I feel like a wimp

R

Rose11

Cathlete
Hello Cathe and educated crowd. I did Power Hour yesterday for the first time and I felt like a wimp. I thought I was in great shape, but even though I knew I had to reduce my usual weight for the exercises (and I did) I had to stop before you guys and it was a little bit frustrating :-( because I always use about 5-10 lbs less than you when I do your other videos. I plan to do Power Hour once a week for 3 additional weeks with the PS Series with at least a day in the middle for doing just cardio and to let my muscles rest. Is that ok?

Another thing...when I do bench presses I feel the burn mostly in my triceps. I try to do them with good form and not too low so I can target my chest instead of my triceps, but I rarely feel the burn in my chest. I don't know if this can be the cause but I had an accident a couple of months ago and I ripped my pectoralis major muscle (and had surgery to repair it) and I hurt my rotator cuff too. My doctor told me that I could start exercising with weights back in November and I started slowly. I still have problems with push ups ( I do them on my knees and 8 reps at a time) and planks are very very hard. But I don't know if I'm doing something wrong when I do bench presses. Oh well... this thread turned out to be too long. I hope you can help me. Thanks in advance.
 
Don't feel like a wimp. I always use WAY less weight, and have to quite early on some of the exercises. I have been working out for 3 years (with some breaks for pregnancies), but would think I'd be stronger. I don't build strenght easily...or at least it seems that way.

The only time I feel chest work is in the S&H series. Then my chest is on fire! Something about the slowness of it. On all the other vids, my arms just get tired. I know I haven't really answered all your Q's.

Andrea
 
Thanks Andrea. I guess I'm not alone then. I hope that by the end of the month I can do Power Hour without any problems.




PS I still don't know if I'm doing something wrong with my bench presses... :-hmmm
 
When I do bench presses I feel it mostly in my arms too. I never feel chest exercises in my chest! I don't know if this is bad or not - don't feel so bad.
 
Hi Rose:

Fellow wimp here. I thought I was in shape too until I did this tape. I had a similar experience. I was upset at first but I looked at it that this tape is going to keep me challenged for quite awhile, kinda like IMAX. It is worth the money.

I have the same thing with my chest too. I usually feel it in my biceps. The only way that I know that my chest got any work at all is when it's sore and I move a certain way which shows me that, "Yes indeed, you're sore!" Other than that, I don't feel it either. Even with pushups, it's more abs, lower back, shoulder, bicep, and tricep, not too much chest. That's until I do one too many of them. ;)

Keta. :D

[link:mykbtforum.efree2net.com/|KBT Forum]
 
Thank you again. I guess if something good can come out of our wimpiness (Is that even a word???) is that we have something to work up to. I know by experience that when exercise videos are too easy for me I get bored and I end up giving them away, or they go to my famous box LOL! So I hope that in a couple of months I can look back at this post and laugh. ***crosses fingers***

And about the bench presses one of my friends is a personal trainer and he told me that that if I want to target my chest I have to form a 90 degree angle with my arms when the barbell is down and not go beyond that cause I would be targeting my arms too. Somehow I think I've heard Cathe mentioned that in the videos. hmmmm :-rollen . I don't know if I do that with my arms or not cause I always do what's comfortable for me. Since I don't have a spotter at home I'm going to be aware of that the next time I do bench presses.
 
Hi Rose!

This may sound too simplistic, but I find when I do chest presses I need to really push my back down hard against the step/bench and think "PUSH" with the chest muscles. In other words when the bar is going up, think squeeze, squeeze, squeeze with EACH count concentrating on the chest muscles! (At first when trying this method, I used to say it out loud (SQUEEZE) when I was TRYING to target the chest because I was having the same problem not feeling it in the right area) I, also, feel it in my arms and shoulders because they are working hard too, but if you REALLY concentrate on the CHEST muscles, it does help. Also, the 90* angle is correct. Think "goalpost" arms to target chest, not shoulders. Hope this helps.

Your-Friend-In-Fitness, DebbieH http://www.plaudersmilies.de/wavey.gif If You Get The Choice To Sit It Out Or Dance...I Hope You DANCE!!!
 
Thanks DebbieH!

I'm planning to do PS: CST tomorrow. I'm going to focus, squeeze those pecs really hard and try to keep that 90 degree angle. I hope it works. :)
 
RE: Hi Rose!

I'll second the squeeze and concentrate method. It really does make a difference. I've also found that if the weight is too heavy, it is harder to concentrate on the chest because the arm muscles HAVE to kick in to get the weight up there. Though I think that would be all right if using the bench press as a general strengthening exercise.

http://www.plauder-smilies.de/pyth.gif Gretchen
 
It Worked !

Hello people! Well the squeeze and concentration method worked :-jumpy I'm sooooooo happy. Thank you for the suggestion. I did PS: CST yesterday and my pecs were shaking woo hoo! I still have to work on my burn in that area, but this rotation has changed my body, my endurance and my strength in just two weeks. My old weight no longer challenges me when using the PS Series so next week I have to increase it. And I completed those two sets (12 reps???) of push ups in the video (still on my knees but it's better than 8 reps). It is so amazing. I still have two weeks with this Cardio Kicks + PS/Interval Max/Power Hour/Yoga rotation. I feel great and I don't have to stop the VCR that often while doing the videos like I did when I got back into Cathe after my surgery hehe! Can you tell I'm happy??? Have a nice weekend everybody ;-)


PS I hope I feel this way when I try Power Hour this weekend for the second time :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top