least favourite workout - abs!

K

kazze

Cathlete
I just cannot get motivated enough for them. I do them but I don't enjoy working out my abs as I do every other part of my body. I look at the clock on the dvd player and think, 3 more minuets of this!

Anyone find ways that motivate them to workout the abs better? I mean outside of the 'I imagine myself in a bikini' thought. I need more than a thought of what I could look like.
 
LOL, I watch the clock during abs as well. I have to push "display" on my remote control, and then I can watch the countdown on the screen. I remind myself often to just give the 100% effort (or as close as I can grudgingly get).

I feel the most motivated when I really think of my abs as muscle, just like the other muscles which I work on strengthening. As I see strength gains, or whichever kind of improvement, in my other muscles, I'm proud of that. So I think of my abs the same way. Believe me, I HATE the feeling of my ab muscles burning as I work them out. I mean, it's a "discomfort" in my midsection, for crying out loud! In any other context, it would mean I had diarhhea or bloating or ate too much...so when I work out I remind myself that the "pain" is from working out a muscle. Nothing wrong with the "tummy"...it's a muscle. That's my inner dialogue.

Honestly though, if the watching the clock helps you get through it, then watch the clock!

I hate lunges--I get through these by thinking about how I'll be through with them after I'm done... When Cathe says "feels great!" I usually growl back in disagreement.

Gisela
 
I am right there with you.....I HATE working my Abs!!! I think my *issue* stems all the way back to when I entered the Navy and their 2x/year physical fitness testing. They measure the number of crunches you can do in 2 minutes (arms crossed with hands on opposite shoulders and crunching up to touch elbows on the thighs), the number of pushups you do in 2 min and the time you run 1 1 /2 miles.

I always had a really hard time with the crunches and still do today!!! It's the one thing that I have never been good at!

My favorite thing to work, however, is my shoulders and back! I really like the way they look and love to work them!
 
My abs will certainly be the first thing to fall to the way side due to time constraints or laziness or whatever...I had Coremax but just couldn't make myself do a solid 20 mins of ab work with any regularity so I finally sold it. Anything beyond 10 mins becomes torturous for me! LOL

My abs are in pretty good shape...they are pretty strong and I am happy with them so this unfortunately "enables" me to slack because I am not trying to IMPROVE them, just MAINTAIN them. Now if I could just get rid of that thin layer of jiggly fat over them, I'd be set! :7
 
How come ppl don't like to work their abs? They're my favorite body part to work. (other than my biceps:7 ) That's why I have a six pack!!! Just imagine yourself as having a six pack, or like someone you know who does.

~Adri;-)
 
We all have a six pack it just may be under a layer of fat. Doing ab work all day long will not make you see a six pack unless you are lean enough. It would be nice if you could spot reduce like that. I'd do my ab work all the time LOL if that were the case.

I do make myself do abs twice a week. Key word MAKE!!

Catherine

http://bestsmileys.com/exercising/1.gif
 
For me, it really depends on the workout. I'm doing a CTX rotation right now, and several of the workouts have ab segments. Some of them aren't a problem, as far as boredom factor, but one in particular seemed sooooo long and boring, I got tired of just doing variations on crunches, so I just did my own thing, that included plank work, etc.

If it's any consolation: while core work is good to prevent injury and help support the lower back, 'great abs' aren't so much made by doing set after set of crunches (unless you're going for the kind-of-bulgy-six-pack look that comes with using weights for ab work), but by reducing body fat through what you eat (or more, DON'T eat) and fat-burning cardio, as well as doing total body weight moves like heavy squats and lunges that burn calories and also require you to engage the abs. Functional moves that require transfer of energy from the lower body to the upper body, coming through the core, also work that area.

When I did a P90X rotation, I often didn't do the ab workouts, 'Ab Ripper X' (also known to some as "Ab Skipper", LOL!), as scheduled, but my abs improved quite a bit nonetheless.
 
>
>How come ppl don't like to work their abs?

I'm sure you can think of a body part you HATE to work (or an exercise you HATE to do), and find quite a few people who like it.

Some reasons to not like working abs: Abs can be very monotonous to work (see my other post), and I remember when I first started doing serious ab work, it HURT and was uncomfortable and I just didn't feel it was doing much (because I couldn't do much!). It's a pretty small muscle, and it's hard to get a good feeling of accomplishment that lifting a heavy weight for lat rows can give, or feeling/seeing the pump of your biceps.
 
I think I hate them because they are boring to me, most of them are done on the floor, the burning sensation doesn't give the same feel as that burning sensation in your quads or biceps or whatever...
I do have a two pack though that remains from h.s. when I did gymnastics for a while. That two pack came from stretching exersizes (and yes v ups and a few other ab workouts).

The way it works with me is that I am doing this sixty minuet workout. I love the lower/upper body intense workouts Cathe has because they are intense. The minuet the word 'ab work' is mention, boy my face is like 'oh crap, do we have to?'

It is funny to think out it. While doing any other workout for the body I am gung ho (okay maybe not gung ho but willing and able).
I even have one of the ab lounges thinking that would be better but it isn't.

I don't think there is an ab workout out there that would make me think 'oh good, I think I will do this workout because it totally focuses on the abs and I really enjoy it!'
 
>Oh and hey Kathryn, are ya gonna join back in the chinup check
>in?

Busted!

Probably not. :-(

I've lost my motivation for it. After getting 1 3/4, I just didn't feel the driving need to go for more, at least not right now, and got distracted by other things: like leaning out...which kind of counter to getting more chins in. I also want to get heavier on my weighted back work before I get back into them, because I think my shoulders would appreciate that more. There were a couple of days after I did chins that I didn't like the way my trick shoulder was feeling, and my body is my personal trainer, so I'm taking it's advice!

I was peeking in for a while! But then I felt guilty about not going on, so I stayed away.

I think I may get back to them in December!
 
One of the wonderful things about this forum is an example just like this one. Some of us don't enjoy doing ab work, and instead of going nuts thinking "why don't I like this? what's wrong with me?", we can just put a feeler out to hundreds of people around the world saying "hey, anyone else with me here?" And then we can laugh about it, and encourage each other, and find a little inspiration to "just do it".

Gisela
 
I think (because I do that sometimes) I will do a pilates ab workout tonight. While doing it, I have a feeling I will suddenly laugh (great ab workout!) while thinking of all of you guys out there feeling just as miserable as I do while doing it.

Maybe when I workout the abs I will imagine I have a hot date with Christopher Walken or Christopher Lee or heck even Christopher Knight (is there a trend here? Oh I know Knight is married now but why not imagine anyway?). I will imagine our date will include a midnight toast on the beach with a little skinny dip and gee I have to have nice abs for that don't I? I just hope the moon isn't full!
 
I hate ab work too, but for me the worst thing about it is the way my neck feels. I don't mind ab work so much that doesn't involve straining the neck, but unfortunately, crunches seem to be inevitable and they make my neck hurt BAD. x(

Maybe we should start an I Hate Abwork check in?
-Nancyh
 
>
> Your just jelus... or however you spell the word. LOL.
>
> ~Adri;-)


Well...affectionately jealous, of course! I'm very happy for you, your abs, and your ab-work lovin' self!
 
>
>How come ppl don't like to work their abs? They're my favorite
>body part to work. (other than my biceps:7 ) That's why I have
>a six pack!!! Just imagine yourself as having a six pack, or
>like someone you know who does.
>
> ~Adri;-)

You're also a gymnast who works out several hours a day, thus a six pack!
Like someone else said, I am sure that there is a particular body part that is not your favorite to work. And thinking about someone else's six pack just isn't any motivation for me at all!
 
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