For some reason, whenever I'm doing my abs, my back because tired far quicker than my stomach. Is there something wrong with my form?

I've done cable crunches, leg raises, normal crunches (weighted), decline crunches (weighted), and every time, my back needs a break before my stomach.

It's driving me insane, because I can see some definition in my abs, but they're painfully puny and I'm trying to make them more bubbly. :(

try getting rid of leg raises, and maybe the cable crunches too

maybe try some stuff off skips ab routine (http://www.skippypodar.net/Fitness/abs2000.html) he has quite a few good ab exercises, and video guides for all of them!

Sure, Smith.

We were looking for ties to Al-Qaeda and we were looking for WMDs. We invaded Iraq. We were one letter off from the right target. :p

Thanks Taffer, I'll give it a look.

Yeah, Iran, who, at the moment, is in the process of creating nuclear arms. ;)

I never got that either. I think it's cos you haven't actually put the word iraq in your sig.

For some reason, whenever I'm doing my abs, my back because tired far quicker than my stomach. Is there something wrong with my form?

I've done cable crunches, leg raises, normal crunches (weighted), decline crunches (weighted), and every time, my back needs a break before my stomach.

It's driving me insane, because I can see some definition in my abs, but they're painfully puny and I'm trying to make them more bubbly. :(

I train my abs the same way I do my other muscle groups, one or two exercises with heavy weights and shorter reps, I usually don't give my back time to get tired.

But then again, your form may or may not be wrong, if you workout at a gym, ask a trainer to watch you and critique, or maybe you can try different ab exercises and see if you have the same problem.

I never got that either. I think it's cos you haven't actually put the word iraq in your sig.

Yeah, I thought it was a little different :lol:

Thought maybe it meant WMD minus the W = Mass Destruction

For some reason, whenever I'm doing my abs, my back because tired far quicker than my stomach. Is there something wrong with my form?

I've done cable crunches, leg raises, normal crunches (weighted), decline crunches (weighted), and every time, my back needs a break before my stomach.

It's driving me insane, because I can see some definition in my abs, but they're painfully puny and I'm trying to make them more bubbly. :(

You probably have the same problem I had - weak lower back (erector spinae). I began to train my lower back hard - probably even overtrained it a bit, but it has paid dividends. Do a search, I've done rants on lower back workouts before. Target your lower back twice a week for four weeks, slow down on the ab exercises during that time. Resume your normal ab routine in a month and I guarantee you'll get a better workout. You'll also feel better - a strong lower back has improved my posture, my ability to stand and walk for extended periods of time and has eliminated the lion's share of back problems I used to have.

-R

You probably have the same problem I had - weak lower back (erector spinae). I began to train my lower back hard - probably even overtrained it a bit, but it has paid dividends. Do a search, I've done rants on lower back workouts before. Target your lower back twice a week for four weeks, slow down on the ab exercises during that time. Resume your normal ab routine in a month and I guarantee you'll get a better workout. You'll also feel better - a strong lower back has improved my posture, my ability to stand and walk for extended periods of time and has eliminated the lion's share of back problems I used to have.

-R

I find myself agreeing with ya all the time blue... train your lower back man. A lot of ab exercises using your lower back too. Your abs and lower back end up doing a lot of motions together. As far as training your abs... hit em hard. Less is more. You dont need to do umpteen thousands situps to have good abs just like you dont need to bench 30% of your max 60 times to have a good chest and lats. Hyperextensions are about my favorite lower back exercise btw.

Deadlifts and Good Mornings are great for your lower back. Deadlifts are one of the best exercises you can do for your body, and possibly the most transferrable exercise to real life.

Good mornings and dead-lifts are complicated (but great) compound movements. Personally, I utilized more isolated movements like a recline lever-machine and a roman chair. After a couple of weeks breaking in my lower back, I'd hold a plate to my chest when on the chair. Using those two movements only twice per week, I increased my back strength a great deal in about six weeks. I'd suggest that you avoid the compound movements because a.) they're complicated and it's difficult to focus on one specific muscle and b.) in my opinion, the isolated movements are simple, allow you to concentrate on the muscle in question, and severly reduces the potential for you to injure your lower back - which while it's weak, it'll be more susceptible. Make sure you use an explosive contracting force on the way up, and slowly return to the starting position when doing lever machine or roman chair movements, too.

And personally, I could never get good morning's to my liking. Stick with the isolated movements... just be prepared to have a very achy lower back for about a week. Don't take any pain killers... I believe them to be detrimental to training when it dulls pain to a recently trained muscle group, especially one you're specifically training to increase the strength of.

Good luck.

-R

What exactly was your problem with good mornings? Wonderful movement.

What exactly was your problem with good mornings? Wonderful movement.

More than likely a lack of good form combined with a weak lower back (at the time). I have not tried them since before I brought my lower back up to par. In all fairness I probably ought to try again if for no other reason than a change-up for my lower back workouts.

The isolated movements were simply a straight-forward "no-brainer" approach to strengthening my lower back and since this gentleman is more than likely in the situation I was many months back, those movements are likely to help him as they did me.

-R

Good Mornings done properly don't really strain your lower back that much. Same with SLDL's. You're pushing your butt back while keeping your shins vertical or near vertical. I've seen guys just try to bend forward at the waist. Now that will make your back hurt! Way too many benefits to ignore these movements.

Way too many benefits to ignore these movements.

I didn't say ignore. But I didn't say go back and pick them up later, either - which I would. I do SLDL's now - and get a great workout from them. Good mornings? Haven't tried 'em since and with my shoulder impingement, I'm not going to. Don't want any weight on my shoulders.

A GM isn't going to aggravate your impingment anymore than a squat. You may have to widen your grip on the bar on both movements so that it doesn't. Remember that I suffer from the same malady. Sucks...

I didn't say ignore. But I didn't say go back and pick them up later, either - which I would. I do SLDL's now - and get a great workout from them. Good mornings? Haven't tried 'em since and with my shoulder impingement, I'm not going to. Don't want any weight on my shoulders.

As far as training your abs... hit em hard. Less is more. You dont need to do umpteen thousands situps to have good abs just like you dont need to bench 30% of your max 60 times to have a good chest and lats. Hyperextensions are about my favorite lower back exercise btw.

Yeah, I tend to focus on cable crunches with around 10-15 reps. But often, my back will exhaust before my stomach does.


You probably have the same problem I had - weak lower back (erector spinae). I began to train my lower back hard - probably even overtrained it a bit, but it has paid dividends. Do a search, I've done rants on lower back workouts before. Target your lower back twice a week for four weeks, slow down on the ab exercises during that time. Resume your normal ab routine in a month and I guarantee you'll get a better workout. You'll also feel better - a strong lower back has improved my posture, my ability to stand and walk for extended periods of time and has eliminated the lion's share of back problems I used to have.



I definitely do train my lower back (though I keep it to once a week, the same as the rest of my muscle groups), and have for the last five or six months. Deadlifts to target it specifically, plus a myriad of compound exercises that use it as a stabilizer (stiff-legged deadlifts, squats, standing rows, etc.). My back is really no weaker than any other muscle group on me. I never have trouble with it, which is why I find it odd that it exhausts so easily.

Any chance that since I'm doing squats/SLDLs on one day, then deadlifts/upperback work three days later, the ab workout in between is exhausting me because my back is still in the process of repairing?