Can I Do Cable Crunches Every Day?
Table of Contents
Introduction
Personally I incorporate cable crunches into my routine weekly, but I don’t do them every day. I will delve deeper into whether it is a good idea to do crunches every day.
Can I Do Cable Crunches Every Day?
If your abs are too fatigued from daily cable crunches, this will hinder your performance in squats and deadlifts and increase the risks of injury.
It also depends on how heavy you go on cable crunches. If you go relatively light it would be more possible to perform cable crunches frequently.
Compound Exercises Also Work Abs
It is important to note that squats and deadlifts work the abs heavily – this is especially true if you do these exercises beltless.
Any exercise that works the lower back also works the abs – this is contrary to popular belief. Therefore, back extensions and good mornings work the abs hard as well.
Many people fail to realise how important a role the abs play in big compounds. This is a large reason why they focus on performing isolation exercises for the abs with high frequency.
There is simply no need to do so and it is counterproductive. You would be better off pushing the compound movements hard with high intensity. Once or twice a week is more than enough for doing cable crunches.
Ab Exercises Don’t Reduce Abdominal Fat
The only way to reduce belly fat is through diet. You have to be in a caloric deficit in order to lose weight and lose fat.
Getting stronger and thicker abs can be done through ab exercises and heavy compounds. But in order to see your ab definition you have to get down to lower body fat percentages. There is simply no getting around this.
I have written an article on my site called “how to get a strong core”.
>> You Can Read This Article Here!
Some People Experience Back Pain
It should be noted that there are some people who experience back pain with certain ab exercises. This can be exacerbated through performing the exercise too frequently.
If you do cable crunches with good technique and still experience a little back discomfort, you certainly should not be pushing the frequency to every day!
Ideally, you should try a different ab exercise that does not cause you back pain. I find that the ab roller is an incredible ab exercise that works wonders for improving lower back health.
>> Is Ab Roller Enough For Abs?
How Heavy Are Your Cable Crunches?
If you are using the cable crunch as a heavier exercise to strengthen your abs, you should pay attention to the weights that you are using.
If you are doing cable crunches with heavy weights, you need to allow more time for your abs to recover between workouts. You should not be doing heavy cable crunches every day.
In my case I only do heavy cable crunches once a week. Generally I would advise people to use lighter to moderate weights on this exercise. The objective should be on working the muscle well through a full range of motion and getting a good contraction.
You are better off doing these isolation exercises with less weight and focusing on getting a decent number of high quality reps in. The compound movements like the squat and deadlift are where you can really work your abs heavily with big loads.
If you are doing light cable crunches, you can get away with doing them more frequently each week. I am still not in favour of performing this exercise every day though.
Muscles Need Time To Recover
The abs can also be worked frequently. But because the abs are heavily involved in many compound movements you have to be careful not to overwork them with isolation exercises.
From my experience two isolation exercises are enough each week for the abs. The cable crunch is a great exercise and can be done both standing and kneeling. My personal preference is the kneeling variation
Final Thoughts
The abs get enough work from compound exercises that you don’t need to overwork them with isolation exercises. The ab wheel is a good tool that can be used frequently for the abs.
As far as cable crunches go, you can do them more often if you use lighter resistances. However, I would still not advocate anyone performing this exercise daily.
How often do you perform cable crunches, if at all? Please let me know in the comments.
As always, stay safe and enjoy your training!
