Hi all! I just finished the fifth workout, and so far, so good. I do have a question about the core work though.
I'm finding the swiss ball crunch exercise in Workout B sooo much easier than the jackknife exercise in Workout A. I'm curious to know how much weight people are using for the swiss ball crunch. I've been using a 15lb plate on my chest, but it's still feeling too easy. I tried a 20lb dumbbell but that wasn't very comfortable.
I should say that I'm not all that strong in the core. I'm finding the jackknife exercise plenty difficult.
Isabel, welcome! Congrats on the completion of 5 workouts.
About the Swiss Ball.....People do use added weight, like a medicine ball, or a plate, or a dumbbell on the chest. You can also utilize cable in crunch exercises. But in my experience, a crunch can be made challenging even without any weight. It all depends on how hard you contract your ab muscles, and how well you isolate them.
With the hands next to ears, try extending ( while inhaling), going through the full range of motion, then contracting the ab muscles (exhaling) and holding at the top of the movement for a count of 2. Then slowly and under control return to the full extension.
I'm a huge fan of using the cable to crunch of the ball. I've been feeling that more than all the weights I've added. Let me know if you'd like an explanation of it.
I'm a huge fan of using the cable to crunch of the ball. I've been feeling that more than all the weights I've added. Let me know if you'd like an explanation of it.
mel
I think I have an idea of it but I'd love a proper explanation, please. Knowing myself all too well, I'd probably end up hanging myself. LOL
I think I have an idea of it but I'd love a proper explanation, please. Knowing myself all too well, I'd probably end up hanging myself. LOL
Don't be in a hurry to hang yourself, Diane
his is how I use cable to perform weighted crunches:
There are variations with the swiss ball (where you sit up on it with the cable rope at the top position of the cable machine. Then you and pull the rope down making a crunching movement).
The below vid shows that exercise performed on a bench
Natalia, those are good exercises and certainly both are options for people who are ready to use them. BUT, I hope you'll be pickier about what videos you link. In both videos the guy demonstrating the movements arches his back at the top of the movement, changing his pelvic position (into anterior pelvic tilt). This will momentarily shift the load into the low back and that's not what we want to do. In the kneeling cable crunch video, as he returns to the start position he allows his low back to extend, rather than uncurling only to neutral spinal position.
One consideration about using a cable crunch as a substitute for the swiss ball crunch as described in NR4W is that Alwyn has specifically asked for the hips to remain high. He offers the weighted long-arm version as a progression. The big difference is the open hip joint, and therefore the inability to add hip flexor action into the contraction.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't be using a cable crunch. It's a good movement. That's just a consideration. If I had a client with quad dominance, I'd stick to the exercise that keeps the qlutes intentionally engaged. If you (Natalia) were my client, you probably have pretty good balance around the hip joint. I'd be more likely to move you to the cable station. If you controlled your pelvis during execution, then it'd be a good exercise choice for you. But the guy in the video should either correct his technique or go back to the long-arm swiss ball crunch!
Thanks to both Lisa and Nat! I was thinking more along the lines of using a cable while on the ball. I thought that might be a bit safer for my accident-prone self than holding weight plates. Then again, I might just sling-shot myself into the wall behind me so maybe dropping plates would be preferable. LOL
(Lisa, I LOVE your nitpicking things to death. My anal self appreciates it -- it really helps my form when I'm lifting. I already hear your voice (as I imagine it to be) -- I just need to get a cardboard cutout of you to stand up in my workout area. Hey, there's a fundraiser idea for ya! Sell Lisa~ cutouts! )
If you don't want to hold a weight plate, do the long-arm version and then hold a medicine ball, or even another swiss ball. Things held at arms' length don't have to be that heavy because of the long lever arm.
You are absolutely right, of course. I just posted the first vids that came up that looked like the exercises discussed. My bad. I wish I could go back to the post and EDIT it, but it won't let me.
FOR EVERYONE WHO LOOKED AT THE VIDEOS demonstrating cable crunches:
They both demonstrate the changing of the pelvic position (into anterior pelvic tilt). This shifts the load into the low back and that's not what we want.
Can someone post a video of a proper swiss crunch. I know you're supposed to rest the ball in the small of the back, butt off the ball (right?). I have a short torso and it feels like the ball it resting on my whole back.
The exercise I do with the cable is actually ON THE BALL.
I roll the ball up next to the cable with the cable set low, if you can, right at head height. Holding the rope in one hand, I lay back on the ball, hips high like Lisa talked about. My back is curved around the ball. I hold the rope against the back of my head, each side of the rope coming down by my ears. Then, I crunch upwards. I keep my stomach contracted all the way through the motion.
The exercise I do with the cable is actually ON THE BALL.
I roll the ball up next to the cable with the cable set low, if you can, right at head height. Holding the rope in one hand, I lay back on the ball, hips high like Lisa talked about. My back is curved around the ball. I hold the rope against the back of my head, each side of the rope coming down by my ears. Then, I crunch upwards. I keep my stomach contracted all the way through the motion.
I'm not an ace on embedding video. But this is what it looks like. I do use a rope instead of the straight bar, but it would work too.
mel
I'm not quite that advanced to use the cable (that looks HARD!), but I have done something similiar with resistance tubing wrapped around a stable object.
There's probably a v= some jumble of letters in your link... Enclose the jumble of letters inside youtube tags ([youtube.]jumbleofletters[/youtube.], but without the .)
__________________
Tom
No "happy hours" makes for a lot of miserable days. - Mahler
Swiss Ball Crunch
I do have a question about the core work though. 
)
And the tips seem pretty good.
Linear Mode
