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2012/02/28, 09:29 PM
Abs are like any other muscle excep they can be worked more often. If you don't have accesss to an ab machine, hook your feet under the couch and hold a dumbbell on your chest and do crunches. You can do un-weighted crunches until the cows come home and you'll just build stamina. Add some weight.
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2012/02/28, 09:47 PM
Heh, once I can get through my ab routine without feeling like I've been shot in several places throughout my abdominal region, I'll try adding some weight! Thanks Charlie!
Here's a question I've never been able to resolve...is there a difference between working your abs and working your core? I've always been under the impression that core speaks to the thorax overall, where abs speak only to abs...Comments?
-Herald
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2012/02/28, 09:54 PM
(Edited:
@ft@d_124774
- 2012/02/28, 11:47 PM)
Keep posting your workouts in detail. I think that for beginners it's a good idea to use free weights. It helps to nail down form. Additionally machines are misleading with regard to measuring progress. I noticed you were doing 110 lb cable curls in your flog. You also had a flat dumbbell press at 35 lbs or a 70 lb bench press. These numbers are way out of wack. Try using dumbbell curls to get an accurate measure of what you're actually doing. Again, all free weight exercises work accessory muscles as well as the one you're targeting.
Back to core, if a movement affects anything between your ass and your pecs, it's core. That's why dead lifts, squats, lunges, straight leg dead lifts are great core exercises. Hit your abs with crunches, various leg lifts, and back hypers but make sure you do the basics. That makes you strong and more importantly prevents injury. Build up to heavy gradually and perfect your form/
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2012/03/04, 07:21 AM
I've been in a slump this last year and I've become lazy. It took me 1 1/2 years to lose 35lbs and 1 year to gain it back! I've been trying to get back to working out and eating better but working these 12 hour shifts have left me with no energy to workout. I can't quit my job, is there any suggestions to get me out of this slump? Thanks!
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2012/03/04, 07:43 AM
Question, what if my target heart rate always goes above the target rate when I do warm up and cardio?
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2012/03/04, 09:58 AM
dianarosemarie
I've been in a slump this last year and I've become lazy. It took me 1 1/2 years to lose 35lbs and 1 year to gain it back! I've been trying to get back to working out and eating better but working these 12 hour shifts have left me with no energy to workout. I can't quit my job, is there any suggestions to get me out of this slump? Thanks!
---The best answer I can give you is that you give what you get. If slump isn't brought on by your diet, then it's a matter of getting a few weeks of workouts behind you. The workouts will make you feel more energetic very shortly after the soreness leaves. Have you been trying to get in a workout on the days you don't work? We all hit "lazy" spells. You realy are the only one who can make yourself do the work but just as surely as inactivity breeds inactivity , activity begets activity.
I mentioned your diet. If you are eating a lot of sugars and simple carps you may be causing your body to ctash. Use the same discipline that gets you up every day for work to make yourself do the exercise on your day off. Give it a month. You'll find a new reserve of energy and you'll also find yourself missing the exercise if you don't do it. Hope this helps.
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2012/03/04, 09:59 AM
(Edited:
@ft@d_124774
- 2012/03/04, 10:04 AM) dianarosemarie
Question, what if my target heart rate always goes above the target rate when I do warm up and cardio?
---Slow down your warm up. That's the easy answer . However, some people have naturally high heart rates. My wife's resting heart rate without exercise was 90 to 100. She asked her doctor and the doctor said that that was just normal for her. Since she started walking her resting heart rate is 80 and it drops a bit more when she lifts for a few months. What is your resting heart rate? If it's high normal have you mentioned it to your doctor? How do you measure it during cardiac work? Some of the measuring devices are crap.
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2012/03/04, 03:35 PM
My resting heart rate is 50. When I workout on some machines at gym they have a heart rate dectector and I double check myself.
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2012/03/04, 03:45 PM
I think that being a nurse, you're in a good position to know if you're placing yourself in danger. Mine is 54 but it kind of goes all over the place when I exercise. I hesitate to say what's bad or good but from my own experience I exceed my max frequently but never for very long. Your heart will respond to training just like any other muscle. Give it time.
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2012/03/05, 05:47 PM
Charlie is right about slowing down your warm up. Specifically, give yourself a bit longer of a break between exercises. If your heart rate is fast, and you don't let it recover, you're not training your cardiovascular system. The best proven method of training cardiovascular systems is interval training. Run your heart rate at an aerobic or anaerobic rate for a minute and then rest for a minute and a half. Then, slowly increase the amount of time you spend in the higher zones, while decreasing the amount of time you spend recovering.
You should also realize that when you lift weights, it can send your heart into the anaerobic zone and beyond...I think the highest I've seen my heart rate peak while lifing is 220 bpm. My resting heart rate was 74 when I started. After two and a half months of steady lifting and cardio, it's now down to 64. I'm starting interval training to get myself running, so I expect it to drop even further. You might stick to cardio training only until you get your heart rate stabilized where you want it, and then start adding weights. This should be a ramp up to a permanent lifestyle change, so you have all the time in the world to get as intense as you want. The main thing is to ease into it and let your body adjust.
The dangers to watch out for are extreme shortness of breath, blurred vision, headaches, etc. If you experience these, you should see a doctor and a physical trainer to figure out how to adjust your program.
Either way, stick with it and don't quit! You'll see improvements if you stick to it!
-Herald
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2012/03/12, 04:41 PM
Great discussion, thanks everyone!
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2012/03/12, 07:05 PM
If you are doing heavy dumbbell bench work, sit on the bench with the dumbbells at the bend of your hip. Lay down and use your legs to "kick" the dumbbells up so you can begin your dumbbell press.
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2012/03/14, 11:02 PM
(Edited:
Ravenbeauty
- 2012/03/14, 11:03 PM) |
