Guest guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 BFL Gang -- While waiting for February to start BFL for real, I'm sticking my toe in the water for a few weeks prior. To that end, I'm exploring the exercises in the book and toying with recipes that will work (BTW, please put me on that mailing list for the recipes!). However, I'm confused about the ab workouts in the book. If I do 12 crunches, followed by 10, followed by 8, etc., how am I supposed to increase the resistance like in all the other exercises? No mention is made of holding weights during crunches. I'm pretty sure I'm doing the crunches right, 'cause the first set of 12 causes a nice ab burn. Since these ab exercised don't involve weights, how do you increase the intensity? Thanks. --Don McNamara Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 > BFL Gang -- > > While waiting for February to start BFL for real, I'm sticking my toe in > the water for a few weeks prior. Why don't you start today? > However, I'm confused about the ab workouts in the book. If I do 12 > crunches, followed by 10, followed by 8, etc., how am I supposed to > increase the resistance like in all the other exercises? No mention is > made of holding weights during crunches. If you hold the contraction, you will get quite a burn. If you add weights, you may run the risk of actually increasing the size of your abs, not decreasing them. MP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 bcnuatthegym wrote: Why don't you start today? **************** OK, MP, I'll give the rundown to you and the whole group. Several people have asked why I'm waiting until February to officially start instead of TODAY. I'm sure you guys get lots of newbies jumping on the list and asking inane questions, so I didn't want to clog the entire list with details and my entire list of questions. I bothered Brett with a few of them, and he was gracious enough to patiently offer his opinions regarding nutritional supplements and exercises. However, there seems to be a core of you folks who are pretty familiar with each other, and I'm sure this list is a great resource for encouragement and support, even for new guys like me. This narrative is rather long, but I'm absolutely sure that there must be other guys like me out there, lurking on this list, with the same concerns. "IT'S IMPOSSIBLE. IT WON'T WORK." If you're not interested in the rest of my tale, hit the DELETE key now ... I introduced myself originally when I first posted a question to the group a few days ago as an average, 47-year-old, pot-bellied white guy who is convinced I'll never have a good looking body. I'm not obese, I'm in good health, I LOVE to eat, and absolutely abhor exercise. However, my darling wife and I joined a tennis club that also has a new gym attached. After a few weeks of tennis, I warily accepted her offer of working with a personal trainer, "Olga the Terrible" (aka ). She was cute and energetic, but her own potbelly made me suspicious of her ability to eliminate mine. About twenty minutes into our first intro workout, I heard someone ask her how her pregnancy was going. Oops. Anyway, she introduced me to each of the machines and to some free weight exercises. I was expecting a sit-down meeting to talk about goals and such. No such luck. The next week -- our first actual workout -- she had me pushing dumbells with muscles that I must've had surgically removed years ago. It was three days before I could straighten my left arm all the way without pain! I was NOT a happy camper. A few weeks of this, showing up at the gym to do a half-hour of cardio on the elliptical machine and to work out on the "circuit" of machines, and she continued to brutalize me. It was time for a little talk. About that time, a cop friend of mine (he's HUGE -- I always get a kick out of reading the paper and seeing the report that some poor slob was resisting his arrest efforts!) asked me if I'd read "Body for Life." He explained the concept briefly, and sent me off to Amazon.com. I read the book, liked what I read, but remained more than a little skeptical about the before-and-after pictures inside the book covers. No way anybody could change that much in 12 weeks! My darling wife, who has a degree in nutrition, listened patiently as I bounced the nutritional plan off her. She had no beefs with it. My very limited understanding of exercise physiology, combined with a working knowledge of medical sciences, raised no red flags about the workout regimen. It all made sense. But it still won't work for me. So I found myself working with Olga the Terrible, doing "2 sets of 12 reps" and continuing to eat my burgers-n-fries. Remember, I love to eat. However, having read the book, perused the BFL website and investigated the EAS product line (which is confusing at best!), I made the decision to do it. This requires a major dedication of time, effort and money, all of which are in short supply at this time of year. Darling wife and I are embarking on our first-ever cruise at the end of January. I plan to eat six meals a day -- just not "authorized" meals! Because I'm going to invest the time, effort and money to get into the best shape of my life, I fully intend to make this work. If it works for me -- a man dedicated to overindulgence and sloth -- it will work for anyone of similar build. I didn't want to commit to the BFL program and then take a week-long hiatus to stuff myself and feel guilty about it. Yeah, the timing stinks. Yeah, I could probably have started a couple of weeks ago and taken a break, then jumped back into it. However, I think I'd just have felt miserable about eating and ended up wishing we hadn't gone. Not a good way to spend the first vacation in over two years! So, MP, there you have it. You (and everyone else who's still reading) now know why I'm "sticking my toe in the water" for now. I'm probably 70% committed to BFL right now, getting used to the exercise regimen, getting a feel for what "intensity level 9" feels like, trying to squeeze six meals into my normally busy daily schedule and testing the patience of said wife. By my reasoning, when I start "for real" in February, I won't be wasting time wandering around the gym trying to figure out how to do the program or sneaking a hamburger in on Wednesdays when nobody's looking. Again, I apologize for the length of this post. However, unless you boot me off, I'll be checking in regularly with updates when February rolls around. I want all the lurkers reading this to know that I'm as skeptical as you. I'm probably lazier than you. I'm SURE I hate exercising more than you. And if it works for me, I'll be able to let you know so it can work for you. And I promise to keep the updates much, much shorter! --Don McNamara Indiana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 > So, MP, there you have it. You (and everyone else who's still reading) now know why I'm " sticking my toe in the water " for now. I'm probably 70% committed to BFL right now, getting used to the exercise regimen, getting a feel for what " intensity level 9 " feels like, trying to squeeze six meals into my normally busy daily schedule and testing the patience of said wife. Won't be long before you are 100% committed. It's easier than you think. MP PS: we live in Indiana too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hi Don I agree with you that it is probably best not to leap into the program too soon - I did that with the weight training go my levels 5-10 all wrong and was in pain for 4 days! You also need to be in the position to be able to carry it through for the full 3months. On the other hand don't put it off for too long, you don't want to lose the momentum/interest. Assuming I can get my levels sorted out I intend starting next week (once I sort out the poor sod who gets to take the photo - ugh) LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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