Abs? Jilly, AJ, Cardio Ho

[cathe4me2]

I just read that you girls do lots of ab workouts in a row? Has this helped you get the washboard abs most of us covet?;-)

I do 2-4 ab sessions a day using a the regular workout session that is on the video or DVD, and later add from Cathe's Ab hits,or another ab tape and always add Pilates ab workouts. The Pilates is usually 20-30 min in length. I noticed improvement by adding more ab workouts. The Pilates type and of course the newer ab moves in Cathe's ME BC etc.

Would I get better results if I did them all at once instead of spacing them out?

 

[mogambo]

I have the abs most people covet too, so even though I wasn't invited, I'll go ahead and answer.

I work my abs every other day and try to really burn them when I do, but let them rest like every other muscle.

Also, and equally if not more importantly, I am a pear so my last scraps of blubber do not tend to cling to my stomach.

 

[Runcrazy]

How long do you typically work them and what exercises do you do, or if you're doing Cathe's abs, which ones work best for you? I am also a pear! I currently alternate different Cathe Ab work...like ME Abs, then BC Abs, then abs off of the AB Hits. I have also been working them every other day. One last question, did it take months or years to get them like that? How long before you actually got good definition?

Thanks, I know everyone is different, I'm just curious about your progress!

 

[lwseymour]

I would love to know which videos you are using for abs and/or what combination of video ab workouts you're using as well, if you don't mind sharing. Thanks.
Lisa

 

[cathe4me2]

Thanks for sharing about your abs, Mogambo. And...if I personally ever start a thread, you are mostest welcome to write your thoughts at anytime.

I am an apple and my ab area hangs on to every last morsel of body fat. Reving up my ab work, especially the plank work and those side planks have really helped. I just have a teeny tad bit to go.But I want it off!!!
The side plank move that Cathe does, the one where you have the bottom arm touching your ribs and the top arm is bent over your head as your execute a side crunch....I've made it a little harder by leaning more on the elbow and making a fist as I come up. To me, this makes me have more emphasis on the obliques. The other way, I seem to focus more on my neck. Keli Roberts does this move in #4 of her Ab tape.
As mentioned above, the core work has been a great help. While I'm still doing the tradional ab work, it seems that I feel the core work more at this point. ?

I guess there is several rules of thought on how often to work the abs. Some treat it as any other muscle that needs rest. Others, say it is a different kind of muscle and so work it. (a former Miss Olympia is where I got that info from)

While I work my abs in different time frames, I was curious if putting the frames into one would make more improvement.

Yet perhaps if there was a right or wrong answer, that would carry over to the other types of workouts as well. The old excerise to exhaustion or space your sessions out delimma. ???

But Jilly, AJ and Cardio Ho....if you are apples and have rock hard abs....I want to know your ab routines.}( }(
Did you start slowing at adding more to your routine or go cold turkey and just do it?
I've put 2 of the Ab Hits routines together, before, at this point I can't imagine doing the whole tape.
Just bite the bit and do it, right? }(

 

[mogambo]

I mostly use the intensities, and they have built the size and definition of all the little side muscles and the six pack area, but I've been working out since I was 17 and am now 46. I think I started feeling like my abdominal area was "done" about 5 years ago when I started doing Cathe weight tapes. Before that I just did lots of crunches. It's really gotten good since CTX when she started the plank work. It seems to me like the Intensities are truly in a league of their own. They are so much tougher than everything that came before, because of the medicine ball, the pikes, etc.

I don't want to make it seem like I'm just working my abs into oblivion, because I'm not. I think my low bodyfat, long term exercise, and genetic lack of fat in the abdominal area are the reasons. My belly recovered 3-4 weeks after childbirth. It has to be at least partially luck in the crap shoot of life.

When there are questions about how to get rid of butt blubber, don't come to me for advice!! x( I still have 5 lbs of jiggly horror in that area. But I have lost 8 lbs. recently from calorie staggering and low carbs! Yeah!:7

I think, to wrap up my ramble, that the abs should rest like any other muscle, you should work them different ways, work them hard and then try to lose the body fat that covers them.

 

[Aquajock]

Hi, Wanda! Just to clarify:

CardioHo and I are in meaningful and permanent combat here on the Forums, and we tease each other unmercifully. I was in serious kidding mode when I posted that response yesterday about CH doing the entire Ab Hits DVD straight through, although knowing her she'll do it tomorrow just to say "neener neener neener". }(

As far as my own ab routine, I work abs with every workout session (4 sessions per week these days), and keep in mind two of these workout sessions are in the water, so I do aquatic abs that don't really translate to land stuff.

For my land workouts, these days I always start off with Cathe's CTX Kickbox planks (prone and supine) and roll-ups, and then either complete that routine or throw another one on top of it; my faves are the Slow and Heavy traditional abs, the Cardio+Weights ab segment, or All Step. I'm embarrassed to admit that I haven't tried the stability ball yet; I'm counting on CardioHo and Jillybean to haul my butt on that score soon.

I don't know if I'm an apple or a pear or whatever other fruit people compare themselves to, but I do know that I'm very short-waisted, and a little same-side oblique crunch work goes a long way for me; if I do too much of that I get really thick in the sides. Crossover oblique crunches, working more of the external obliques, don't seem to have that effect on me.

As with any muscle work, the more you work the muscle the greater chance you have of increasing its size. You don't need to work abs every day, and you shouldn't.

Don't know if this helps, but that's where I'm at.

A-Jock