I know its a bold question. But I can't help to think that it all may be rubbish. Are sit-ups, leg raises or any of the ab exercises ever necessary? If they are, how often should they be performed?

ORIGINAL: Acujeremy

I know its a bold question. But I can't help to think that it all may be rubbish. Are sit-ups, leg raises or any of the ab exercises ever necessary? If they are, how often should they be performed?

Some people argue that they are, and some say no.

Either way, clean diet and cardio is the way to go. If you want your abs to be more full, do weight situps and leg raises.

2-3 times a week should be sufficient.

their necessarY!!!!!!
just that noone wants to do them when they have a layer of fat over cuz they still wont show

They're not necessary at all.

After a hard day's worth of compound lifts and stretching EVERY muscle after a workout, with the optional jog or skipping of the rope, my abs hurt the next day. And what's that? NO DIRECT AB WORK? AWWWW

I win.

You can risk your back's health, but you will get little to nothing from direct ab work.
It's the one part of the body that's used constantly to stabilize your core, it doesn't need any other pressure added onto it than just that - STABILIZING YOUR CORE, which is done in every main lift.

I know many people who've had back problems from ab work and people who haven't.
But I say don't test your spine, especially when you get nothing out of doing so.

It's like cutting yourself just because you can, you don't even get pleasure out of it. So, why?

My abs are sore from deadlifts...

Mine are still sore from Deadlifts today. Love that burn.

Speaking of which, I'm happy - I Deadlifted 250lbs on my last set of 5 today, I did 10 reps. I honestly expected to get around the 5-6 mark. That made my week.

ORIGINAL: Acujeremy

I know its a bold question. But I can't help to think that it all may be rubbish. Are sit-ups, leg raises or any of the ab exercises ever necessary? If they are, how often should they be performed?

Those who say they are necessary are wrong. Those who say they are not, are also wrong.

It all depends on you. If they are strong enough and don't hold your big lifts back then fine. If they are weak, and for example you fail in the overhead press because of weak abs, then yes you need to train them.

You need a strong core to transfer force. How you get it is up to you. I personally do some ab work, mostly heavy and lower reps but some high rep military style training. It's all personal preference.

i train abs like any other muscle heavy weight 8-12 reps

well aside from bodybuilding , there extremely important in powerlifting , strong core is a must in deadlift and squating
they do alot more work in those lifts then alot of people think

I only tone my 6-pac.. i do 100 crunches 3 times a week.. if i wasn't fat i would have a killer 6 pac lol.

Doh, o well just wana get bigger!

ORIGINAL: futur3

I only tone my 6-pac.. i do 100 crunches 3 times a week.. if i wasn't fat i would have a killer 6 pac lol.

Doh, o well just wana get bigger!

what you just posted makes absolutely no sense...

1) toning doesnt exist
2) by your avatar you arent fat
3) doing crunches wont get you popping abs

I was assuming it was a really bad joke...



at any rate I agree with most here, yes and no. Depends on how strong your core is, and what your goal regarding ab's is.

I do 3 sets of "Abs" at the end of every workout.  That means I just pick an ab exercise and do 3 sets of it, probably 10 - 15 reps.  I don't spend too much time on abs, but I feel like I have to do them just to keep them relatively strong in order to protect my spine when I do the big lifts.

i train my abs 2 or 3 times a week.   do crunches.. bicycles.. leg raises, and jack-knives sometimes.     my abs are there.  you can see them.  but it's all about lowering your BF%, that's what makes them show thru.