Quote Originally Posted by Bad JuJu View Post
Definitely an informative thread!

Here's another question, since Li10up brought up not lifting on consecutive days. I've often heard that this rule doesn't apply to abs, but if not, why not? I mean, they're also muscles--don't they need the same kind of time to recuperate and strengthen?
I think the theory is that the muscles are relatively small and not normally worked with weights, so daily is ok. It's a bit dependent on the person and the workout. If you do heavy-duty 45 minute core busting workouts, then no, you shouldn't do them every day. But if you do a few lower core exercises one day, and then mid-core the next and then upper on day three...that's fine. Rest days are necessary because your muscles need time to rebuild and recover. Since no one wants to gain size in their core (or most people, anyway) then you don't need quite the length of recovery periods recommended for other muscle groups.