Back to the gym

“I forgot to mention.

My trainer likes to be "right" about stuff.


That is, he'll ask a "set up" question, wait for your answer, and then pounce with his opinion.

E.G. "Do you take a multivitamin" . .. .then he waits to pounce on your choice of vitamins.

Another was Organic vs. regular veggies and stuff.


In both of these cases I was able to thwart him by giving the "right" answer before he could wind up his speech {we use a multi-vitamin called "juicePlus", which coincidently, he recommends; an we eat organic veggies, meats and eggs whenever we have a choice).


Well. Yesterday as the final item in the exercise regime it was:


The set up:

"oh, I have one more thing I want you to do before I let you go. Get in a push up position. Now lower to your forearms. Drop your hips. Now stay there. You cannot drop for any reason other than joint or lower back pain. I will tell you when you are done. Either you won't be able to maintain form. Or you will run out the clock, which doesn't happen."



So there I am, in (as you may have pictured) the classic and deadly PLANK position.

Its a challenge. And he wants to be able to give me the "core strength" speech after I
collapse.

He makes a slight correction in my hips. Then lets me go.

He announces one minute, and I am bored, so start laughing and chatting with him.

He announces two mintues and seems a tad suprised.

At this point I tell him that it usually passes the time more quickly for me I have some reading material to look at while I do planks.

He gets . .. not pissy exactly . . ..but knows I am kind of mocking him . . . and tosses some sort of blurb on heart wellness down in front of me.

At two and 1/2 minutes I am pretty burnt. I have never done a plank beyond 2 1/2 before. . .but nor am I going to give in. I start talking to him again . . .By 2:45 I am shaking. Trying to control it by keeping drawn in tight.

I pull it as tight as I can and roll up to 3 minutes . . .at this point we are both late for Spin class . .he is the spin nazi instructor, and I was signed up for class.

So I ran out the clock at 3 mintues . ..


In a passive aggressive kind of way . .it gave me great pleasure to deprive him of the speech.


To his credit he was very gracious and complemented me on having already built a pretty solid core.


Anyhoo. I was pleased.”

“nowslimmer, while i do think the tone of your previous posts is best left for fuego threads, i should not have been so crass.

i sincerely appologize.”

“Thanks, sacco. You reined me in. I deserved it. BTW, I talked to two trainers yesterday evening and received additional confirmation to what you people have been saying.

lee - Nice going and thanks for telling us.”

“Good going lee! You must have felt awesome. I love that, "I'll show you!" attitude.”

“lee, the plank is BRUTAL! It was called the thinking position when I was in the army. We stay there and think about our mistakes. The worst was when we'd have to take the weight off of one arm and extend it straight out front to either cahnge the radio station or turn up the volume (of course there was no radio, it was more painful to do). Good for you!”

“Is the plank the bottom of the pushup position?”

“currahee, its like the "front leaning rest" but on your elbows.”

“elbows being the points of contact? never did that, but will try tomorrow, er, later today.”

“Think forearms . ..not the points of your elbows.


Toes and forarms . . .looking down and slightly ahead (between your hands).

KEEP YOUR BODY LEVEL . . .like . .. like .. .like . ..


A PLANK.


Don't let your butt sag . . .and don't raise it up!

Doing it sideways in front of a mirror will hwlp wiht posture.


When you get tired . . .squeeze your belly button up to your spine. Really contract your abs and stay tight.”

“this is a yoga plank


or this



I may try this at home that way when I fall over and die I won't look so stupid
last edited: 1/28/05 9:48:33 AM”

“That hurts my toes just to look at!”

“The beauty of a plank . ..


you don't have far to fall . .


Just don't rip your shoulders out of their sockets by letting go in a big flop.


Oh. Remember that it is a CORE strengthening exercise. Really tighten up your abs and gluts . .. .not your legs and shoulders.

Concentrate on drawing your belly button into your spine.”

“IMO, single best exercise for core strength (and your entire body)- overhead squats.

great thing about OHsquats is not only do they build core strength, but also improve balance and flexibility.”

“When I first got to battalion I did that or variations of it for hours it seemed. I'll try it again....but not today.”

“OH, I started doing the plank a while back - someone recommmended it to me as an ab exercise. Its killer. I start shaking after jsut a few seconds. (Obviously I don't do it consistently!!)”

“I am going to try it tonight. The yoga plank looks harder because your arms are fully extended”

““When I first got to battalion I did that or variations of it for hours it seemed. I'll try it again....but not today.”
Currahee
3:53:36 PM
1/28/05
ignore this user

Currahee, I am laughing at your post. I can realte EXACTLY to what you speak. I never would have imagined that I could stay in the leaning rest for as long as we had too. Wasnt getting welcomed to Battalion so fun?LOL!”

“It was oodles of fun. One of the team leaders in my squad had CQ when I was a cherry and decided to entertain himself all night by smoking me until PT formation the next day. Oh, the humanity!”

“I was lucky when I arrived, the Battalion was on a field problem and I had the place essentially to myself (except the rear d guys) but when they returned...the first thing I heard was " Newby,do pushups till I am tired of watchin"...
last edited: 1/29/05 4:43:07 AM”

“Leaning rest, get on your face... did my share and inflicted my share.....”

“Planked for 3 mintues before starting to shake. thanks for sharing that one. Ilike it.”

“90 seconds, modified yoga plank. That was my goal and I quit to go swimming. But my arms were quivering. The modification was: My hands were on a 14" step. I had to have clearance so that my stomach would be above the floor(j/k).

I have been negligent in doing push-ups. We have not done them in class for some time. When we did do them, we would do 10 x (number of people in the class) and sometimes two sets. This could be like 180 or 360. I would do them from the knees.

I was in a good mode for swimming a long distance, but, just myluck, the pool was closed waiting repairs to the filtering system.

---

Is the Yoga Plank an Anerobic Exercise?”

“"L" seats too. and then attempting a handstand from the seat position. It has taken many years to develope the shoulder strength to pull off the move where I bring my feet in under my buttocks.

Do push ups with your loaded pack on. I can only do 15.”

“the gym I go to just added some new machines. Anyone used these brand before. It is called Free Motion. I tried the shoulder one out last night and it took the place of a couple i had been using.


http://www.iconfitness.com/freeMotion/v3/pdf/brochures/Shoulder.pdf”

“Bad link Ewk. But, I think we have two of those at our rec center. Big, black things with cables and different stuff to hook on them?

I started doing pilates this week. It's litterally kicking my abs! It's a tough workout, seriously.”

“here's the company link. http://www.freemotionfitness.com/
Our gym completely replaced all of the old equipment with this. Good stuff.”

“mine worked but you have to have adobe acrobat to open it..sorry”

“I decided to go back to Body For Life techniques again. I need to ramp up my workout. Unfortunately, my muscles are quite unhappy from my workout the other day. So I had to skip it this morning until they calm down.”

“I skipped yesterday because I was smoked from Tuesdays workout. I added a low weight set to muscle failure at the end of each exercise. It was effective, but I don't think I ate enough that night for proper recovery. Lesson learned.”

“to many beers eh”

“That's what I was doing currahee. It really worked em alright! I'm a little too sore. I didnt' feel like I was overdoing it, but apparently I was.”

“belive it or not no. I just didn't eat enough (prolly half of the calories I should have). The pub got busy and I had to kick it into high gear and never sat down to eat. It ended up being a 12 hour shift. ICK!”

“I'm really geeked out on coffee now. Must go burn off excess energy... bye!”

“and I was using it 2 times a week, tuesday and thursday. There are 13 excercises that came with it. The first time I used it I was practically in tears, then it stopped hurting so much, but then the cough thing hit me and I had to stop excercises, well then came the big bend trip and then January I was traveling for 2 weeks, blah blah blah...so anyway, its Feb 1 and I started back with the focused sustained work outs this week and Monday I did 2 hours of Cardio and light dumbells, tuesday hit my universal machine and did 2.5 hours on it with focus on abs, Wed I did 2.5 hours of Pilate ball and all the excercises that are on the sheet. Last night I just did yoga stretches cause I was feeling a bit "tight" and sore. This morning, I'm tired! and still sore...got a crik in my lower left abductor muscle and my calfs are cryin out...sheesh...this excercise stuff is gonna be the death of me. Im not doing nothing tonight, and tomorrow I hit the trail for an 18 mile backpacking overnighter.

Hopefully on Monday, this hurtin pain nonsense will be a memory.”

“Stikmon, they is a thing called over doing it ;)”

“what doesn't kill you, will inevitably make you stronger.”

“not if you hurt yourself in the process =)”

“I said sore and tired...I'm a machine and not eligible for hurt. LOL”

“When I do workouts on my legs I use the Hammer Strength leg press which works each leg indiviually. Friday I saw one of the personal trainers working with a person on that press. What they did differently was to add a ball about the size of a volley ball. You would hold that ball between your inner thighs. I tried it Sat and I could tell a big difference in it. It helps you keep your feet and legs lined up straight plus works the inner thigh and other muscles around your knee”

“That's a pilates technique. Stabalizes your legs.”

“I haven't been to the gym lately. My old neck injury has been too painful. I wish it would stop already!”

“i was working out on my rowing machine tonight. i tried my first half marathon, which is like 21,000 something meters. i don't know if that corresponds to 13.whatever miles as in a running marathon or not.
anyway, i got very tired but refused to quit. until i let the handle slip and get yanked right into the monitor. now it looks like a big ink explosion. i got up, went to the sink and puked a couple times. i don't know if it was from pushing hard or breaking something that is listed on the manufacturer's website at $185 less than 2 months after buying the machine.
i sent them an email begging them to somehow hook me up. i don't know if it can be repaired or not. everything still works except i can't see the top part of the display. i'll probably puke again if i have to shell out another 200 bucks for a new one.”

“I prefer rum ....

nevermind, I misread the tread title.”

“Had the "abs" portion of my training program on Tuesday.


At least 3 x/week.


Looks easy. Sounds easy. Very deceptive.


#1 "stability ball walkout or wheelbarrow"

Lie stomach down on a big stability ball.

Put your hands on the floor in front of you.

Thighs on the ball. Legs out straight behind.

You should be in a flat (plank like) position, but with your thighs on the ball.


Now. Tighten your abs. Keep your belly button sucked into your spine.

Walk your hands out until the ball is at the tips of your toes . . .extend it as far as possible.

Now walk it back. Do not scuff your hands along the floor. Pick them up and control the walk back.

When the ball reaches your thighs, immediately walk back out.


Do it as many reps as you can. 3 sets.



The key to staying on the ball is to keep your body flat, even hips up a tiny bit. keep your abs tight, and control the ball movement with tight abs.



#2 Side planks

Up into a side plank. Lower and touch hip. Then back up for a 5 count.

Do this 10 times. Then flip to the other side for 10.

Do 3 cycles non-stop.


#3 "Double bosu alt leg/arm"


You know the abs/core exercise where you are in a table position. Kneeling with your back flat, hands down? Then you raise your right arm out straight in front, while simultaneously pushing your leg leg out straight behind you.


Now. Take two bosus (those things that look like half a stability ball). Put them side by side flat side down. Kneel on one. Hands on the other.

Raise alt arm and leg as many reps as you can. 3 sets.
last edited: 2/17/05 9:58:53 AM”

“I really don't want to go today. I have no excuses, just don't want to go. I even promised a light bike workout. Someone kick me in gear.”

“I haven't gone for weeks. (crying.) I first had the flu and now my neck has been really painful (old car accident injury) I'm going to try for Tuesday. Neck's feeling better. I can at least do my cardio...
currahee, tell yourself you are only going to the gym for 10 minutes. By the time you are on the bike you will just stay for the whole workout. Get your workout clothes out too. That always helps me if I see them lying there.”

“My wife Trudy has been having similar neck pains from an old car accident from the 90's. She really likes those thermacare wraps, that really seems to ease the pains in her neck.”

“Yeah, but the neck pain doesn't seem to stop her from singing karoake at Sacco's.”

“Lol. Trudy does love sing doesn't she? Too bad she sounds like a bleating mule.”

“It seems there was a direct correlatio between my lack of motivation and my empty belly. As soon as I digest my porkchops and Tomato soup I'll go hit the bike and do some core exercises.”