Dear James, :)

My friend decided to join my gym so that she would have me to motivate and train her. She has never worked out once in her life. She's a couch potato. Lucky for her, she has a good metabolism. :) While working on abdominals yesterday, I noticed she was having a really hard time with sit ups/crunches. She was trying to lift with her shoulders and kept moving her chin since her abs weren't strong enough to do a crunch. (I literally had to hold her chin and shoulders straight while she was crunching so that she wouldn't hurt her neck...she could only do maybe about 5) She tried the weighted ab machines and was ok with it. The problem is that those machines cause a bulky look which isn't so hot on a girl. I figured that hip flexor (leg lifts) exercises would be best but I only know 2 different kind of exercises. Plus, isn't that for lower abs only? Any recommendations on what to do? I guess I'll get her to do leg lifts until her abs are strong enough to do regular sit ups.

I'm trying to get back in shape.

My main cardio has always been running, I've never even tried anything else. BUT I just broke my foot in 3 places (cast should come off Monday) so I won't be able to run right away.

I need a cardio exercise that doesn't involve pushing off the ball of the foot. Any ideas?

What about the bike??

Or swimming? I've heard Aqua Aerobics kick your butt for cardio but it's pretty low impact.

the bike makes me think of bike shorts and the kind of guy that does the kind of sweating that necessitates a mop under the bike afterwards.

That's a good idea though as long as I used the heel for the push down instead of the middle of the foot. GOOD THINKING. Ten points.

Oh. I should add that I'm a low-level gov't employee so the only gym I have access to (and can afford) is the one on base. That one doesn't have a pool or cool classes or anything, it's more geared for the military guys and agents to keep in shape. Lots of treadmills from what I understand. Which does not help me.

Of course I can still do stuff at home, but like I said my primary exercise at home has always been running.

Yeah, swimming is a great for cardio too.

Is there a local community centre nearby. If there is and they have a pool, often they'll have classes like aqua fit or they'll have distance swim. Community centres usually offer these programs free of charge or for very little, I'd say no more that $5. The community centre near my house has distance swim for $2.

Basically you want to know what she can do for her upper abs? Something that wont hurt her?

Yeah. A crunchless upper-ab work out.

Try high intensity interval training using a bike.

http://www.musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp

the upshot is that you do 30 seconds at a normal pace, and then 30 secs like you are being chased by a serial killer that wants to eat you.

Supposedly 20 minutes of sprint work a week like that is worth 5-6 hours of normal cardio.

You can also swim.

In some advanced gyms they have like a reverse bike where you move pedals with your arms. ITs a bitch but it works.

Legendary abs may have the best ab workout and its based on like 6 minutes 3 days a week.

You can buy it at www.healthforlife.com .

Here is a website that kind of pirates it:
http://www.timbomb.net/ab/ab.faq.html

If I see another site I'll post it.

It sounds like your friend is trying to come up to high . . people have a different range of motion. You really don't havce to crunch up that high to get the effect. You can also have her to do quarter sit-ups also but I thinkt he real problem is that she is coming off the ground too high.

Ok I have a question. Ever since I was diagnosed with Acid Reflux Disease my doctor has told me that I should be eating 5 smaller meals a day instead of 3 big meals because of my stomach problems. I also have heard that eating smaller more frequent meals will help you lose weight. My question is what kind of meals do you eat? Do you eat until you are full or what? If anyone else eats like this if you could give me some examples of what kinds of meals you eat that would be great. Thanks

My friend eats like this. she usually snacks like every 3 hours. But they're snacks and not meals. So she might have a pice of toast with some butter or peanut butter or jam in the morning and then 3 hours later have a small apple and then 3 hours later she might have half a snadwhich, and then 3 hours later a few crackers and some cheese or maybe a small salad

I mostly eat like this too. I have a protein shake with frozen blueberries for breakfast. Maybe some nuts or fruit around 10:30. Leftovers or a small sandwich for lunch. More fruit and/or nuts/seeds or a Luna bar around 3:30-4. Then a regular dinner. Just eat enough to not be hungry again for another couple of hours and keep your energy up but not enough that you're stuffed.

This sounds like it would be very hard for me to do. I am a very picky eater and I don't eat stuff like nuts and berries, peanut butter....stuff you have suggested. I don't know what I should do. Oh well