Gym And Supplement Discussion

[Birds]

Ditch the crunches for situps too. 7 sets of 20 proper situps should be enough. Hands behind your head and pull yourself all the way up to your knees, focusing on using your stomach to pull yourself up rather than the swinging motion of your upper body. Get flat to the ground with each rep too. If this is too easy, then bring your feet in closer to your ass, as this will reduce the weight leverage working in your favour. Very easy to cheat with sit ups!

[No Crust Racing]

As per my other thread, due to SFA leg work I am actually very top heavy which is part of the reason I do crunches and not full sit ups (that and protecting my back) I literally roll backwards lol, like a turtle.

Off home now, catch tomorrow.

[NickR33]

Okay so if you don't want to add too much size (which is MUCH harder than you think anyway) stay in the 12-15 rep range and use a medium to light weight... your aim should be to get stronger first, the look will come after... not many pro athletes with crap looking abs

do you sit at a desk all day? if you do I bet this is your problem (or your just fat! lol)

have a read of this and maybe try the reverse crunches for a while... http://www.ericcressey.com/lumbar-flexion-strength-training-programs-reverse-crunch

the quote I was looking for from that is "we need to work to address anterior pelvic tilt and excessive lumbar extension – which can lead to a “pot belly” look even in athletes who are quite lean."

[NickR33]

Ditch the crunches for situps too. 7 sets of 20 proper situps should be enough. Hands behind your head and pull yourself all the way up to your knees, focusing on using your stomach to pull yourself up rather than the swinging motion of your upper body. Get flat to the ground with each rep too. If this is too easy, then bring your feet in closer to your ass, as this will reduce the weight leverage working in your favour. Very easy to cheat with sit ups!

don't tell people to do situps with their hands behind their heads please... asking for a neck strain... hands/arms crossed across the chest or by your sides

they are even better weighted, holding it out at arms length or on your chest... a dumbbell, plate or medicine ball all work fine

[Birds]

I'm not talking about pulling your neck up with your hands, it's simply to keep your arms from assisting with the sit up until you've done all the reps you can with your abs alone.

[Trozzle]

you need to train your abs like any other muscle... no need to do sets with 50 reps... get some resistance whether it be dumbbells, medicine ball, cables or whatever and keep reps in the 8 - 15 range

your abs might stick out because you have too much anterior pelvic tilt... that is your lower back is excessively arched and your pelvis is tilted forward... this can be due to multiple reasons, do a search for some articles

I was reading a great one the other day but can't find it now... one comment that stood out was that excessive anterior pelvic tilt can make lean guys look fat due to the protruding belly

This one is okay

http://www.t-nation...._fix_that_squat

This vid explains how to diagnose yourself

hmmm I'm actually thinking I might be suffering from this....even at a glance it looks like I have a fair bit of angle.

[NickR33]

Hands behind your head and pull yourself all the way up to your knees

I felt this might be misinterpreted... all PTs train the crunch with hands across the chest or by the sides

[NickR33]

hmmm I'm actually thinking I might be suffering from this....even at a glance it looks like I have a fair bit of angle.

yeah I have a bit too... tight hips and a weak ass from sitting down all day

[Trozzle]

I felt this might be misinterpreted... all PTs train the crunch with hands across the chest or by the sides

I'm with Nick - don't actually PULL yourself up, you'll do damage to your neck and block your airways lol. Perhaps rest your hands over your ears? I always have my arms in by my side with my fist resting on my pecs, seems to be most comfortable when doing crunches/situps for me.

[No Crust Racing]

Had a look at my "angle" last night, I don't think that's a huge part of it but when I take pics I'll try and take one showing the two points in question and you can see angle for your selves.

Don't worry Birds, I didn't think you meant pull up with the neck, I've done ab work for ages and learned long ago not to pull in that way, good for others reading who might not know that though.

[Birds]

Good to hear. IMO you'd have to be a complete retard to actually strain your neck with sit ups...as if you couldn't feel the damage being done straight away when exerting that kind of pressure on your neck. And way to take it out of context...I did say "focusing on using your stomach to pull yourself up".

The further back you have your hands, the harder the sit up is. It's all about increasing or decreasing leverage to increase or decrease working load. This is why I advise holding them far back, behind your head rather than in front of you, if you're finding sit ups too easy or want to add some load.

[No Crust Racing]

No pics, GF was not impressed when I took them and went to put them up last night, showed her Birds gut pic and Joe's before/afters but didn't matter and wasn't worth the hassle. Will add some planking and try to keep posture good, after reviewing the pics myself I do not think fat is the issue, it's an abdominal wall/posture thing from being an office slacker.

Also, I've noticed on concentration curls that my right arm is going along ok completing 3x8 reps at a given weight but my left is starting to fag out around the 5-6rep mark on the third set. I realise we generally have a stronger side but how do people go about minimising this and evening up the strength of both sides? Extra set on the left? More weight less reps on the left to force it to jump up a notch in strength which would then see it able to drop down to the weight of the right side but complete the reps?

[Trozzle]

No pics, GF was not impressed when I took them and went to put them up last night, showed her Birds gut pic and Joe's before/afters but didn't matter and wasn't worth the hassle.

Wat. Please explain.

[No Crust Racing]

Not much to explain really, she thought taking topless photos to post online to a bunch of guys I don't know to talk about my gut was weird/obsessive as none of you are experts(her words but true none the less) and she has already told me that she thinks it's an inner abdominal strength/posture issue so in her mind that should be enough (more on that below) She was very uncomfortable with the idea, I would assume partly because she thinks I'm focusing on it too much.

I explained that, like my car, when I'm not 100% sure about something I post online and get a range of opinions, think about it, apply what I think might work, report back for the good of the forum etc. I don't take the first opinion thrown at me a gospel, including hers.

I'm not fat or out of shape but the fact that I'm putting in more time and effort lately (session is now up to 60mins instead of the 40 it used to be) to strengthen my legs/back fix my shoulder rounding etc and have started taking a supplement again, for recovery, makes her think I'm going to go back to how I used to be before we got together when I was exercising 5 times a week, eating more strictly and doing things like wearing really tight shirts and making sure I had a quick exercise session to get a nice pump on before heading out for a night on the town. I was THAT guy and she didn't really dig it. I am not that guy anymore for a number of reasons, largely because secondary muscle group injuries and overtraining etc put a stop to it, but I think she takes my increased interest and focus as signs I am going to be or want to be that guy again.

As I said, wasn't worth the hassle so I didn't bother posting the pics. In the end happy wife happy life was more important and I pick my battles so to speak as does she so when she really flares up about something I know it matters to her as she lets a lot of other things slide. She is the type of person who will do all the cooking and cleaning while I prep the car if a track day is coming up, including making the lunches for the day, packing the eski and chairs etc.

That said, my question about curls still stands.

[NickR33]

on unilateral exercises I always start on my weak side... then just do as many on your strong side as you did on the weak side

I have also heard people do it the other way round to force the weak side to keep up but in practice it doesn't work that well (for me anyway)... seems I'm always 1 rep short... you can always just get a cheat rep out though I guess

but yeah an extra set on your weak side couldn't hurt... maybe just try it for a few weeks and see if there's an improvement... tho I dunno about changing the weight/rep number from side to side

[NickR33]

taking pride in your health/appearance should be a positive thing... its a lot cheaper than motorsport for a start!

she is right about posting pics on here tho... no experts here just a bunch of depraved, hunch-backed, compulsive masturbators printing out each others topless pics, crudely cutting them out and pasting them on the roof above their beds... or is that just me!?

[No Crust Racing]

LOL I think that's what she thinks goes on in here Nick, though she has met a few SAUers at DECA and that was all good, she gets along with the likes of Leon and Campbell just fine (even when tanked)so she's no nose up bitch. She's been by my side for 5 years and I'm not exactly the worlds finest specimen in many respects.

It's a positive thing yes and she likes that I respect myself and won't let myself go but at the same time she's seen how self involved I was back in the day and I'm still fairly eco-centric, I like the idea that this is my life and ultimately I should be happy and will do what I want (within reason of course, things like monogamy or stupid financial decisions are not an issue).

She is far more selfless than I am and while she looks after herself, would never be called vain or self absorbed by me or any of her friends. She dislikes that attitude so some of it will be reacting to seeing what she perceives as that behaviour from me.

Anyway, enough of that days of our lives bs.

Edited February 23, 2012 by ActionDan

[Trozzle]

I think with an attitude like that, she's no one to call you obsessive lol... But that's just me.

[No Crust Racing]

Was talking about this with a long time female friend who had this to say.

"You can get a tad obsessed with things"

Which is her nice way of saying Kate is right I think lol

But anyway, See last line of my last post

Edited February 23, 2012 by ActionDan

[TTT]

ok, now that home and away is over...

Do your curls starting left side first. then only do the same number of reps on the right side.

Gut - Nick posted a link that had a vid for doing reverse situps or something - do those.

Also - it might be worthwhile visiting a chiro.

after an xray and a good look at your spine, they may need to "adjust" you or make recommendations as to what you can do to fix/better it.