What about one of those small blow up saucer shaped thingies - they kinda work in a similar way but don't take as much room?
I don't know what you're talking about with the "blow up saucer shaped thingies" but I get an intensely satisfying tough abs workout with the floor as it is. Oh yes, I will also be back bridging on my Abs workouts.
Something like this..... Fit Disc Power wheels are awesome too - especially the one that Erik Paulson uses... Power wheel
OK Yoda I'll let you have that. It was actually a rather good description!! The power wheel looks interesting and being recommended by top martial artists (creep, creep) must be worth a go.
L O L if u want to continue growing and developing it isn't u will plateu and also your power will only come from certain areas ensuring u have limits. (not to mention that if u gain considerably on such a limited program u will end up muscle bound) as for abs jack.... doing them quite regularly and on different days seems ok, it is a muscle that recovers relatively quickly and not strictly a a power muscle, unless u plan on lifting 20kg weights with it etc there's a lot of different theories on abs, mine are covered by a layer of fat since i'm not on a toning or fintess based program so i am not the best on abs. i'm told doing abs in the morning before eating, when your body has used a lot of nutrients in the night is the best time as it will draw energy from the fat reserves around them and hence they will be more defined..(that's from a toning point of view) if you are gonna do power training on them, the day is not as critical as it is with most other body parts as it is not a muscle group used a lot during the other lifts so it shouldn't be as stressed. and yoda if you are gonna make a post about sumthin with your opinions that's fine but don't rubbish someones elses...and i'll tell ya why your statement is ludicrous.... i did a simplified program very similar to the ones originally stated by jack myself for a time...and my gains in strength were good but my gains in muscle were very limited and it resulted in me lifting weight that started to give me joint trouble simply because the support muscles that help growth and the muscles and joints around them, were not developing with the rest of me. so i have experience of this as well "it just isn't so" is your experience perhaps, it is not a fact. u have to look at the big picture if u wanna do things right. maybe what u say will work for jack maybe not. and maybe he'll workout for himself what's best over time.i would hope so different people respond better to different training anyway, so no one can put a deffinitive statement on such a thing, only advice.
Yo GREAT1 What we're talking about here is a strength training routine for a 16 year old. I stand by everything I've said. Sorry though - I can't let this one go.... LOL! Do you actually know what "muscle bound" is? Do you have any actual experience and/or qualifications in the prescription of exercise programmes? I'm sure Jack will continue to research & make his own mind up. Caveat Emptor!
Caveat Emptor is Latin ..... Let the buyer beware! I.e. Consider all information and make up your own mind!
Thanks for the post THEGREAT1 but I do disagree with a lot of what you say. I am not unresearched by any means, I have researched fitness for a few years now in detail but I am just a little rough around the edges so though I would check this routine over with others. Mine and many other's opinion - Abdominals recover at the SAME RATE as any other muscle. Abdominals are a power muscle, they provide core strength that translates to martial arts and most definitely in Squats and Deadlifts. Doing abs in the morning before breakfast is not going top create enough of an aerobic effect to start burning any noticable amount of fat, and if fat is used its from all-over the body, NOT from that specific area. Spot shooting doesn't happen. I'm sure that after 3 months of this, if I want to continue lifting, I will change my program. I will probably have a few more compound exercises in their to stimulate new growth, but right now I doubt its a necessity. Thanks for the replies, though. Jack
hehe .....i have experience not qualifications..doesn't mean i don't know what i'm talking about...and stand by what u said if u want i never said any of it was wrong..what i said was...rubbishing my post was out of order as it based on both experience and years of info gaining from body builders i know, body builders and power lifters i have trained with, advice from fitness instructors and based on a lot of research from muscle mechanics books, and body building magazines.....which includes masses of information by people who've been training their whole lives ...these people do not all come up with ..."balloni" your opinion and personal experience cannot/does not outweight that of everyone else it is merely another point of view. saying "it's just not true" is out of order and muscle bound = bound by muscle, restricted movement.....a feature of many people with loads of muscle. and jack like i said, i'm not an expert on abs i have never paid them to much attention. ....however the reason they are said to recover quickly is purely due to the fact that they are constantly used and hence are fitter and more used to action than many other muscle groups which results in the faster recovery, it's not based on them being superior or anything but that's just sumthin i once read so dunno how it applies to anyone but the guy who said it
THEGREAT1 noone I am sure wishes to "rubbish" your post. Generally when I advise people on abbreviated training there is a massive retaliation. Now it seems I am in good company and that people here realise abbreviated training is the most beneficial form of training for the average guy. I have not reached a plateau and I am most definetly not muscle bound!!! I too was a walking encylopedia of "professional" bodybuilders. I had tried their routines. Spending hours in the gym sometimes 7days a week. I never made serious gains and often felt drained and weak. Okay we all differ and what works for some will not work for others but the type of training that you have been brain washed into accepting as the norm generally only works for the genetically gifted or those pumped with steroids (the unspoken secret of the pros). It took me a long time to accept this and it wan't until my now longterm friend (and the biggest guy I know) "showed me the light" and gave me a book to read that I finally realised that I had been wasting so much time. Like I have suggested to Jack, I also suggest to you that you buy one of the books on the link I posted, or visit that websites forum. You are entitled to your own opinion put do not be blinkered by a certain way. I have also read about training before breko and I agree with THEGREAT1 If you are looking to loose weight it does make sense to train at that time of day, but like you say Jack you will have to go all out on the cardio. You do not need to change your program!! Why change if the exercise routine you are using is working? Maybe have a little change but keep the core exercises. 3 months is a very short time to get VERY strong in any exercise. It is best to set short term goals but it is also wise to be realistic. Instead of 5kg, how about adding just 2kg of muscle. May not seem much but 2kg every 3 months for a year is 8kg, 2 years 16kg. You get the picture. Keep your goals realistic, missing goals will destroy your enthusiam. I found strength gains to be my best short term goals. Say you can squat 30kg for your given rep count aim to be squating 40kg by the end. You may even exceed your goal and you will feel fantastic. Be careful though, be pleased with your progress no matter how little it is. Do not sacrifice everything just to meet your goal. Each little realistic goal will add up to an impresive long term goal. You will get there with little steps.
ok from a power and martial arts perspective....and not a building one...u still need range of movement, without it your power is all concentrated, meaning u can't generate full power from different angles(u still get power from practice if nuthin else, but it is not as much as u could have)... from a building perespective.....if u trained 7 days a week on occasion it was either 25 years ago or else u weren't the walking encyclopedia u thought u were i've never seen anyone who does or reccomends intense weight training 7 days a week apart from possibly some of the older guys from the 70's etc. the 2 biggest guys i know all do body building with the techniques i'm familiar with, one of my friends/aquaintances came 3rd in mr scotland last year... and he doesn't come in and do an abbreviated workout as u suggest....but then the 3rd biggest guy i know doesn't weight train at all and is 252lbs 6'4 (not fat) ..doesn't mean do what he does, it just means he's a genetic freak. personally i did an abbreviated routine when i was 16-17 and i gained zero muscle and marginal strength..since i changed to a full routine i gained 42 lbs(3 stone) in a year and a half ...i am no genetic freak and i never touch steroids etc .i have to work my ass off to keep my weight, i lose it quickly and i can't put it on easily.(btw my training is very sporadic, i am not good in the motivation department, so my gains over that 1.5 years could have been more, hard to say for sure of course) to use such one dimentional programs is fine, it works for some, but there are deffinate limits all depends just how ambitious you are. as for hours in the gym, depends what ya mean by that. i know that most BB workouts usually are designed to last between 30 mins and 1 hour and there is a workout done 4 or 5 days a week. so i dunno if you mean hours at time or what ...probably not but thought i'd bring it up just incase(maybe the plans have changed since your time on them). as for the link and books etc i'll take a look, but bear in mind i have been down that road to very little effect btw to jack.. you should perhaps read up on muscle fibres as there as fast twitch and slow twitch etc, fast twitch provide more explosive power etc, so depending what kind of power u want to have, perhaps u should look at that. U can affect which fibres you are training by duration, and rep speed etc. e.g. fast reps = explosive power, slow reps = pure strength etc etc. there's some good threads on that at the sherdog.net (i hope it aint against the rules post links to other forums here apologies if it is) forums strength and power section if u wanna look there.
PS.....btw... so i don't give wrong impression. i aint pretending that all my gains are muscle btw, i carry a fair bit more water than i used to and i carry a little fat now, but the muscle gains are still significant and the strength gains are heavily significant.
Yeah I exaggerated. I think the most I ever trained was every other day. So had I, also to little effect. I later found my approach was wrong. I found it to be very effective when I gave it another go with more knowledge on the subject. You have done very well on your chosen routine style. Stick with it, if it works
Yes, I've researched them although my knowledge is a little basic on them now. Thanks. I'll do the abbreviated routine - if it works for me I will stick with it, if it doesn't then I may consider a different approach. I will definitely give it time, though!
