Gym Buddies...Advice Needed

Hey my gym experts...question for you....  When I do abdominal work (crunches, extensions, etc..), I use about 80lbs of weight.  I have no real problems doing it...  I strain a little (but no pain..no gain).  Within about an hour of doing the exercises... (3 sets of 12 reps).   I get stomach aches...  Somewhat naescous (sp).  I don't kow if I am pushing too much weight...or not...  Any suggestions...should I redue the weights...  I am hungry..but I am not into eating due to the stomach ache... Suggestions...my gym gods~!!!

you are a better man than me...my stomach started to churn just reading your post... russ

Holy crap!  Who's the handsome fellow in the avatar?  Just to let you know some dude named Russ usually hangs out here, but we've got no idea what the hell he looks like! Good to put a face with the name Russ! CF

How recently have you eaten when you workout?  Could be just a blood sugar thing.  I eat ~ 1 hour before working out.  I realize that 6AM lifters can't do this, and claim other advantages.  You might try eating a small amount (say, 2 ounces, 1/2 carbs) during the workout. What other exercises are you doing the same day? (leg exercises, for me, can leave me sickly, especially when I get strong enough to lift very heavy weights) Could be a combination of muscle stress and motion sickness, though the delay sounds too long.  Do you close your eyes when you do these?  It's best to stare at a fixed point. Perhaps you are getting cramping?  Try stretching afterwards, hold side to side twists for about a minute each, raise arms to ceiling for a minute, lean back with hands supporting lower back for a minute. Are you working out your lower back at about equal weight?  If your lower back is weak, it can cause you to "cave" after abdominal wokouts because you don't have balanced support.  The stretches may help, but the long-term solution, if this is the problem, is lower back exercises. Whatever the cause, I doubt the weight is the issue.  But if it persists, can't hurt to step it down and see if makes a difference.  How many reps are you doing @80 lbs?

What kind of stomach ache? Muscular, like something spasming? Or chemical, like an ikkiness?

I would suggest eating a little smart-snack before you work out. I like 1/4 of an apple with some natural peanut butter. It's a good carb/protein combo, but not as fast burning as a cracker or something.

I would also be careful to stretch really well before and after. If you're really pushing the abs, try a nice back-bend over a swiss ball. Rock your hips back and forth too.

Daniel, Don't fall into the trap 'no pain-no gain'.  You can have plenty of gain without pain!!   Buying into the no pain no gain hype is fine and dandy if you are a healthy 20ish year old body builder and are going to be on stage showing off your bod!  Rather than lifting heavier and heavier (and risking injury and getting burned out), I would try lifting lighter (right technique) slow movements and to exhaustion.  You'll be surprised at how enjoyable weight training can be without killing yourself to be an adonis! Just another way of doing without the risk, lighter, slower, and to exhaustion.

ahh.....just my two cents but why are you using weights for abs? i'll clarify. i'm old school. your abs are muscles so they grow when you put resistence to them. so why would you want your stomach to be bigger? i've been working a long time and i don't know anybody (serious lifters that is) who use weights with their ab work outs. well, one exception is the rope pull down. you have to have some resistence there.

my point is that you want to slim down your waist and weights only bulk up that area. i've always gone with high reps and several angles and several exercises and that's all. no weights ever. i would have a good six pack if i didn't have some loose skin at the bottom but i have a good four pack....lol. so i would say why not try dumping the weights and concentrate on form and reps? here's my ab workout and it's very simple. i don't twist ever by the way. no side bends either. so i do hanging leg crunches, hanging leg lifts (both in my dip/chin station) then jacknife crunches and regular crunches. on the crunches i touch each elbow to the opposite knee and call that one rep. i don't really count but do a set after each superset so i'm always doing some ab work in my workouts.

like i said, your milage may vary but if you're hurting, please stop. try this out for a while. at least it won't hurt! good luck and i'm sure i'm going to hear how crazy i am on this one.....lol carbonblob

carbonblob, As a partial counterargument, I will say that I am using resistance on leg lifts and crunches right now.  A primary concern for me (at 297 pounds) is maintaining the excess muscle I built up from being fat that the body might think it can ditch as I lose weight, and that muscle is primarily trunk muscle.  I want to hold onto it as long as possible to drive weight loss down the stretch, since maintaining muscle is easier than adding (particularly as I'm dropping weight so fast). When I approach a reasonable body fat %, then I'll think more about body shape, and that may mean dropping the ab weights and concentrating more on arm/chest/upper back development. As for Daniel, he appears to be at goal and so maybe that's something for him to think about. (I also don't do twisting exercises; In case I was unclear, I was only suggesting twisting for stretching afterwards.)

hey, good job on the weight loss so far. i didn't catch you were twisting in your last post. i was refering to those types of exercises in general. i just don't twist because of injury.

as for holding on to muscle you might be dropping so fast that it might go with the fat. in any case, keep up with all your leg workouts. as you know, that's the best way to keep muscle and strength. legs build everything and it sounds like you already know that. you'll notice a lot of posts where the guys say they are amazed at how strong their legs are. since we've been walking around with all this weight we really have great legs!

i have to admit, i hate leg workouts! they kill me. but i do them without fail. so what body part do you like to work out and which one do you hate the most? i never had a favorite part but i know i hate leg workouts even though they are the most important. i guess i should say i like arms because i respond so fast but i think i really like shoulders. i'm concentrating on building them up bigger than before. it really helps me look like i have a great taper. i have a 30" waist but my shoulders really make me look thinner down there. keep up the good work.....carbonblob

I agree that I'm dropping too fast to expect to hold onto everything.  But so far I've held or even gained muscle (according to body fat analysis), so we'll see how that lasts. What you say about liking to work out the part that responds the best is true.  So for me, in college and law school, it was upper legs.  I used to love when I'd max out the leg press sled's capacity with 45s, and several big guys would come running over (unasked) to spot and tell me, "Come on man, you can do one of these!"  I was always thinking, "Yeah, I know I can do 1, the question is can I do 9?"  Up close, they'd notice I had the freaky quads that jutted out over my knees, and it made me smile when I was done (even if part of me wanted to vomit). Unfortunately, it was always a bit embarrassing when the same guys saw me doing bench with about 185.  It may be the benchmark everyone uses, but it has always been my weakness; it takes me months and months of consistent work just to get to 200. I agree about military press.  The shoulder's are the most noticeable indication that someone probably lifts.  I doubt I'll ever see your 30" waste (I'll be happy with 38" or less), so I'll need a lot of shoulders to get any kind of taper.