I'm completely stuck with my abs...
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I'm completely stuck with my abs... - 12/16/2004 1:43:36 PM
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shadypuff
Posts: 2
Joined: 12/15/2004
Status: offline
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Hey guys, first I'd like to say that this fourm is great and has been instumental in my efforts to both loose weight and gain muscle.
However after 5 months of training and 60 lbs lost, I'm completely stuck with my abs.
first I'd like to say that I used to be REALLY heavy, 5,10 225 lbs (at this time I was 16 yrs old...yeah its rather young) One day I decided "hey I'm going to get in shape" and I began my training.
I'm now almost 18 and I dropped from 225 to 170 ish (i'm also now 6'0) my bench max has increased from a sorry 120ish to roughly my weight. And my leg press of 800 lbs hasn't decreased at all. I also increased my core strength greatly, in fact, I do some breakdancing now in which I balance on my abdominals with just my elbow.
However what I have in the way of abdominals now is quite strange. My upper abs seem to be over developed and when I tighten up they look like two very large squares, my lower abs however have formed a raised 'v' like shape under the two upper-ab squares. The only way I can describe it is a 'v' shaped 1-pack.
I've never seen anything like it before, and I'm a little worried, is it normal?
anyways my workout goes something like this
everyday (save friday and the weekends) I lift light in the morning for about 40 minutes.
incline and straight bench 3 sets (120 lbs)
30 wide armed pushups
3 sets abdominal press (100 lbs)
2 sets 50 situps
1 set decline\resisted situps (25 lbs)
2 minute V-sits (stationary leg raises)
5 l handed pushups (each side)
on Mondays I also lift at night for about 1.5 hrs
and it goes something like this:
3 sets sitting chest press (70 lbs)
3 sets bicep curls (40 lbs an arm)
6 sets abdominal press (100 lbs)
3 sets of 30 reps bench press (45 lbs)
10 minutes on the bike at high speed
3 sets of bench (150 lbs)
weighted decline crunches (25 lbs)
10 pullups
10 chinups
20 dips
3 sets lat pulldowns
pushups
situps
and roughly any other weights that I might lift in the few minutes I have left
I tend to neglect my legs, because they're pretty massive as is, and I climb ALOT of stairs
On tuesdays I have that dancing thing I do for 2 hours, its extremely high intesity, but we take a break every 20 minutes, so would this be considered cardio?
I've been following this workout plan for about 5 months now, and I've seen MASSIVE results, however, I have that strange problem with my abs, does anyone know how to remedy this?
Also I have a strange breathing condition that limits the amount of running I can do (its not athsma...that I know) and I can only do about .5 a mile reguardless of my speed before I go numb...and I figure that can't be good.
oh and my meal plan goes something like this:
Protein bar for breakfast (I'm eating power bars now, I usually have balance gold)
Another protein bar for lunch, and or some sort of nut of legume
for a midafternoon snack I usually eat either ANOTHER protein bar,
a half a breast of grilled chicken,
or a bag of extremely low fat beef jerky
I usually don't eat an "orthodox" dinner, instead I usually snack on some creamcheese, have a cup of yogurt, or have a serving or two of soybean.
this usually comes out to roughly 2000 calories a day at most (usually 1700) coming mostly from protein
also on mondays I have a nitro-tech protein shake after I hit the gym.
the only beverages I drink are diet green tea (arizona) or good old water
So does anyone have any suggestions about what to do to solve my ab situation?
any help would be greatly appreciated!
thanks in advnace
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RE: I'm completely stuck with my abs... - 12/16/2004 2:32:42 PM
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cpl
Posts: 5667
Joined: 5/26/2003
From: New York City
Status: offline
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Your entire situation should be changed.
First of all, training any muscle group everyday, let alone so many, is no good- Muscle builds while the body's at rest. In fact, the key to any sort of success when it comes to fitness comes from three things- Training, nutrition and rest. Not to sound harsh, but right now, you need a lot of work in all three areas- The fact that you've had amazing progress so far is great, but I'd have to say it's more because you're just doing some form of exercise rather than the right form of exercise. If you work all those muscles every day, sure, you'll lose weight and perhaps see some muscle gain- But you can expect far greater gains by training properly and allowing your muscles time to heal.
So, let's start with your training frequency- Training a muscle almost every day of the week doesn't give that muscle anywhere near enough time to recover for the next workout. Sure, you might feel like you can handle it, since you do it all the time, but just because we feel like our muscles are ready for another shot doesn't mean the body's done rebuilding them. Constantly working the same muscles without enough rest will lead to overtraining, which could lead to less results- Which could be part of your problem- Or worse, injury. Work every muscle only once or twice a week, and your body will thank you for it.
Now, let's talk about your training method- Your reps are way too high. Thirty and fifty reps of anything is really only training the body for endurance, and unless that's your real goal, you should change it. Get rid of all the pushups and situps- Pushups because working your chest with weights is enough, situps because crunches are far more effective and target the abs more. Basically speaking, you want to break your workouts into specific muscle groups, pick three or four exercises for each muscle group, and do three or four sets of each exercise, doing ten to twelve reps per set for now- Later, if you want to see more size, add more weight and lower the reps per set. So, for example, a chest workout for you might look like this-
Bench press- 3 sets 10-12 reps
Incline bench press- 3 sets 10-12 reps
dumbbell flies- 3 sets 10 to twelve reps
And you're done. Less time spent training, but with better results- And only once or twice a week. Smarter, not harder. (Of course, don't forget to do a couple of warm up sets before starting this workout.) Use a weight you can't do more than twelve reps with, and are able to do at least ten with.
The same principle applies for all muscle groups- There's simply no need to overwork your abs or chest- Which brings me to my next point- Why so much work for chest and abs, and hardly any work for biceps, triceps and back? Also, where the hell is your shoulder workout? Lower back exercises??? Also, regardless of what you think of your legs, you need to work them- We get all sorts of people coming here saying they don't need to work their legs because they climb a lot of stairs, do martial arts training, have naturally big legs, etc- Sorry, heard it all. Climbing stairs is using nothing more than your body weight, and your legs adapted to that really quickly- In order to give your muscles a challenge, you have to use weight to train them. No-one's saying you have to go heavy and get huge legs, and no-one's saying that if you go heavy they'll even get huge- It's a possibility, but keep in mind- If they're getting too big, you can always lower the weight. On a diet of 2,000 calories, you're never going to get huge anyway, so don't worry about it. Work your legs. It'll drastically help improve your overall physique to do some nice free weight squats- They're also great for the abs, in case you didn't know. The number one reason, in my opinion, to work all muscle groups if you're going to work any- Is because if you don't, you risk serious injury. If you try to up your bench weight, for example, but your shoulders are weak- You could end up tearing something, or dropping the bar on yourself.
Anyway, on to nutrition-
More real food, more carbs, more good fat. Ask for more specific info in the nutrition forum, post something about your eating habits there- But basically speaking, if you want that nice six pack, proper nutrition is what's going to win that war for you. Atkin's type diets are crap- Your body needs carbs, and there are such things as good carbs that can actually help your body burn calories- Which is exactly what you should be looking for. Whole grain natural brown rice, for example, is an excellent slow burning carb that takes a while to digest- Digestion itself burns calories, and the longer your body takes to digest a food, the longer it's burning calories. Burning calories means less fat, less fat means your abs will show through the way you want them to. Protein bars are meant as supplements- The work supplement meaning, to supplement your proper daily diet. They're great in a pinch when you're on the run, but not meant to be a meal replacement- Even meal replacement shakes and stuff aren't all that great. Good healthy solid food is always best, and then you look to your supps to give you the added edge. There's just no way they can do all the work by themselves.
Anyway, I know it's obviously a very different approach to what you've been using, but if you really take a look around here and some more people post their opinions on this thread, you'll see that you do need a big change. Those abs are just around the corner, you just need to make some major adjustments.
(in reply to shadypuff)
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RE: I'm completely stuck with my abs... - 12/16/2004 3:10:13 PM
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shadypuff
Posts: 2
Joined: 12/15/2004
Status: offline
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wow, thanks for the rapid and through responce!
Alright I'm all for a change anyways
the way I look at it, I have to train every day (as it is required in my current curriculum,) so I'm going to train a different set of muscle groups each day.
Does this sound like a good plan?
on mondays (my double gym day) I'm going to work my abs and chest (as thats what I'm "targeting")
on tuesdays (the dancing day) I'm going to do shoulders and calves
on wedsday I'm going to do bicep and tricep, possibly some back
On thursday I'm going to hit the bike and work on my delts and hamstring
on friday, saturday, and sunday, I'll do light calestenics...how does this workout plan sound?
thanks in advance
(in reply to shadypuff)
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RE: I'm completely stuck with my abs... - 12/16/2004 5:38:59 PM
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cpl
Posts: 5667
Joined: 5/26/2003
From: New York City
Status: offline
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Sounds much better!
Except you mentioned two shoulder workouts in there- Just a mistake, I'm sure- But you said you'd do shoulders on tuesday and a delt workout on thursday- Delts are shoulders. Perhaps you could throw in a nice back workout on thursday instead of the delt workout- This way, wednesday won't be too demanding (Which is a good thing) since you're already hitting biceps and triceps on that day. Other than that, you're missing work for your quads, and that's it- Light calisthenics over the weekend should be fine, although personally I prefer to give my body the weekends off completely to make sure they have plenty of real rest.
If you need help putting together the exercises for each workout, just let us know.
How about the nutrition?
(in reply to shadypuff)
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