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

[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.)