because it takes the full week for it to feel normal. After 3 weeks of working it hard it feels like tendents are ripping apartand i can barely walk. once i take that week off and come back it feels 10x greater then the last cycle. You're body needs some rest sometimes. A week is a perfect amount of time to let everything heal up

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J A week on and I go back down into the basement, stare that barbell in the eye and pluck it off the floor and put it onto the bench with no problems.

System-J recounting a story in present tense. What a sad, sad day. And after it started so well, with three fart jokes in a row.

quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Damn. How far can you run at the moment? I was going to try a half marathon for this year, but if you're going to do the full 26 miles I'd feel a bit of a pussy.

A month ago I decided to go for a 10-15km run. I got lost and ended up running 25 instead. In four years, the furthest I'd prior to that was about 10k, and even then very infrequently.

I've since realised that I subconsciously ignore where I'm going: I actually like the challenge of getting lost and slogging home. Directly after that particular episode, I had to spend about an hour in the shower doing the old hot/cold before I was even able to walk. Very, very stupid.

As you said with the planks though, I just love the mental battle. I always take money with me in case anything goes wrong. However, once you have beaten that much pain for 3 or 4 hours, getting motivated about working, doing chores et cetera becomes amazingly easy.

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Stylistic decision, you prescriptive bastard.

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quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Stylistic decision, you prescriptive bastard.

Yeah, I was kind of joking. I write certain special things in present tense, but it's a pet hate of mine that orally, past tense is becoming practically obsolete.

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Man, I really want to go down to the basement and hit the weights, because I've been slacking all week, but I'm really tired from being out last night and the temptation to just go to sleep is almost overwhelming.

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> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

J, I think you took that the wrong way. I was just making a suggestion that you could get an even better workout for your core by increasing the intensity with your planks. You don't have to buy a swiss ball of course, but they are so useful for a bunch of exercises that it's handy to have one

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I didn't mean to sound defensive, I just don't really understand what the correct practice is with isometrics and your abs, so I'd appreciate an explanation of the principles. I've heard a lot of mixed messages about abs - some people say you should do high-intensity and low-rep like everything else, others say that leads to "golf ball abs" and that frequent low-intensity work is better.

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> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

Like these sets? Come see me play live at Kibosh in Manchester: https://www.instagram.com/kibosh.mcr/

Yep that's pretty much spot on. If you do lots of crunches for example you will end up with those "golf ball" type abs. Now it all depends on whether you like that or not.
Static exercises like the plank give you what I believe are better looking, flat abs. The advantage though is that you're getting a better overall core workout as you're working all of the muscles, rather than focusing on just the central abs like you would with crunches.

Considering the fact that you're doing 4 minutes of static planks, you sound like your core is already fairly strong. The most I ever see suggested is 90-120 seconds, times 3-4 sets with 30secs rest (max) in between. So, I would say that increasing the resistance by placing your legs or arms on something higher up would give you a core workout your abs aren't used to, nor your back. Which means they would get even stronger.
The beauty of the swiss ball is the fact that it's generally unstable, so you'll end up using a lot of the muscles on the sides that generally don't get too much of a workout when doing normal planks on the floor because your larger muscles are taking the load. Sort of like doing a bench press with a free weight, rather than with the Smith machine. You get a much better workout with the free weight because you need to use your stabilising muscles to keep you from tilting over.
As a simple replacement, grab a few pillows, pile them on top of each other and then do the planks on that (elbows/forearms on the pillows0. You should feel the difference straight away.

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Hey All!

I check in on this thread from time to time, and I've seen lots of good advice/motivation given. I'm an exercise enthusiast myself... and I'm usually too shy to contribute. But I wanted to say that as far as core work is concerned, planks are fantastic way to go. Of course, other dynamic core stabilization exercises should be incorporated, however, forget about doing the old school "crunches" for any functional benefit.

Your abs are should be conditioned for endurance, as they are almost constantly engaged no matter what you do, and with that being said, doing any kind of concentric type exercises (e.g. crunches) to "isolate" your abs really doesn't help you in a functional way.

check out this link of a classmate of mine (if you feel like it):

http://www.youtube.com/user/rpruett2#p/u/2/qriCPSDAMps

So, when I saw him doing all that shit with the ropes I was like, "dude, what are you working on? Shoulders?" Lol. He was like, "That's core work bro."

Point being, it's just like what Fledz was saying... the plank incorporates not only your abs, but many other synergist muscles as well.

You can't change the 'shape' of any muscle, including your abdominals. You can change the size. The difference between "flat" and "golf-ball" abs is basically strength trained and non-strength trained. So if you use weighted resistance to strengthen your abs, they will grow and get a "golf ball" look. If you do a million reps a day of X ab endurance exercise your abs will grow very little while staying "flatter" and relatively weaker.

Either way, how much you can actually see your six pack is 99 percent determined by how much body fat you have, not in what manner you work your muscles. The most important difference is that you can either have strong abdominals to support strong lifts and a strong lifestyle, or not. If all you care about is how they look, you're better off ignoring abs almost altogether and focus on extreme cardio and dieting.

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quote:

Originally posted by DancingMonkey You can't change the 'shape' of any muscle, including your abdominals. You can change the size. The difference between "flat" and "golf-ball" abs is basically strength trained and non-strength trained. So if you use weighted resistance to strengthen your abs, they will grow and get a "golf ball" look. If you do a million reps a day of X ab endurance exercise your abs will grow very little while staying "flatter" and relatively weaker.

Size and strength are not the same thing. You can strengthen a muscle without stimulating hypertrophic growth. I want strong stomach muscles and I would like them big enough that I don't have to have a painfully low bodyfat to see them, but I do not want to over-develop them through the wrong training.

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> Dance:Love:Hub Afterparty (The Return) 23.11.24

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quote:

Originally posted by SYSTEM-J Size and strength are not the same thing. You can strengthen a muscle without stimulating hypertrophic growth.

True, but this applies specifically to strength training/powerlifting techniques. I'm not sure how the abs would react to workouts of 80 plus percent of max for 1-4 reps constantly. I suppose you would get stronger abs without them growing too much.

quote:

I want strong stomach muscles and I would like them big enough that I don't have to have a painfully low bodyfat to see them, but I do not want to over-develop them through the wrong training.

Through personal experience I would recommend doing pyramid sets with abs. Four to five sets, start off light, increase weight decrease reps each set. Fourth set is the heaviest..you'll do 4 or less reps. After that stop or do another quick set of 10-12 at the first set weight. That's my main strengthening for abs. I still use resistance on subsequent exercises but I keep it relatively light. I usually superset 2 different ab exercises after that...say cable crunches and leg raises. 4 sets of 10 on each. Seems to work for me. I believe I was using a 95 lb dumbbell on my last pyramid set of decline situps a few weeks ago.

So it looks like this...

Decline bench sit ups - 1x10, 1x8, 1x6, 1x4, 1x10(optional)
*Superset
Cable crunches - 4x10
Leg raises - 4x10


Also, I try to do abs at least once a week...but with heavier resistance training I don't think it's necessary to train abs more than twice a week. I've also been experimenting with bent over twists. They feel good, but i'm not very sure how well they actually train your obliques.

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Last edited by DancingMonkey on Mar-01-2011 at 09:50