Yep, I mean crunches and things of that nature. Just because a muscle is aesthetically pleasing doesn't mean it's functional. Core work is far more important than abs, IMHO.
When I was lifting at the gym recently, I was doing shoulder presses with 25 lbs and thought my shoulders and biceps looked pretty darn good. What did not look so wonderful was dingle-dangle-batwing flab that was hanging off my arm at the bottom. *sigh* I actually do have decent triceps, but unfortunately I have extra skin as well.
Yeah, it would be great to see muscles and what they look like below extra skin and fat! I was thinking my abs must look pretty good below all that extra pregnancy skin!
Exactly. I strongly believe that the 8 minute ab videos (and things of that nature) are largely responsible for the vast majority of people who seem to have low back pain. If you work your abs but neglect the lower back, you create a muscle imbalance and that is definitely NOT functional. This is a frustrating issue for me because when I work with newcomers at the gym, they will not let go of the idea that they need to have abs in their program.
Kind of going off on a rant here, but I think certain muscle groups are such a mental thing for women ~ particularly inner thighs and abs. Seems like women don't believe they've had a workout unless they've done the inner thigh machine (which I NEVER use with my clients) or crunches. They never seem to get it when I tell them that body fat loss is body fat loss and doing 100 crunches isn't going to get rid of stomach fat. This is why I love having a column... I recently did a column on the concept of toning. :P What it is and what it isn't...
Because I was such a group fitness junkie (and still am), like Undone, I did tons of abs in every class but back then we NEVER did lower back. Even now, few instructors do them.
I've heard that you don't need to work the smaller muscles and that you should focus on the big ones. If you hit all of the major muscle groups the smaller muscles will benefit. Is that true?
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On looking in a mirror, honestly, (this is for everyone, not just kel) are you ever happy with what you see, like muscle tone/development?
At times...
When I was lifting at the gym recently, I was doing shoulder presses with 25 lbs and thought my shoulders and biceps looked pretty darn good. What did not look so wonderful was dingle-dangle-batwing flab that was hanging off my arm at the bottom. *sigh* I actually do have decent triceps, but unfortunately I have extra skin as well.
Jean,
Exactly. I strongly believe that the 8 minute ab videos (and things of that nature) are largely responsible for the vast majority of people who seem to have low back pain. If you work your abs but neglect the lower back, you create a muscle imbalance and that is definitely NOT functional. This is a frustrating issue for me because when I work with newcomers at the gym, they will not let go of the idea that they need to have abs in their program.
Kind of going off on a rant here, but I think certain muscle groups are such a mental thing for women ~ particularly inner thighs and abs. Seems like women don't believe they've had a workout unless they've done the inner thigh machine (which I NEVER use with my clients) or crunches. They never seem to get it when I tell them that body fat loss is body fat loss and doing 100 crunches isn't going to get rid of stomach fat. This is why I love having a column... I recently did a column on the concept of toning. :P What it is and what it isn't...
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