Random Fitness Questions

They're charlatans.

Okay, sure.

Video 1: Leg raises do work. It's not really up for debate. He's trying to make himself sound like an authority by being a contrarian.

Video 2: Athlean X is a grifter. He, like the above guy, likes to demonise certain exercises (with no evidence to support his position) and then tell you other ones are magic or 'functional'.If you follow his channel for long enough you'll notice he actually directly contradicts himself when he starts running out of content. Him being ripped does not mean that his information is accurate or in your best interest.

The easiest way to sell someone something is to create a problem that doesn't exist, and then sell them the solution. How well your ab training is targeting your transverse abdominus is not an actual problem for anyone but advanced trainees. The vast majority of people get abs by doing a full body strength programme with a sprinkling of ab work. Oh and do that consistently for months/years with good sleep/nutrition. Doesn't make for a great YouTube thumbnail.

We've tried to tell you this in the interest of helping you, but you've instead ignored us and just continued to ask the same question until you get the answer you want.

You are going to get really easily fed bullshit and end up spinning your wheels if this is how you assess who's an authority online.

I teach clients to tuck their pelvis on hanging leg and knee raises because yes, it does increase the work on the abs. That's not the same thing as saying leg raises don't work.

You're moving the goal posts from 'is this useful advice' to 'will it directly stop someone from exercising' ? This is a sign you don't want your mind changed so I'm not going to try.

I get that you're confused, but at a certain point you need to just pick a source of information and run with it long enough to make your own mind up. It sounds like you inherently want to believe the likes of Athlean, so maybe you need to dive balls in and stop asking for a certainty you simply won't get in fitness.

That study doesn't show that lower abs grow more. It was studying innervation l signals not growth. And its quite vague in terms methodology, results, etc.

There a much more detailed study from McGill. That shows when you control for muscle length, rom. There not a significance difference.

And most importantly none of that has any effect oc burning belly fat.

Yes. The first point is well documented. He was exposed for using fake weights in his videos.

The second point common sense.

No idea what you are asking here.

I pretty clearly only said definition was due to his bf% . The hollow look is separate, but has nothing to do with his rectus abdominus, or activating the lower section.

The core being compressed is the transverse abdominis - as I told you a month ago. And as I also said, It can be trained, but not with that leg raise exercise you posted. Look at bodybuilders posing on stage

You’ve ignored every piece of advice you been given. Do you honestly expect people to keep wasting their time trying to help you?

LMFAO I don’t know what’s worse, the fact you are attempting this pedantry, or the fact you are not even correct.

A full stop is perfectly fine there. They are two separate sentences. In that context “that” is a pronoun not a conjunction - It’s a substitute for the study. Which requires a comma, not that.

Regardless, I don’t for a second believe that the full stop meant you didn’t understand the sentences. But much more important to focus on minute grammar than actually training.

I said above left the ‘s off accidentally. I reply on my phone, it’s not ideal. But you getting distracted as usual. You under the point, why are you getting sidetracked by a typos?

It’s not going to help up improve your abs workout that you’re obsessing over. But feel free to continue to be sidetracked by minutia, youtube, and grammar. The rest of us will at the gym.

Have you used mixed grip yet?

It really depends on how much you care about grip strength or being able to deadlift without straps.

would couple of those thin rubber stretch bands work for you, you might be able to keep a tighter grip on the bar?

I’d suggest they are the same thing. Or rather one is a product of the other (plus the grip variables)

That’s a fair point about training population. I tend to assume a post is an average male, and that is they were old, young, slight, female etc, that it would be mentioned. But it’s not always.

Is it? A 10rep set requires you to hold on much longer than 3reps obviously. But the load will be much lighter (75-80%).

In order for it to me more likely for grip to fail at high reps. Your grip muscles would need to fatigue faster than your hips. I’m not saying they don’t, but I’ve seen no evidence that they do. Would he interested if you had any info. Grip is an interest.

One caveat is that hips are stronger than double overhand max. So grip is typical the limited factor at all rep ranges.

I agree that you should not let grip limit your training of hips, posterior chain., etc. But at the same time, removing the grip aspect will see it left further and further behind.

I like the approach of double overhand up to the work set (or as far as possible).

Most people need to set the supinated/underhand about an inch wider in order for it to feel balanced.

Can you give an example of grip failing at high rep?

I'm not saying it can't happen, I just think that high reps, the load is light, that people are simply less likely to think about the relative % of the lift.

For argument sake, say DOH max is 80% of mixed/true 1RM. If somebody has a 1RM of 200kg, that would mean a DOH max of 160kg. and then their 5,10 and 15 reps max would be ~140kg, 120kg and 100kg respectively. That seams reasonable to me.

If grip was fatiguing early on high reps deads. They'd be struggling to hit 100kg for 15reps DOH. I'd be surprised if that were the case based on a 200kg max. I think its more likely that people simply overload with a something more proportional to the their true/mixed max. (175/150/125kg in this case).

Complete agree RE straps. Forearms still to get fried from volume easier. After a few max efforts sets, grip recovery will slow. So I can understand a powerlifter or strong man introducing them to complete high volume/high intensity days. But guys who jut want to be stronger, want to be bigger, or just want to train. Most of the time use straps as a shortcut.

Regarding grip... From anecdotal experience, my deadlift grip (both mixed/DOH) improved massively when I did a period of farmers carries and stayed with me after I stopped the carries, but continued deadlifting.

I took a few years off serious training before/after lockdowns and haven't done farmers carries since coming back and I notice my DOH grip isn't anywhere near what it used to be.

I don’t prescribe my weights based off a DOH max so that’s prob the difference!

My general approach is DOH until it fails, then mixed/hook, then straps. Allows me to tax grip and move heavy weight.

Typically rarely need the straps for anything under 5 reps. Particularly if hooking.

Decline press up q, I get a piercing pain above the shoulder blade on an off on one side, is there a stretch or other exercise I can do to get rid of it? it shouldnt be a warm up issue as its about my 3rd or 4th exercise in and will have done a set of normal press ups first

Losing 30kg of fat will require a prolonged and sustained calorie deficit. That is not really conducive to building muscle, so I'd limit my expectation for how much muscle you can build. But bare in mind when losing weight you will look more muscled, and when adding resistence training you will get stronger without needs to add muscle mass - through neurological adaption.

Bands can add as much resistance as you need. To get really heavy résistance, you need a frame or rack to which the bands can be anchored. A mix of bands and weights is probably best.

When you tried benching, when you say failed, do mean failing a rep? How do you know it was triceps failing? Just because you can't feel chest working doesn;t mean it isn't working

Maybe a dumb question,.but how do you guys decide on fitness goals?

I'm a bit torn for the new year.. I've started doing strength fairly recently, and while progress has been slow due to not having too much time, there has been progress and i am enjoying it.

My goal was to do strength twice a week and run twice a week which i see as very time effective and great all round benefits.

But now I am torn whether to focus on this and put in some good park run times, sign up to 10ks and maybe adventure races in the summer, all the while gradually increasing strength

Vs

Focusing one 3 solid strength shifts a week and getting to body weight bench, 1.5 bw squat, 2 bw deadlift.

I think both are great plans. So how to pick one?

Maybe just shut up and do one says you.