[shadha]

I'm thinking about joining Curves- anyone in it? I don't want to lose weight, just stay toned.


shadha-

[Caramel_Candy]

Originally Posted by sally

Light day today..ran 4 something miles and weights/toning for an hour.

I'd been working out in Ramadan. Running outside a couple hours after Iftar, then coming home and doing some toning with resistance bands. I didn't have much endurance though.

Anyways been back in the gym for a week plus now, it's great, my second home. Really missed it.

Its awesome that you work out so much but dont over do it and lose your feminine shape and start to look like a man.

[sally]

Variable, if you have weights you can do weighted crunches. They're strenuous, so you need to do less of them to feel the same burn in a shorter amount of time. Plus it helps guys get six packs easier.

The most simple way of doing a weighted crunch is with a dumbbell or a small weight ball. You lay on the floor with your hands straight on the ground above your head, like you're reaching for something. Stretch them out as far as possible, holding the weight between them. Then slowly focus on your abdomen for strength to come up to a sitting position (or even further.. almost hugging your knees) bringing the weight up from above your head into the air and back down in front of your feet. Kind of get the idea? It's kind of like the following picture, except you're not on that 'chair' thing. Plus, you can either keep your knees flat or as shown in the picture.



If you do have access to that bench thing, go for it. Most gyms have one. But be careful. You need crazy back support/strength/flexibility. So you need to be working out a while. It's mostly also about placing the right amount of pressure while doing the move on the right parts of your body. And usually just working out regularly helps you get in tune with yourself like that. It took me a few months to build up the courage to get on that thing. Works well though. I don't use weight while on it yet. Just work against my own body weight to pull up.

Also some invaluable tips I've compiled from experience (I think I wrote a long essay on the old Islamica once..sigh)

1) DO NOT strain your neck while doing crunches. If you feel the slightest bit of strain on your neck, you're doing the move wrong and should stop ASAP. It means you're using your neck to crunch up, which isn't even a crunch really. Your abs are playing close to no part in this move. And of course, you can injure your neck pretty badly. Oh and people who do crunches correctly can also start feeling neck strain as they get closer to the end of a set of crunches. That just means they need to end the set and rest for a few. To avoid straining your neck, touch the top of the inside of your mouth with the tip of your tongue. It helps.

2) Your fingertips should be like on the base of your skull, right above your neck when doing crunches. Both your elbows together should form a straight line when you do so or you shouldn't be able to see your elbows during a crunch (except from the corner of your eye). Look straight up at the ceiling at all times, it helps with proper crunch posture.

3) Make sure you crunch slowly and if possible close your eyes and take all your energy and focus on the body part you are working out - in this case that would be the abs. Just visualize your abs while thinking of taking all your energy and putting it into each crunch. I know it sounds weird but it really, really helps with proper posture. Often closing your eyes really really helps because the visual distractions are gone and you can kind of channel the 'sight' energy into the body part you're working.

4) Suck your stomach muscle in with each move. When you feel like the middle of your stomach is being pulled forcefully to the ground right underneath your spine, you know you're doing it right.

5. Every time you put in all your energy into a move, your breathe OUT loudly. So when you come up to crunch, you exhale. Proper breathing helps you to utilize max potential/endurance. Often people have more endurance than they can even think of; they just don't know how to breathe right (with cardio or strength training). Don't hold your breath; people do that without knowing because they're stressed out about lasting until the end of their reps.

[sally]

Also, I wrote an essay on Curves on the old Islamica. Bah.

Basically it's not designed for young women. Not only will you not find many people your age there (unless it's the only gym in your city) but the music is horrible and a young person is definitely bound to get discouraged from the whole environment within a few weeks. But Curves has guest passes, so you can go in for a weeks worth of work-outs to see if you like the philosophy or not.

Middle aged to older women also get discouraged from Curves like gyms (and there's different ones based on the same concept popping up everywhere under various names) but that's for a whole other post.

**
Caramel, I appreciate your genuine concern but it takes a lot more than just working out like crazy for a woman to end up looking like a man aka weird supplements and substances. And as someone who is aiming for a career in the fitness industry, I've done more than my fair share of research on that. Also, as you become more and more active, your body becomes increasingly resistant to the movement because you not only develop endurance, BUT your body knows it can't get rid of your entire weight so you start to level off with regards to calorie expenditure and everything. The trick is to eat right. I go to a lot of fitness/running forums just to read posts of lifelong runners and other overactive women, none of whom have ever expressed concerns about losing their feminine look.. and they're all way more active than me and have been for years and years and years.. Like there are women who run 50 miles a week and crazy stuff like that and are completely healthy because they make sure to replace what's lost and yeah.

[wheelworks]

Yesterday was a good commuting day for me. I sprinted alot and did'nt feel tired at all. Basically all I did was do a bunch of 25mph sprint bursts on and off. I think my lowest speed was around 16mph. Mebbe it was just cause the drivers were more aggressive than usual and I had a constant flow of adrenaline. Alhamdulillah it was all good

About 3 months ago I was about 160lbs. Now im 145

[the_only_one]

I want to verify if the things I acknowledged today are sound...Today, I changed routes instead of heading towards the leg tonning machines first, I used the one and only abdomenal machine in the old crappy gym that i have recently joined. the sad part was I couldnt lift the machine at all. (it had zip weight on it).For my ab workout, i usually use the "ball". So, my friend helped lift the tip end to make it easier on me to crunch, but i was only able to crunch half way; i could feel it more at my back than my lower or upper abs..

`so how does it work if my ab muscles arent fully developed, my back will suck up all the pressure from the crunches

[Caramel_Candy]

Originally Posted by sally

Also, I wrote an essay on Curves on the old Islamica. Bah.

Basically it's not designed for young women. Not only will you not find many people your age there (unless it's the only gym in your city) but the music is horrible and a young person is definitely bound to get discouraged from the whole environment within a few weeks. But Curves has guest passes, so you can go in for a weeks worth of work-outs to see if you like the philosophy or not.

Middle aged to older women also get discouraged from Curves like gyms (and there's different ones based on the same concept popping up everywhere under various names) but that's for a whole other post.

**
Caramel, I appreciate your genuine concern but it takes a lot more than just working out like crazy for a woman to end up looking like a man aka weird supplements and substances. And as someone who is aiming for a career in the fitness industry, I've done more than my fair share of research on that. Also, as you become more and more active, your body becomes increasingly resistant to the movement because you not only develop endurance, BUT your body knows it can't get rid of your entire weight so you start to level off with regards to calorie expenditure and everything. The trick is to eat right. I go to a lot of fitness/running forums just to read posts of lifelong runners and other overactive women, none of whom have ever expressed concerns about losing their feminine look.. and they're all way more active than me and have been for years and years and years.. Like there are women who run 50 miles a week and crazy stuff like that and are completely healthy because they make sure to replace what's lost and yeah.

I thought u were majoring in pyschology or something?

[sally]

Originally Posted by Caramel_Candy

I thought u were majoring in pyschology or something?

Psych & Exercise Science

[bluey]

Sometimes I really find it hard to combine studying, working on papers and working-out. But I guess I waste time on other things too, [like Islamica for example]. How do you guys keep a steady routine? [Sal?]

[sally]

Originally Posted by the_only_one

I want to verify if the things I acknowledged today are sound...Today, I changed routes instead of heading towards the leg tonning machines first, I used the one and only abdomenal machine in the old crappy gym that i have recently joined. the sad part was I couldnt lift the machine at all. (it had zip weight on it).For my ab workout, i usually use the "ball". So, my friend helped lift the tip end to make it easier on me to crunch, but i was only able to crunch half way; i could feel it more at my back than my lower or upper abs..

`so how does it work if my ab muscles arent fully developed, my back will suck up all the pressure from the crunches

You might just want to steer clear of that machine and just do regular machine-less crunches. I think I know what machine you're talking about. It looks like this:



EXCEPT

it's flatter like this one, meaning you can come back down even further



It's pretty intense and I didn't really start using it until after working out my abs a lot without machines. But now I built up to 20 lbs on this thing. It does work on your back a little, but remember, feeling the work out burn is very different from feeling straight up pain.

I would suggest you do a normal ab routine every other day for a month and try it again.

A combination of regular crunches, bicycle crunches, crunches with feet on a step or table (tables harder, start with a smaller step. also one of those big balls will work too), leg crunch up (you focus solely on your lower abs and bring your legs slowly up and back down but not low enough to touch the floor so the lower abs are working the entire time. also you can kinda sit on your hands while they're on your sides for more support, ball crunches, and the crunches using the smaller weight ball I explained to Variable, should be a good mix although oblique work is lacking but you can do that after the first month is over. Do at least 15-20 mins of solid ab work every other day combining any of these exercises or others you like or know of having to do with abs and you should see a pretty significant difference in strength after a month is over. Generally 3 sets of 12 per exercise. If you get bored alternate the sets for one exercise with another so you'll be doing different things and stay focused. Oh and also, cardio before/after is a must for full effect. You might want to warm up with 10mins of cardio, do this routine, and continue your remaining cardio afterwards. This way your abs will be warmed up so you won't feel as sore when you do the routine, and afterwards when you're doing your longer cardio your abs will be working extra hard because they're tired already.

[the_only_one]

Originally Posted by sally

You might just want to steer clear of that machine and just do regular machine-less crunches. I think I know what machine you're talking about. It looks like this:



EXCEPT

it's flatter like this one, meaning you can come back down even further



It's pretty intense and I didn't really start using it until after working out my abs a lot without machines. But now I built up to 20 lbs on this thing. It does work on your back a little, but remember, feeling the work out burn is very different from feeling straight up pain.

I would suggest you do a normal ab routine every other day for a month and try it again.

A combination of regular crunches, bicycle crunches, crunches with feet on a step or table (tables harder, start with a smaller step. also one of those big balls will work too), leg crunch up (you focus solely on your lower abs and bring your legs slowly up and back down but not low enough to touch the floor so the lower abs are working the entire time. also you can kinda sit on your hands while they're on your sides for more support, ball crunches, and the crunches using the smaller weight ball I explained to Variable, should be a good mix although oblique work is lacking but you can do that after the first month is over. Do at least 15-20 mins of solid ab work every other day combining any of these exercises or others you like or know of having to do with abs and you should see a pretty significant difference in strength after a month is over. Generally 3 sets of 12 per exercise. If you get bored alternate the sets for one exercise with another so you'll be doing different things and stay focused. Oh and also, cardio before/after is a must for full effect. You might want to warm up with 10mins of cardio, do this routine, and continue your remaining cardio afterwards. This way your abs will be warmed up so you won't feel as sore when you do the routine, and afterwards when you're doing your longer cardio your abs will be working extra hard because they're tired already.

exactly Sally, the second pic. i hate that machine i used to use the first machine at my old gym with some weight on it( cant remember exactly).I guess, the former is easier than the latter.. thanks for the suggestion.i wanna get rid of my santa claus' big belly soooooooooooooo bad I worked out my abs with 3 sets of 10 reps on the ball..my abs have been sore since yesterday.

also today: did 15 min warm up cardio..and then joined 90 minute Cycling Class...No weights, 'coz i gotta study a lot inshaAllah!

i plan on working out for 1 hr on treadmill tomorrow morning. inshaAllah

[iTz_NoT_Me_iTzZu]

Originally Posted by shadha

I'm thinking about joining Curves- anyone in it? I don't want to lose weight, just stay toned.


shadha-

isn't curves for old people?

[Variable]

Originally Posted by sally

.

The most simple way of doing a weighted crunch is with a dumbbell or a small weight ball. You lay on the floor with your hands straight on the ground above your head, like you're reaching for something. Stretch them out as far as possible, holding the weight between them. Then slowly focus on your abdomen for strength to come up to a sitting position (or even further.. almost hugging your knees) bringing the weight up from above your head into the air and back down in front of your feet.

I bring the weight back down in front of my feet?

Thanks for the info. I don't have a bench though, all I have is my mat on the floor. And I don't have anything that I can easily put my feet under to hold my feet down. Do i have to keep my feet down in all versions?

I hear what your saying about your back... this is why I wanna get it right, I don't want to re-hurt my lower back doing this. And I also get the whole closing your eyes thing... I actually am finding that I don't even like to use music when I'm doing certain exercises, when it starts to burn, all I'm thinking about is how many I've done and my goal... the music just kind of fades out anyway.