do you work out?

yeah, sorry. chen was talking about doing side planks, you should try them.

http://www.philbodyweightgym.info/2011/02/side-plank.html

Yeah sorry jules I was saying: if you're bored with normal side planks - which are these:

then you should try these:

But since you haven't started doing normal side planks, give those a go first! Well worth your while.

I tried side planks after reading this, and that broke a sweat quick!

You should be shooting for 45 seconds to a minute per side. :)

straight planks should just be a minute.

I worked out at the gym tonight and came home and ate cake.

im going to be doing both of those this morning in my routine. I wish I had someone telling me if my form was ok.

Jules - you'll know if your form isn't ok.

should they be done everyday or every other day?

Other than with running with my bad knee I don't worry about my form with anything as long as I can tell it burns, I'm getting a good workout and I end up sore not in pain the next few days. Like when I used to swim at the gym all the time, I'm sure my form was horrible but in that case horrible form just makes it more difficult which is good I think.

Fucking starting to really love that I bought a heavy bag from my friend. I'm starting to get so addicted to completely annihilating that thing in anyway I can. Still love running too but I'm no longer worried about my knee telling my I can't run anymore. Destroying a heavy bag like it fucked your girlfriend is such a great workout. I sweat more from a half an hour freaking out on that heavy bag than I do running for an hour and a half.

BTW any of you runners aren't doing interval training instead of long continious slow paced jogs I would highly recommend it if your looking to get more out of your time. Interval training, from what I've read, is twice as effective for the time spent instead of jogging. Unless your looking to be really skinny and not any noticable muscle mass, interval training crushs low to medium paced workouts (and that goes for nearly everything as far as I understand swimming, biking etc. etc.)

I ride a bike an hour and half everyday in a fairly hilly location and do 100 crunches, 100 weight lifts (just 8 lb weights) and 30 pushups. I haven't examined much online so any tips on how to be more efficient would be appreciated. And if I am lacking anything of importance let me know.

  On 4/25/2012 at 9:18 AM, jules said:

should they be done everyday or every other day?

Work your abs twice a week. Do 3 or 4 different exercises, and 3 sets per exercise.

  On 4/25/2012 at 9:19 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

Other than with running with my bad knee I don't worry about my form with anything as long as I can tell it burns, I'm getting a good workout and I end up sore not in pain the next few days. Like when I used to swim at the gym all the time, I'm sure my form was horrible but in that case horrible form just makes it more difficult which is good I think.

 

Fucking starting to really love that I bought a heavy bag from my friend. I'm starting to get so addicted to completely annihilating that thing in anyway I can. Still love running too but I'm no longer worried about my knee telling my I can't run anymore. Destroying a heavy bag like it fucked your girlfriend is such a great workout. I sweat more from a half an hour freaking out on that heavy bag than I do running for an hour and a half.

if you want to develop good muscle tone, form is important. It also helps in not injuring yourself.

boxing is a hell of a workout, for sure.

It really depends on what your goal is with your health, big muscles, toned or skinny. Like I was suggesting above if you use interval training and ride your bike with bursts of extreme intensity to the point where you absolutely have to chill out for a minute, repeat the cycle, go back to a crazy burst and then chillax etc. it will teach your body to explode instead of just sustain and you will build more muscle. Interval training boosts your metabolism while your not active in a similar degree to weight lifting because it really promotes muscle growth. There are some exceptions but you will notice most of the time that long distance runners are really skinny, sprinters are usually much more muscular.

Crunches don't really promote defined abdominals much at all from what I keep reading. It's hard target toning in that area in general, you generally get defined abs from doing lots of different intense core work outs, a really good diet and low body fat count. You never see people that aren't really toned all over with ripped abs ya know? Same with most muscles (with a few exceptions like calves etc. all the muscle groups are usually all pretty well toned or not so much.

In response to Chengod's most recent post. Most plans I've read have you working out your core section and your abdominals 3 times a week. In general any muscle group be developed 3 times a week is definitely not over training.

Of course in any serious work out you don't want to injure your self. Like I said if your in pain during or after words and not just really sore your doing something wrong. In developing good muscle tone yeah perfect form can make your muscles look more neat but, in my opinion it shouldn't be worried about that much, what matters is getting the an intense lactic acid burn anyway you can. If your bad form is making the workout easier yes that is truly bad news for people who like good news.

Also If you want to develop a defined core and abdominals the more different work outs the better. There are a lot of really great work outs for your core that reach different muscles. From everything I've read you should aim to have at least 10 different exercises that target all around your core.

If you want big muscles, you'll need good form anyways cause it will improve your efficiency in lifting heavier weights.

Interval training is used to boost your aerobic capacity.

Yes just crunches alone will not do much for you, hence my statement: "Work your abs twice a week. Do 3 or 4 different exercises, and 3 sets per exercise."

And of course good diet and running to aid with burning off fat.

Abs: all the info you need to know

And for real - twice a week is enough. It's all about diet and cardio.

My diet is shit lol.

But seriously if you look at say any pro bodybuilder's workout they'll have abs once a week, if that.

To be honest, I've gotta repeat why I disagree to some degree with everything Chengod has said. First and foremost nothing is ever really that simple and there are exceptions to everything so I;m sure you can probably find ways to disagree with me as well but..

Using your good form to be more effecient in lifting more weight is helping you make it easier no? You can brag to your buddy that you benched more than him because of your great form, but your buddy who lifted less weight with bad form could have got more of a work out of it, hell his bad form could cause him to accidentally work more muscles in his arms because he was making it harder on himself. Just one example.

Again, like I've said above the more different core work outs the better. I'm just confused how you could so simply make a statement that plan is a sure fire good idea. Only work out your abs twice a week? Why? 3 or 4 different core work outs is not really enough to target everything going on in your core, which you should be targeting all around, not just your abdominals. A good core area exercise should usually burn the fucking shit out of that muscle group enough that it not need be repeated. 10+ core exercises with 1 or 2 sets each 3 or 4 times if your not too sore a week seems to make a lot more sense if your seriously trying to get decent results IMHO.

And yeah like it's true that abdominals and your core are defined by lack of body fat more than anything else. So you can get away with 1 or 2 days a week were you have targeted your core. But for pure power in health, your core is also really important, for martial arts or anything really.

Anyway, I have no idea why I'm awake, I've taken a lot of sedatives and it's probably imparing my brain. I'm out, sorry for so many posts.

  On 4/25/2012 at 11:31 AM, Blanket Fort Collapse said:

To be honest, I've gotta repeat why I disagree to some degree with everything Chengod has said. First and foremost nothing is ever really that simple and there are exceptions to everything so I;m sure you can probably find ways to disagree with me as well but..

 

Using your good form to be more effecient in lifting more weight is helping you make it easier no? You can brag to your buddy that you benched more than him because of your great form, but your buddy who lifted less weight with bad form could have got more of a work out of it, hell his bad form could cause him to accidentally work more muscles in his arms because he was making it harder on himself. Just one example.

 

Again, like I've said above the more different core work outs the better. I'm just confused how you could so simply make a statement that plan is a sure fire good idea. Only work out your abs twice a week? Why? 3 or 4 different core work outs is not really enough to target everything going on in your core, which you should be targeting all around, not just your abdominals. A good core area exercise should usually burn the fucking shit out of that muscle group enough that it not need be repeated. 10+ core exercises with 1 or 2 sets each 3 or 4 times if your not too sore a week seems to make a lot more sense if your seriously trying to get decent results IMHO.

Better form allows you to isolate muscles, work them harder and build their strength faster.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/likness25.htm

Sorry I should have been more explicit. 3 or 4 different exercises per workout. And yes of course you work out your core, but since your abs are part of your core I just assumed we were talking about the same thing. if you read the link that I posted above, you'll find plenty of professional trainers giving the same advice generally.

  On 4/24/2012 at 10:09 PM, Kcinsu said:

I feel like until I've advanced a bit more at the gym, I'd feel pretty unprepared for climbing on rock.

i totally disagree mate.

  Quote

I don't know where specifically to go climbing

bay area bouldering, looks decent, and most of it should be bikable from inner SF? http://www.supertopo...reaboulder.html

then there's yosemite, tualoumne meadows, the sierra nevada (buttermilks), the needles, joshua tree, all a couple hours drive away

i miss climbing so much!

Cool, thanks for the link iep! I only say that out of inexperience... I don't know when a good time to start on rock is, I just kind of assumed that I should train a bit more before I start.

  On 4/25/2012 at 11:24 AM, chenGOD said:

But seriously if you look at say any pro bodybuilder's workout they'll have abs once a week, if that.

People seem to think doing 12thousand crunches will do your abs great... it won't. It's a muscle the same as any other so work it the same. (and get plenty of core work in)

...Last clarifications on the banter Chengod and I were having. I was not stating that it's not a good idea to develop your form as you see fit in evolving your workouts. I was making the case that's more important that you simply try new exercises than to not give them a shot worrying that your form will be bad. As long as your not causing yourself pain and your not thinking it's too easy don't worry so much about form at first when your still trying out new exercises and figuring out what gives you the most lactic acid burn. I have to say also that heavy lifting is nowhere near something I care about any more in my workouts so I'm not really talking about dangerous things like doing a heavy weight squat wrong or anything.

AND lastly Chengod simply just stated after my praises of interval training that it's simply made for aerobic improvement? By definition aerobic is "generally, light-to-moderate intensity that can be performed for extended periods of time" which is pretty much polar opposite from interval training. From everything I've read and noticed about interval training, it's great for muscle building, toning and fat murdering just as much if not more than cardiovascular power. Low and slow long distance workouts don't even come close to murdering fat as effectively as interval training does for a lot of reasons. Most athletes are advocated to use high intensity interval training over low intensity continous long distance exercises because it's beneficial in so many ways.

When you're stressed out, sleep deprivedor, malnourished or do anything even slightly taxing continuosly for too long it triggers CORTISOL, which is the enemy of killing fat, bone formation, good metabolism and muscle growth. Which is why one of many big reasons why interval training is better than staying at the same pace for too long in any exercise.