How often can I do abs? I am at the gym 6 days a week. I lift 3-4 days and do cardio six days for 30-60 minutes. I am 5'3" and 110lbs. My bodyfat is about 17-18%. I do abs almost everyday and they are somewhat visible, they are very firm, but still have a thin layer of fat. I have a 2 year old and was wondering of my skin is just a little loose from being stretched out during pregnancy, if my bodyfat is not low enough, or my abs are not developed enough to show. My waist measures about 27". Any advise would be great.

Speaking from the male point-of-view there's only so much I can say.

But I work my abs just about every day....some days more,some days less so I don't overtrain 'em. Somedays I'll concentrate more on obliques, the next day upper and lower, and I continually switch up the ex's.

Personally I don't do too much "weighted" ab work though. Except I'll use the 5lb.( 1 per foot) ankle weights. Or maybe strap 2 per foot on so I've got 10 lbs per leg instead of 5.

I'll use my hanging bodyweight on some ex's.

I also do non-weighted good mornings a lot on my non-back days to balance out the equation a little too plus keep the "hams" pliable.

But it's true that the less bodyfat you have, the more you're going to see them.

And if you get rid of visceral fat as well as sub-cutaneous fat then the mid-section looks awesome.

Personally I don't see any problem with doing ab work every day as long as it's bodyweight exercise. If I use resistance, though, I give it 48 hours before working abs again.

M@

The jury is still out on this one. Some people would say yes, others no. I train mine everyday. Although I alternate, one day is intense, hardcore and the next day is a little bit lighter workout on the abs. I alternate these two.

I keep hearing that abs are made in the kitchen...to get rid of that layer of fat, it's important to make sure your diet is clean. I don't have a six-pack at the moment, but I sure did when I worked out like a fiend...and ate like crap. I'm thinking that was just luck, though.

Personally I feel doing them everyday is over training..I mean you use your abs everyday to do everything, and they get some work doing that alone..I would say doing them 4-5 days is good, 3 of them being intense gut busting 20 minutes of abs sessions, the other 2 days just targeting the differnt muscles groups for a few sets.

I work mine 6 days a week.

If they get sore for whatever reason, I give them 24 hours to recover.

Just read this article over at T-Nation: Abs On Trial (http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=568934)

Part three deals with frequency and comes to this conclusion:

The force production potential of the abs is lower than that of most muscle groups and they're less prone to suffering from a high amount of micro-trauma. Furthermore, the relatively short range of motion of most ab exercises means that the amount of work performed (work = force x distance) will be low. As a result, the ab muscles can be trained more often than most muscle groups even if loaded exercises are used. A frequency of 2-3 times per week is optimal in most cases.

M@

I suggest taking heavy doses of fish oil also. This helps skin elasticity and will make it more likely that your skin tightens up as you lose weight and after and you're not left with excess skin.

I suggest taking heavy doses of fish oil also. This helps skin elasticity and will make it more likely that your skin tightens up as you lose weight and after and you're not left with excess skin.

I take fish oil capsules but have never heard of it helping with skin elasticity. Any references?