by Adam Fletcher

Created on: June 11, 2009   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

Abs, every man's dream and greatest source of envy. The famous six pack is the paramount of not only men's, but women's fitness. Body builders, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, personal trainers, and athletes all have them. But how you may ask, I know the exercises but how often should I work them out? Before I lay down the numbers a few key concepts must be understood.

When working out, every muscle that you exercise needs to be properly rested before you can work it out again. This is called muscle recovery time. Optimal muscle recovery time is between 48 - 72 hours. However, abs can be exercised every 24 hours.

Now for all the people that closed the article right there either because they can't work out that often, don't want to or think that's all they need to know, good luck because there is definitely more to abs, and fitness in general. However, for you loyal readers at Helium, here are the three major steps that affect your ab definition, strength and time in which you get them.

Nutrition: You absolutely need to eat healthy when it comes to abs. The stomach is the first place where fat is deposited, so eat low fatty foods and stay off the burgers and fries. No special diet is required; just eat your green vegetables. Good nutrition is self explanatory; you know Twinkies are bad and apples are good, it's your choice.

Cardiovascular Activities: Very important to do. Like I mentioned earlier, your stomach is the first place that fat is deposited and because of this you can't turn it all into muscle. As such, cardiovascular activities such as swimming, running etc must ensue to burn the excess fat.

Varied exercise: Not only is it of high importance to target your upper middle and lower abs, but also it's crucial to vary the exercises. Varying exercises are important for all types of fitness and muscles not just abs. Doing crunches is great, but that only targets upper abs. After two weeks of doing certain ab exercises you should switch for other ones. This stops your body from getting accustomed to the same exercises and will produce excellent results. Some of my favorite ab workouts are as follows.

Upper: Crunches, bicycle, plank, butterfly, Russian twists.

Lower: Knee or leg lifts, incline sit up, bicycle, plank, cross crunch, Russian Twists.

*Middle: Lower and upper ab exercises cross over into the middle.

TIPS:

*Quality over quantity: it's harder to do 10 good form and slow crunches then it is to do 10 sloppy ones. The rule in all types of fitness, and especially when it comes to abs, is the harder you work the better the results. Don't cut corners.

*Remember to breathe.

*Slow is better than fast.

Thank you for reading my article and I hope you found it informative. If you have any questions or concerns then do not hesitate to contact me. I will most likely write another article about either abs or back muscles so stay tuned.

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