Elusive Control

[shanmonster]

I'm almost where I want to be at, BMI-wise. The fat is all but gone from my lower abs, although there's still a fair amount nestled around my waist. At this rate, it won't last another month or two. Boo-yeah! At the gym today, I was doing a few stretches while waiting for my turn on the cable pull-down, and I caught a glimpse of a non-green She-Hulk in the mirror. It was me. Whoa. Certain stretches really make muscles pop.

I added a couple of new exercises to my routine:

• rolly pushups (I don't know what else to call them. They're like pushups, only you're holding a little wheel, and you roll your arms out in front of you as far as you can while keeping a stable torso, then roll back).
• overhead two-handed tricep curls (I've been lax with this one)
• cable pull-downs (the one that works the lower pecs/upper abs, not the triceps)

They all hurt in a I-don't-wanna-do-this kind of way, which means they're what I need. I tried one-handed planks, but it didn't do diddly for me, so I'm leaving them out for now. I also got rid of my ab routine at the gym, since I'm giving them such a thorough going-over at home. I also cut out the kung fu forms for now, since I'll be back to doing them regularly as of tomorrow. Woohoo! In their place, I've upped the cardio with jogging, sprinting, full jumping jacks, and dragons. Normally, I have the track all to myself, but today, a man in a business suit and stocking feet was walking laps. Odd.

And tonight, I'm trying out a jazz and a hiphop dance class. I hope one of them is really great, so I can continue. But I don't want both of them to be great. I can't afford two classes. I can't really afford one, but I need to broaden my dance education. It's been too long since I've taken regular dance classes. I always feel like an idiot at these kinds of classes, though. They're heavy on skeletal movements and footwork, and those sorts of things don't come naturally to me. I'm a much more muscular/internal mover, and footwork plays cat's cradle with my legs.

In other news, I lack control over my lower abdominals. And this is in spite of years of perseverance. Although I can feel these muscles working during certain exercises (like lying on my back, legs straight above me, and with miniscule crunches, pulling my feet back toward my head, slightly), I've yet to develop the control over them I crave. I know the muscle is strong, but I can't figure out how to move it correctly. I wonder if a TENS machine would help me figure out how to isolate the muscles? Any suggestions?

And now, before I go off for a walk downtown, here are a few links:

Gorenjka's Chocolate Ad: Someone complained about the "poor photoshop job", but really, couldn't they tell the idea was to make the guy's belly look more like a chocolate bar?

Make Your Own Pruno and May God Have Mercy on Your Soul: In case you don't know, Pruno is a horrid, alcoholic swill surreptitiously made in prisons.

'Alcohol makes your brain grow': So drink up your Pruno!

The Top 10 Bonehead Workout Mistakes to Avoid: Straight-forward, common sense advice for anyone trying to get in shape.

Tribe.net: It's a huge, online community. Work sometimes gets really slow. I can't access email from there, but I can keep in touch with people through Tribe. Here I am. Won't you keep me company?

Comments

Lower Abdominals

[slybootz.livejournal.com]

I tried a particularly good lower ab move in a Vinyasa class recently. I know that you practice yoga, so you might have done this kind of crunch already, but here it is just in case you haven't:

Lying on your back, lift your legs straight up and then drop them as far out to the sides as you can, feet flexed. Next, lift your head and neck off of the floor, with hands behind the head (same as you would for a regular crunch). Once in this position, roll your pelvis up off of the floor, not using the momentum or strength of your legs. Bring pelvis back down and repeat, keeping head up and feet flexed the entire time.

I don't remember exactly how many reps we did, but I do remember being sore the next day!

[uber-wench.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I can sit here and flex my lower abs, but I can't explain how I'm doing it. I find it the hardest thing to help my students isolate for belly rolls, but I've managed to figure out how to flex all my belly muscles on their own.

[f00dave.livejournal.com]

I can do it, too; always have been. She can push her lower abs out, but can't contract them, it's the weirdest thing! I suggested rolling a staff across her abs and feeling what happened, but so far she just thinks I'm on crack or something. :-P