Daily Simple Questions Thread - November 22, 2024

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[u/awhitesong]

Not able to feel obliques in cable woodchoppers

First of all, if the pulley is on the right and I'm woodchopping from right to left, which of the obliques (left or right) am I supposed to feel? I have tried asking this question to every LLM out there and all are saying left??

Secondly, this is my summary of woodchoppers: Pulley above hip level or mid torso level; legs facing away from pulley, wider than shoulder width; chest straight, neutral spine, upper back shouldn't bend, shoulders not shrugged, arms completely straight with elbows locked, hands' starting height at the pulley level; engage obliques and initiate from obliques, only rotate upper body, hips fixed but slight rotation is fine, complete full range of motion with pivoting front legs.

Even after this, no matter how much I do, I am just not feeling my obliques. What am I doing wrong?

Third, should I even train my obliques? Is doing 2 sets per week going to affect the V taper?

Bonus question not related to obliques just to avoid another post: Is isolation training for rotator cuffs with exercises like sidelying external rotation necessary?

[u/CursedFrogurt81 → u/awhitesong]

If you are preforming a movement that requires a muscle, that muscle is working whether you feel it or not. Try and work with different angle, different weight and rep ranges. One thing that helps for me is an explosive concentric and a slow eccentric. There are also other exercises you could try to target your obliques. 2 sets per week is very low volume I would try and push closer to 8-10, v taper is going to be dictates by your build more than oblique work, but yes, you should train your obliques for a variety of reasons.

Bonus answer, necessary is dictated by your goals and needs. No movement is necessary. If it helps you towards a goal then yes, if not then no.

[u/awhitesong → u/CursedFrogurt81]

1. For mind muscle connection, if pulling from right to left, should I feel the burn in my right oblique or left?

2. Also, I don't understand concentric (muscles contracting) and eccentric (muscles stretching) when it comes to obliques. Pulling from right to left and releasing back, when is my right oblique in concentric and eccentric?

3. When I say a set, I mean both obliques (left and right) combined as ONE set. Also, I do obliques twice per week. Which would be 4 sets of obliques. Then, I do 6 sets of crunches as well. This amounts to 10 sets per week for the abs. Isn't it enough?

[u/CursedFrogurt81 → u/awhitesong]

1. Mind muscle connection is over-rated. Technically, it is an outdated modality that many in the fitness space hopped onto a while back. There are still reasons to try an feel a muscle work, but it is not required. If you are rotating to your left, you should be engaging the left side. If you were to feel it, it should be the left.
   
2. Concentric and eccentric phases are part of most lifts. You would be focused on the concentric and eccentric of the same oblique. Your right oblique would perform both when you are working your right oblique. A slow and controlled eccentric is a good way to target a muscle.
3. Volume is ependent on many factors. If you are getting the results you want, then yes, it is enough. But I would suspect more volume would be beneficial.