Hi all, been lurking ever since I got the book a couple weeks ago and have really appreciated the wealth of information here.
I've been working out for a little over a year at my gym, lost about 50 pounds, dropped approx 15% body fat and gained lots of muscle. I still have a ways to go as I currently weigh about 215 (5'5, 40 yo.). I'm LOVING the weight lifting and want to start NROLFW to up my game and increase my strength.
I spent yesterday's workout practicing all the NROLFW moves I don't usually do like the squats and deadlifts, making sure I've got proper form. I realized that I have ZERO clue how to get on the stability ball for the prone jacknife (never used ball before). I figured out how to do the crunch although it was a weird, insecure feeling. I can't imagine doing it upside-down! I don't really have the upper-body strength in my shoulders and arms for full on push-ups yet (old shoulder injury), so I'm concerned that I'm going to have trouble starting on the floor while I'm trying to get on the ball with my feet. I felt so out-of-control and nervous on the ball yesterday, and I'm afraid I'm gonna twinge my shoulder again. I know I'm just psyching myself out, but I figured you all probably have some tricks up your sleeves.
P.S. lol, my quads feel like they are gonna fall off my legs! geez, here I been doin' leg presses for ages and thinkin' my legs are really progressing - obviously, leg presses don't do squat! :P (pun intented)
well, prolly the easiest way to get into position would be get down on the ball, like on your belly, with your arms and legs hanging off. walk with your hands forward as you come forward you'll be rolling the ball down your legs. Stop when your shins are on the ball. then when you do the jackknifes, you'll just pull your knees toward your chest, keep your butt level if you need to, and then slide your legs back again to straight. Falling has happened to many a lady in the beginning. Everyone has managed to get the hang of it, however, it just may take a bit of time.
Some of the jackknife videos I've seen show people wearing shoes... this doesn't make sense to me.
I take my shoes off so that I can point my toes. This helps to engage your muscles in your back, abdomen and legs all together, allowing you to bridge the ball with more stability.
If you stand up, in bare feet, and then lift up on your tip-toes, you'll feel the muscles you need to engage.
Hope this helps.
I have been doing this to work up to the jack knife:
I don't know how great the vertical leg crunch video is, I just looked it up to illustrate what I was doing to work up to the plank. These alternatives are described in either NROL or NROL4W.
I think I'm ready to try it again, and I'm about 8 weeks into stage 1 now.
This morning I did my first Stage 1, Workout A session and did pretty well until I got to the prone jacknife. Couldn't get on the bigger ball at all and so switched to the smaller one. Got on the floor and raised my shins one at a time onto the ball, after about a second trembling in place, I started to shift my weight to start the first rep and... thump! Tumbling off the ball I go. Okaaaaay, two sets of reverse crunches it is.
Thanks for the advice, I'll try the extended plank on Friday and then attempt the jacknife again next week. Who knows, maybe I'll actually complete one rep next time!
Hang in there! It took me a while to get used to the jackknives, too. But, that stability you gain by using the ball is worth the effort. Often, I had to get back on the ball, but each time I got a little better. It took me several weeks before I could point my toes as I got to them on the ball.
you can also try doing the jack knives first, before you're tired from sets of the other exercises, until you've mastered the technique.
If your arms & legs are already tired from the other exercises, learning to do the jack knives is going to be even harder.
I've had to switch around the order of several exercises in order to avoid the aforementioned exertion migraines. I need to do "head down" exercises first.
You can always switch the order of the exercises back after you're confident you can do it.
thanks for the encouragement! the worst part was falling off in front of all the people in the gym, normally other people don't faze me, but that was embarrassing. It always has to be the butt-in-the-air exercises where this type of thing happens, y'know? Thanks Alwyn!
oh well, i'll just give 'em a better show next time!
so rather than reverse crunches, if you're just doing them not on the ball give jackknives (v-ups) a go. it's more like what they want overall in the movement… uses more muscles, and is more challenging than just rev crunches.
It really is easiest to get onto the ball by kneeling (like, on your knees), place your belly on the ball, then your hands on the floor, and roll out. If you're having trouble staying stable, try stopping when the ball is under your thighs or knees, not all the way out to your shins. This helped me at first, too.
Sooo much easier to manage, but still hard work for the core. I typically fall off the ball from exhaustion on my 10 rep or so
Hopefully one can build up to the more advanced versions.
Thanks everyone! Sounds very doable - I'm excited to try those tips. Plus, my hubby surprized me at lunch with a swiss ball of my very own. Yay, I can practice at home where the only stares are by my cats going, "monkey, what the heck are you doin? quit that, and feed us treatz!"
Or, since the prone jack knives are at the end of the workout, you could leave the gym early and do them at home. I've done this a few times, mostly when pressed for time, but as long as you are determined to do them at home, and follow through, no reason you shouldn't!
Flyingdogs: I have to say I have never seen anyone doing this without shoes; what a novel idea! I might have to try that. I have a question about how to make these harder; I have been doing ab work for years, so when I started this workout a few weeks ago, I was able to do more reps than the required 8 right off the bat. Now I have wondered what people do when the body weight exercises are too easy; do I just keep adding more reps, forever? Or are there ways to make the jackknives harder, like push up variations, but for the jackknife?
Aha! I just watched that YouTube video linked to above, and he says to do it one-legged after you master the two. I'll have to try that; anyone done it? Am I going to go flying?
Last edited by LancelotsLover : 06-01-2009 at 11:48 PM.
Reason: new information
Flyingdogs: I have to say I have never seen anyone doing this without shoes; what a novel idea! I might have to try that. I have a question about how to make these harder; I have been doing ab work for years, so when I started this workout a few weeks ago, I was able to do more reps than the required 8 right off the bat. Now I have wondered what people do when the body weight exercises are too easy; do I just keep adding more reps, forever? Or are there ways to make the jackknives harder, like push up variations, but for the jackknife?
Aha! I just watched that YouTube video linked to above, and he says to do it one-legged after you master the two. I'll have to try that; anyone done it? Am I going to go flying?
Is the pike (the first youtube link) easy for you as well? I've heard people say that going all the way until only your toes are on the ball in that version makes it a lot harder.
I have never tried the actual pike; somehow I missed that one in my past training. I watched that video as well, later last night, and decided I'll try it because it does look harder. But I'm going to test it at home first, before attempting it at the gym! Also, I admit I get self conscious doing exercises at the gym that result in a "rear up" position; it just seems kind of. . . .you know? Especially when it's 4-5pm and all those men are there. But I'll try it.
Flyingdogs: I have to say I have never seen anyone doing this without shoes; what a novel idea! I might have to try that. I have a question about how to make these harder; I have been doing ab work for years, so when I started this workout a few weeks ago, I was able to do more reps than the required 8 right off the bat. Now I have wondered what people do when the body weight exercises are too easy; do I just keep adding more reps, forever? Or are there ways to make the jackknives harder, like push up variations, but for the jackknife?
Aha! I just watched that YouTube video linked to above, and he says to do it one-legged after you master the two. I'll have to try that; anyone done it? Am I going to go flying?
I tried the one-legged ones last weekend since I was finding the jackknives too easy and immediately rolled off to one side. Way harder than it looks.
It looks really, really hard. Meaning, she makes it look really easy, but as someone who has done a lot with the ball, I'm sure it's not easy at all. She must be extremely fit!
Is the pike (the first youtube link) easy for you as well? I've heard people say that going all the way until only your toes are on the ball in that version makes it a lot harder.
Well, I got up the nerve to try this today at the gym, and surprisingly, it's not as hard as I thought it would be. But, where I can do 20 tuck jackknives at the end of my stage 1A workout, when I'm tired, I could only do 12 pikes the first set, and 10 the second, and I couldn't get off the ball with any grace after that! So I'm going to work up on reps with these. I haven't tried with no shoes, but I think I got all the way up onto my toes; hard to tell when your head's pointing at the ground and you're concentrating on keeping your balance and knees straight, no energy left to try to twist my neck to see in the mirror! Ha Ha
wooohooo!!!!! I have conquered the evil swiss ball!!!!!
I followed aoife's and duck's advice last night and rolled onto the ball on my belly (looks waaaay sexy ) and was able to do my 2 sets of 8! I kept the ball on my thighs in order to not fall off, but I did it! thank you all sooooooo much!
Good for you! It does get easier pretty quickly, and you'll love the results from the ab work with ball. You'll notice your sides get sore too, because you have to keep yourself from rolling side to side; that's the good thing about the balancing on the ball exercises!
Am I the only one here who enjoys lunges? I would do 100 lunges instead of one prone jack knife.
Who in the heck invented prone jack knives anyway? Let's take the heaviest part of ya, elevate it, and then getcha to crunch your end into your ribs, squeezing all the blood into your head - awesome! sign me up!
And when are we going to use that movement in real life anyway, the Olympic Wheelbarrow Races?
/whine
I know, I know. It's good for me. It'll build character.
They are both evil! At least the evilness is confined to one per workout. If I had to do jacknife AND lunges in the same workout I'd be cryin' in my wheaties.
I'm planning to start stage 1 on thursday, so I tried the jackknife today. Holy cow, did I look ridiculous. Took me three tries to get on the ball and get stable. Then I fell off the side of the ball on the second one. Obviously, I am going to need a LOT more practice.
I still do the jacknives at home where I'm able to focus more on the exercise and not on being embarrassed in case I fall. One thing that really helped me was the advice to keep the ball at thigh level at first. I think my core muscles just weren't strong enough to keep me stable with the ball at my shins.
starting Stage 1 tomorrow, jacknife question
Okaaaaay, two sets of reverse crunches it is. 
Thanks Alwyn! 
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