed your nutrition to lower your body fat, this is when the visual results appear. The hypertrophy you've been building will now become visible. The grooves between your abs will look deeper, and the muscles themselves will appear more 'blocky' and three-dimensional. This is the payoff for training for strength, not just for a burn.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Role of Diet in Seeing Abs

Your diet is responsible for at least 80% of what your stomach looks like. You can't out-train a bad diet. Ab exercises build and thicken the abdominal muscles, but a consistent calorie deficit is the only thing that reduces the layer of fat covering them, making them visible.

Training Abs vs. Training Core

Ab training typically targets the rectus abdominis (the 'six-pack' muscles) for aesthetic purposes. Core training is more comprehensive, including the obliques, transverse abdominis, and lower back muscles for overall stability, strength, and injury prevention. A good program incorporates both.

Best Ab Exercises Without Equipment

If you don't have access to cables, you can still apply progressive overload. Use a dumbbell or weight plate for weighted sit-ups. For leg raises, pinch a light dumbbell between your feet. These are far more effective for growth than endless bodyweight crunches.

Can You Over-train Abs?

Yes, absolutely. If you train them daily with heavy weight, you deny them the recovery time needed for muscle repair and growth. Persistent soreness that doesn't subside, or a decrease in strength, are clear signs you need more rest, not more work.

Do I Need to Train Obliques Separately?

For a balanced and aesthetic midsection, yes. The obliques frame your rectus abdominis. Exercises like the Pallof Press or Cable Wood Chops, performed 1-2 times per week, will develop the muscles on the sides of your torso, creating a more complete and powerful look.