Do you have any tips for preventing your hip flexors from taking over? I did some hanging leg raises today but kept my knees kinda bent and used a partial range of motion. Still not sure I was able to prevent the hip flexors from helping out.
My abs are undertrained right now, so I’m having a hard time getting a good mind-muscle connection.
That’s Chris’s favorite but I don’t feel it quite as well.
Yes! Those can be effective and I always forget about them!
It’s all about getting in the right position, isn’t it? If my abs are undertrained though, it’s hard for me to find it. If they’re easy to activate then Bosu crunches are fantastic.
Yes. That move works best with the free-floating Smith, but I’ve made it work with a fixed-plane machine. You just have to play around with where the BOSU is placed.
Nick Tumminello has written that the upper legs/thighs shouldn’t go below parallel. Looks like you’re doing a half-rep: mid to top only with a pronounced curl-up at the top. I like to drop just a smidge below that.
Found the vid:
Ignore the murder occurring in the background sound.
Yeah I really hate gathering up multiple pieces of equipment for just abs. But I might have to get back to doing those.
I think her pace is fine as long as she’s feeling it, but I always admire what you do for abs.
The thing is, once I’ve gotten my abs strong enough to need external load on an exercise, I can no longer get a mind-muscle connection. It’s bizarre. Abs are my most stubborn muscle group and I’m tempted to hire a personal trainer specifically to build them.
The best ab training I’ve ever had always took place in a group fitness class. Maybe I can hop in on a class and just say, “hey, I’ll join you guys for the last 10 minutes.”
I was pretty much going to say what @Chris_Shugart sent - just do the top half. You could also go straight leg and fire out like 20 bottom range reps to start with, real fast, so your hip flexors are fatigued enough to lag behind your abs… then try the real reps. If you struggle with MMC, though, I don’t know if this would work. Keeping my rest breaks super short helps, too; it’s like I “remember” where I’m supposed to initiate movement between sets.
What benefits do you notice when you do TGUs? I know it’s a full body exercise but have never been taught to do one, and have always been curious if they hit any musculature in particular.
Throw me in the “I hate TGU” crew. Doing ab work already sucks bad enough, now I have to combine some nonsense that makes me feel ridiculously unathletic and every rep takes 6x as long? No thank you. I recognize there’s benefits, but I’m not man enough for the trade-off.
My brain is busy at about 3 am, so that’s when my day begins. This has been a problem for the past few weeks. I’ll wake up with ideas, questions, worries, etc., then stay awake till I’m bored of laying there for no reason.
The construction going on in our house has me on edge because we’ve been burned before by other professionals. Even though the guy who’s doing it now is trustworthy, I just can’t relax until it’s done.
So, while today would’ve been a lower body session, I’ve decided to lift only twice a week until I can get my sleep back on track. And that means I’ll be doubling up on walking and ab work, like this weighted BOSU crunch.
Dog Walk: 30-40 min Abs: Wait… this is lifting kinda. I lied. Treadmill Walk: 25 min
Weekend Plans: I’m painting the master bathroom and walk-in closet by myself this weekend, which is going to be some serious non-exercise physical activity. So if you have any podcast recommendations, or specific episodes you think I’d enjoy, drop them below!
