Intro & request for advice

[dorothean]

I just joined yesterday. I had a vacation recently during which I took a lot of day hikes, and remembered how much I like feeling strong and capable in my body. So I've decided to keep up my physical activity and see just how strong and capable I can be.

My request is for advice about strengthening my torso. I know a lot of exercises for my legs and arms, but not many for my back, chest or abdominal muscles. I can do crunches, and when I was at university the student gym had a wonderful contraption for back muscles (no idea what it was called - supported me face-down at the waist and legs, and I could hang down and pull myself up like upside-down sit-ups) but I don't have that anymore. I also know about flyes for the pectoral muscles.

What else can I do?

I have two five-pound weights and one twenty-pound one, and access to a squalid, underequipped gym at my apartment complex. I can't buy any special equipment now, or pay for classes or a membership, although if you find something very important, I'd like to hear about it. I don't have any relevant health problems, and I am fit enough to hike eight miles over a mountain in one day (huzzah!), but have trouble even figuring out which muscles to attempt to engage in doing a push-up.

Comments

[willful_zephyr]

Welcome!

I'm a big fan of Pilates and yoga, but you really need an instructor to help you learn how it feels for your body. Videos really miss on teaching good core work.

You can do a lot with hand weights and a fitness center. A couple of sessions with a personal trainer can show you a lot.

[dorothean]

Thanks!

I think I'd like to try a personal trainer someday, but right now I don't have the money to pay one or the time to find one who doesn't ever talk about losing weight (which would be a problem for me).

[vass]

Planks! Much more useful than crunches!

Also: Stumptuous. It has lots of advice on workouts and lifting things, and how to get by without a lot of equipment. Science-based, and 100% less macho than most sites about strength training.

[rydra_wong]

This! There's an emerging consensus that crunches are kind of crappy for doing anything except stressing your back (spines not being designed to be exposed to shearing forces while flexed like that); it's much more useful to do things like planks that work your muscles' ability to stabilize your spine in a "neutral" position.

And Stumptuous is full of good stuff. There's an article on push-ups (and how to get to one) which might be especially relevant to your interests:

http://www.stumptuous.com/mistressing-the-pushup

Also, lifting_heavy_things, which has had some fun posts on "stuff you can do with no equipment for no money".

[dorothean]

Thank you! Yeah, I heard that full sit-ups weren't good for you, but that crunches were okay -- it makes sense that they aren't, though, and the planks I just did felt 100x more effective anyway.

*joins lifing_heavy_things*

In which I tl;dr, because I geek out about this stuff

[rydra_wong]

Crunches are definitely safer than sit-ups, but, as I understand it, they still exclusively exercise one muscle (the rectus abdominis) and one muscular action (torso flexion, bringing your shoulders and pelvis closer together).

Which a) most people don't need to work*, and b) will badly screw up your posture and thence your back if you don't balance it out with exercises that extend the back (if you think about it, a crunch consists of repeatedly and forcefully bringing your back into a slouched/hunched position).

So: you don't need to do crunches, and exercises like planks which work all the muscles needed to stabilize the spine (and also teach you how to find and hold that neutral position, which is key to all sorts of other exercises, whether that's push-ups or deadlifts) are going to be more useful and more effective.

*Exceptions would be people like mixed martial artists and anyone else who does a grappling sport, where you may need to headlock your opponent and force their head down.

[dorothean]

....planks are AMAZING!

Also, no wonder I have trouble with push-ups, especially full-body ones -- I've been focusing on my chest and shoulder weakness, but of course I need to be able to hold my waist rigid too. Huh.

Stumptuous seems excellent, thanks!

[muck_a_luck]

If you have an interest in or knowledge of yoga (willful_zephyr's sensible warnings aside), I highly recommend all of Sadie Nardini's DVDs for core. She has a YouTube Channel with LOTS of good stuff for free, too. http://www.youtube.com/sadienardini

[dorothean]

Thanks, I'll check that out!

A local yoga studio has a free introductory class once a month, so I'm going to try that in September.

[rydra_wong]

muck_a_luck is being much too polite and modest to mention that there's also this comm called sun_salutation, which has lots of useful stuff for beginners and links to free online yoga resources. *g*

[rydra_wong]

when I was at university the student gym had a wonderful contraption for back muscles (no idea what it was called - supported me face-down at the waist and legs, and I could hang down and pull myself up like upside-down sit-ups)

You can replicate that if you can get access to one of those inflatable exercise balls; lie with your hips over it and wedge your feet under something secure.

But the same muscles get worked in yoga locust pose and the "superman" exercise (same thing but with your arms held out in front of you).

Exrx.net has a great directory of exercises, including a lot of bodyweight options; you could do worse than just dive in there:

http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

But planks, push-up progressions, and locust/superman would all be ideal for what you want to do.

Are you considering lats and so forth as part of the back? If so, it might be worth starting progressions towards pull-ups, too (pull-ups look more like an arm exercise, but a lot of the work's actually done in your back).

a squalid, underequipped gym at my apartment complex

*rubs hands gleefully*

What's it got? I mean, you could actually do everything you want to do just with bodyweight exercise, with no problems, but I have a fondness for plotting just how much you can do with crappy equipment.

[dorothean]

Whooo, locust pose is just as good as planks!! Thank you.

What a good website - thanks for that too!

I need to see if the horrid gym actually has a pull-up bar - I was thinking about hanging from it and pulling my legs up to work out my abs. I definitely can't do actual pull-ups now, but will look into how to get there.

Perhaps I will post on lifting_heavy_things about the contents of my gym. ;)

[rydra_wong]

I definitely can't do actual pull-ups now, but will look into how to get there.

I did a linkspam of resources on how to get to a pull-up (and a push-up) here -- might have some useful stuff.

If you don't have access to a pull-up bar, but you do have a sturdy table, you could do inverted rows.

They lean a bit more on the rhomboids rather than lats, but a row-type movement is still great to have in the mix, and (like planks) inverted rows really make you work all the stabilizing muscles to hold your body rigid.

Perhaps I will post on lifting_heavy_things about the contents of my gym. ;)

Dooooo iiiiiiit. *g*

[weirdquark]

If your gym has a bunch of dumbbells of various sizes, you can do a pretty good weight routine with just those. (Stumptuous has suggestions for that too.)