Abs workout routine frequency?

hacked

Sorry if this is a stupid question! I've never been one for working out, but after being sick for a number of months now (and losing all muscle tone) I've been working really hard to get it back!

I've got two seperate routines I follow. One for abs and one for lower body. The lower body I have been doing every other day, but I've been rather addicted to the work out and am doing abs everyday. A few minutes in the morning and few minutes before bed.

I was told that it was ok to excercise abs everyday, but then I've seen elsewhere that you should give it a break day. Which is better to stick to? Or will it not make much of a difference?

El Horseboxo

No need to exercise abs everyday or even every other day. You'll overtrain them. Since you specifically say abs i'm guessing your goal is to have visible ones. If so you are going at it with completely the wrong approach. Abs are all down to body fat percentage. The lower it is the more visible your abs will be. To strip body fat you need to create a caloric deficit through either a diet or cardio or a combo of both.

hacked

Well I am very slim all over, between having a baby last year and being sick this year, I'm just not very toned. The aim is just to get toned all over.

I have a gallbladder disease and am at risk of developing pancreatitis from going undiagnosed, so am on an extremely low fat diet already. I'm assuming thats similar to what you are talking about? My cardio probably isn't great, I don't have a car, so I walk pretty much everywhere. I assumed that was good enough, but maybe i should be doing more?

Thanks for the reply!

El Horseboxo

Oh right you're female. I was thinking male by the question about the abs. Well it took you 9 months and whatever after to get to your current position. Between your hormones going crazy and the diet possibly going out the window during pregnancy your body has been through a lot. So it's not going to be a quick fix. It took a lot to get to where you are now so it's pretty much the same effort to reverse it.

Well it doesn't have to be a low fat diet. I'd rather lower bad carbs and increase good fats. If you keep your diet relatively good you should be okay. Just find out what your maintainence is and don't eat above it.

To me tone is a buzz word but i know what you mean. There are no magic tone exercises. You just have to go exercise in some form be it through cardio or light weights. You say you walk everywhere which is good and should contribute towards buring calories. Since you have a baby i'm guessing you don't have a lot of spare time on your hands. So there's no need to go nuts going out for long jogs and such. So simple body weight exercises or an aerobics type session in your living room will all work towards you losing body fat as long as you diet is decent and you are not eating more than your maintainence.