 Poster: A snowHead
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rayscoops, pain
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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sheepmadang, i havnt done body pump for a while.. great class though.. i may go tomorrow.. i would often start giving it the big one on the weights.. then end up having to do the press ups at the end on my knees. pace is everything!!!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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rayscoops, you core muscles are essentially the muscles of your trunk and abdomen. They are what support you and give you good posture. As they're not obviously visible, in the past many people used to ignore them, preferring to work on more visible areas instead. One of the problems of the various weight machines in the gym is that they isolate muscle groups, and tend to not work your core muscles, which is why free weights are generally considered more effective as a workout tool.
The benefits of increasing your core strength is that it makes you stronger overall, it helps with posture, can reduce the risk of back problems, and can (apparently) help with sexual function. Improving it is hard and slow work though.
Hurtle, I think that to improve core strength, your core needs to work against resistance, so although it is good to try to hold good posture whilst on the cross trainer, it is not very effective as a strategy for improving your core strength.
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CANV CANVINGTON, it's funny, I've had four different personal trainers so far, and they've all had a very poor opinion of body pump.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Kramer wrote: |
| CANV CANVINGTON, it's funny, I've had four different personal trainers so far, and they've all had a very poor opinion of body pump. |
Did they say why Kramer? I've started doing a few classes at the gym, found circuit training and a mixture of keiser cycle/circuit to be a good mixture of core and aerobic....
BTW are you doing anything specific to increase your running speed? It's one thing I want to improve on...(amoungst many others)
regards,
Greg
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Kramer, really? i thought it really good.. maybe a mixture of everything rather than focusing on certain areas.. mind you it is the same class and moves for a few months at a time.. i guess this is neccessary so everyone can learn all the moves.. then they change the music and the routine and chaos ensues for a few classes
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kitenski, Happy Birthday. Hope you're taking the day off from the gym to celebrate!
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Sore hands on the bike can be due to a variety of things:
Most commonly it's because the bike doesn't fit or is badly adjusted. Make sure your saddle height is correct, at the bottom of the pedal stroke the leg should be just straight but the heel should remain on the pedal without stretching. With correct adjustment the weight should come off the hands, where it was never meant to be.
Change your hand position more often when riding helps too (for me spending more time on the tri bars was the answer), but for those on mobile armchairs (Mountain bikes) the answer may be to use bar ends or even rotate the bars slightly.
Gel gloves help as does gel tape and padded grips, but they're only delaying the numbness.
Hope this helps.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| vetski wrote: |
| kitenski, Happy Birthday. Hope you're taking the day off from the gym to celebrate! |
cheers, off to the pub with the missus, so yes 
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kitenski, Happy Birthday from me to, Enjoy the lunch time drinkie poo 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Just took delivery of my new exercise tool - resistance bands. Interesting to see if they make a difference..and yes, I do realise I will actually have to use them before I can comment on how effective they are!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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fatirishman, ah now this could be interesting. I shall be checking the saddle height on my mobile armchair when I get home. What are bar ends? I will go enquire at the bike shop about them.
Happy birthday kitenski.
vetski, I will be very interested to hear about the resistance bands. Keep us posted.
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Had a fitness test at work recently and whereas I scored well in various areas my back gave poor results. The core strength results from a back scan & strength testing showed a large imbalance (much stronger forward flex) and that the vertebra were out of alignment when the back was arched. Possibly caused by years of exercising abs but not the opposing muscles in the back.
My plan is to work on this imbalance with specific back/core strengthening exercises and back stretches.
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You know it makes sense.
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kitenski, I'm doing intervals to increase my running speed. I'm happy plodding along at about 10-10.5kph, but to get myself a bit faster I do 4 minutes at 9kph, 3 minutes at 10.5kph and 2 minutes at 12kph, repeated four times, and then a four minute warm down at the end. Every time I start to complete that too easily, I knock the speed of each interval up by 0.5kph and reduce the number of cycles that I do from four to three (or sometimes even two if it's a real stretch), when I'm back to doing comfortably doing four again, I increase the speed some more. It takes a long time, mainly because I only run once a week, but I've managed to increase my speed from 8kph to 10.5kph.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Dwarf Vader, 5 hours a day from now 'til Pestember, should fairly kill my post count. Probably a good thing.
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Poster: A snowHead
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CANV CANVINGTON, their main reasoning was that body pump was a way of persuading girls to do resistance work, and that resistance work was far more efficient if you had a tailored workout and varied the load according to the exercise. Also that in a big body pump class bad form would tend to creep in.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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We need the persuasion - I loathe resistance work, hence the purchase of resistance bands to try and make myself do it.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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vetski, what do you loathe about it?
I really enjoy it, far more than cardio.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| vetski wrote: |
| Just took delivery of my new exercise tool - resistance bands. Interesting to see if they make a difference..and yes, I do realise I will actually have to use them before I can comment on how effective they are! |
I have some at home too, along with a Swiss Ball,some hand wieghts and a Bosu that gathers dust under the sofa. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Kramer, bores the hell out of me and feels too much like hard work! For all that, I do recognise the benefits and necessity, hence the purchase.
Helen Beaumont, so that's what a Bosu is. I did wonder, as a couple of people have referred to them. I have a cushion like that, but use it to make the garden step, my usual seat for a coffee and fag, more confortable for prolonged sitting!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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vetski, do you do the same routine every time? Do you keep a log?
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Kramer, routine? Log? I simply don't do any resistance work at all at the moment (if you discount the natural body resistance in ballet, for instance, though I have occasionally used Therabands in Pilates classes), but know I must start (depressed at the thought smiley).
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Kramer wrote: |
| kitenski, I'm doing intervals to increase my running speed. I'm happy plodding along at about 10-10.5kph, but to get myself a bit faster I do 4 minutes at 9kph, 3 minutes at 10.5kph and 2 minutes at 12kph, repeated four times, and then a four minute warm down at the end. Every time I start to complete that too easily, I knock the speed of each interval up by 0.5kph and reduce the number of cycles that I do from four to three (or sometimes even two if it's a real stretch), when I'm back to doing comfortably doing four again, I increase the speed some more. It takes a long time, mainly because I only run once a week, but I've managed to increase my speed from 8kph to 10.5kph. |
Thanks, do you do this on one of those 'orrible treadmill things or out in the real world??? I've just got some GPS software for my phone, so can track running speed
'trial' run yesterday after an hour bike ride seems like the software will be v useful...
http://www.sportsdo.net/Public/ActivityBlog.aspx?user=kitenski
regards,
Greg
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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any other differences apart from the speech (which sportsdo does)...Looks like that is a hardware module, whilst SportsDo is software which I've loaded onto my existing device - HP iPAQ 614c
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SportsDo offers a choice of visual and voice modes, with clear stats announcements voiced over your phone's speakers or earphones. You choose the stats you want to hear and how often you want them announced. The announcements work seamlessly with your phone's music player function.
You can also choose between a comprehensive stats summary display or a large-format display focusing on key stats. The large-format mode allows you to change the readout to another stat with one thumb press.
SportsDo integrates with your phone's other functions, including music player and camera. There's no need to shut down SportsDo when using other features of your phone. |
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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kitenski, that's pretty much it (though I intuit without real evidence that the motionlingo speech is a bit peskier and thus probably more effective for me)
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| Kramer wrote: |
| CANV CANVINGTON, their main reasoning was that body pump was a way of persuading girls to do resistance work, and that resistance work was far more efficient if you had a tailored workout and varied the load according to the exercise. Also that in a big body pump class bad form would tend to creep in. |
cant argue with that...
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im currently going through a phase where i will do something different each time i go training.. i was getting a bit obsessed with times and ended up doing the same old stuff and getting bored.. swimming for example was always a mile in X but that was tedious.. im now do combos of 16's or 4's or whatever suits depending on how busy the pool is .. the thought of knowing what i was gonig to do before i even got off my chair was demotivating me.. i also think i could really get into this cycling lark as well going again tonight
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You know it makes sense.
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Kramer,
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I think that to improve core strength, your core needs to work against resistance, so although it is good to try to hold good posture whilst on the cross trainer, it is not very effective as a strategy for improving your core strength.
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You are working against resistance - that of the pedals and the handlebars. The centre should be absorbing some of that, not just the arms and legs. Mat-based Pilates is predicated on working against the resistance of your own body.
Wot are resistance bands?
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Thu 15-05-08 16:03; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| vetski wrote: |
| I loathe resistance work |
Me too. In fact I loathe gyms! I do jazz dance (love it!), yoga and badminton, with the odd swim, cycle, walk etc. I've only done one ice skate class so a while before triple toe, double loop comes into it!  But I am going to go twice a week now, one lesson, one practise, as badminton season has finished.
And like Helen Beaumont, I've also got a swiss ball, which mostly just drifts around the bedroom and a (fake, smaller) Bosu thing. But I don't even know where that is  .
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Hurtle wrote: |
Kramer,
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I think that to improve core strength, your core needs to work against resistance, so although it is good to try to hold good posture whilst on the cross trainer, it is not very effective as a strategy for improving your core strength.
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You are working against resistance - that of the pedals and the handlebars. The centre should be absorbing some of that, not just the arms and legs. Mat-based Pilates is predicated on working against the resistance of your own body. |
The situation on a real bike is different than on a stationary one because the bike can tilt in the roll plane to adapt to wherever maximum power is coming from.
On a stationary bike the arms on handlebars tension is merely making bad habits of pushing too hard down and not pulling hard enough up.
(and, if you're feeling resistance anywhere comparable to that on resistance machines or weights, your cadence is way too low, tearing up your knees far more for the same power or distance).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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comprex,
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On a stationary bike the arms on handlebars tension is merely making bad habits of pushing too hard down and not pulling hard enough up.
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I think you have to have a sort of 'Pilates brain' not to make this mistake. It's a question of concentrating on your centre and making fluid movements from that centre, whatever you're doing. That goes for free weights too: sometimes, for instance, you might get shoulder pain from lifting some weights incorrectly - go back to concentrating on making the movement flow from the centre and the strain in your shoulders will be alleviated. Sorry if this sounds a bit airy-fairy/non-technical, but it really does work.
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and, if you're feeling resistance anywhere comparable to that on resistance machines or weights, your cadence is way too low, tearing up your knees far more for the same power or distance
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I don't dispute that, but I was addressing Megamum's original question, which essentially was whether a cross-trainer was entirely useless for developing core strength. I was just trying to say that it isn't entirely useless, not that there aren't better ways.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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vetski, ah, thanks. No, I've never used Therabands - it was enough of a battle to get Wandsworth Council to replace our manky old mats and supply us with some free weights!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
comprex,
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On a stationary bike the arms on handlebars tension is merely making bad habits of pushing too hard down and not pulling hard enough up.
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I think you have to have a sort of 'Pilates brain' not to make this mistake. It's a question of concentrating on your centre and making fluid movements from that centre, whatever you're doing. That goes for free weights too: sometimes, for instance, you might get shoulder pain from lifting some weights incorrectly - go back to concentrating on making the movement flow from the centre and the strain in your shoulders will be alleviated. Sorry if this sounds a bit airy-fairy/non-technical, but it really does work.
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I just say "keep the hips level". Not quite the same effect, but it gets the brain very close to the same zone.
http://www.amazon.com/Centered-Skier-Denise-McCluggage/dp/0553340204?tag=amz07b-21 you may find a rewarding read, as it restates the concepts in a skiing context.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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comprex, yes, I can see that. Thanks very much for the recommendation, it looks fascinating. Having just taken a huge Amazon delivery, I have put it on my list for the next one! (Typically anally, I keep a running list at the back of my diary of books and CDs I want. At least it helps to keep down the uncontrollable extravagance of impulse buying.)
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Hurtle, I do the breath-holding thing as well when I ride and dance, less so when skiing. I'm not quite sure why my brain thinks not breathing will be helpful!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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FAQ
