I' m getting lots of conflicted answers when it comes to ads.

Some say train 3x a week. Others are 1x a week.

It' s the same muscle as your calves.

Train them heavy. Train them for reps.

I tried training by doing incline crunches with a 45lb weight. I could only do 1-11 reps per set. 3 sets. I' m sore now. Not painfully sore, just the kind of sore that says I did something.

Low reps for abs? I' ve always thought that getting larger ab muscles would make my stomach stick out?

What to do? Suggestions appreciated.

Personally I never would use weight for abs because they will grow like any other muscle,thus adding size to your waist measurement.Try doing three exercises in a row withoutresting take a break and repeat it for 4 sets total 3x weekly.This way you increase intensity without the abs growing from the stimulus of using added weight.Example:Crunches,Leg Raises,Reverse Crunch,in a row this is called a tri-set.Don`t count reps go for a burn ,you will not get as many reps after the first set if you didn`t rest.

After almost making a similar mistake, the above advice sounds reasonable.

Overload the muscle, muscle responds by getting bigger to handle the load. Most would agree that is what you do if you want to get bigger. You do more weight and you will grow.

Not exactly what I think you want for your stomach. [:' (] You probably want that lean and ripped. Which comes from your diet and getting the muscle in shape. Something that doing heavy weight will do but will also add to the size.

That' s why in the gym you see some guys with puffy stomachs. Granted, some are just plain fat and have neglected that area, but others are probably pretty strong in that area but they just have large relaxed muscle making it look like they are fat.

High reps. Nothing so low as the 4-6 range.

My 2 cent

Could you explain that tri-set for me. Do you mean you do one crunch, one leg raise, one reverse crunch and then repeat 4 times? because this doesnt seem like much to me. Or do you do a certain number of each exercise before going on to the next one with out taking a break? This is all new to me, so pretend your talking to a five year old. lol Thanks!

In the above example, the tri-set I was referring to was something I' ve heard other uses effectively to reduce the time in the gym.

Basically you do one ab exercise for 15-20 reps, then move to another for 15-20 reps and finish of with another 15-20 of a different exercise.

So you did 3 different ab exercises, with little to no rest between the sets. You do a certain number of exercises and reps without taking a break.

You' ve just done 3 sets of 15-20 reps by just moving from Exercise A, to B, to C.

You might do

1) Incline crunches
2) Leg raises
3) Side crunches for the obliques

Personally, I do a set.. high reps.. rest.. do it again.. rest.. do it again.. so I do my 3 sets (maybe different exercises) but not all at once. And I do it at the end of my workouts so that my abs (stabilizer muscles) are not fatigued when I' m working my primary bodypart of the day.

I just recently started working abs. They are strong but I' ve never actually done any exercises for them specifically. The weighted incline crunches are enough to do me in.

Thanks..i understand now.
Boy oh boy...theres so much to learn!

Isn' t that the truth. I started working out when I was 16 years old. I didn' t have any of this information at the time. Had I known that eating the right foods wasn' t such a big deal and that there should be less emphasis on the " magic pill," I would have been better off.

I' m just glad that this site exists and that we can all collectively share information.

There is a ton to learn. But you' ve come to the right place. Because if you don' t find it here, chances are, somebody else has seen it somewhere and will send you a link.