![aston-britainsstrongetman2[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/tz1woLi.png "aston-britainsstrongetman2[1].png")
I'm going to start going to the gym seriously again after being off for about a year and a few months now.
Before I start up again, I want to start right and there were a few things that plagued me earlier when I lifted seriously. The first being that my stomach would always sag and bulge out. It'd never be flat like you see most models. From my reading I apparently have weak transverse abdominals (I think that's how you spell it), and that would make sense since I also had a lot of lower back pain.
Which brings me to the second thing, which is my ass is flat as a pancake and always was no matter how much I squatted. I managed to get up to a 225lb squat before it just hurt my lower back/knees too much to continue. For some reason I can barely feel the muscles in my ass contract, well, ever. It's like the muscle is "kind of" there, and the only way I can really squeeze my ass muscles is if I squeeze my hamstring too. In the process it puts tons of stress on my knee and hurts, and that's just trying to do kickbacks.
Third thing is that a lot of the lifts I do I can never seem to target the core muscles. For bench I would mostly bench with my arms and hardly be able to feel my chest working. Especially the left side, which I can't even manually contract my left pec if I try (probably because of an injury when I was a kid). It makes shit look very unbalanced. Also, for rows, I can hardly feel it in my upper back ever. And after a while leaning over in that positions hurts my lower back.
tl;dr: Weak glutes, transverse abs, and can't seem to get my pecs/upper back working either (most exercises I only feel in my arms/legs exclusively and not the big core muscles)
I have practiced form, and my body always wants to compensate for those weak areas by not using them. So /fit/, before I start working out, how do I do it properly so I have a working ass and core?
>>36317518
The reason you can't feel it in your pecs when you bench is because your triceps are much weaker compared to your pecs. You should do some tricep workouts and then try benching.
>>36317657
I always thought my triceps were pretty strong actually. I'm a lanklet at 6'2" 168lbs, and I could OHP 185lbs for 1 rep at one point, so I figured that correlated into strong triceps. I could be wrong though. I'll try to add a bit more triceps into my routine. Dips always seemed to hit them very well.
>>36317518
Your entire post is indicative of incorrect lifting as you cannot betray the bio-mechanical machine that is your body--your body isn't somehow "favoring" not using your ass or whatever, you're just ...not using your ass. Because your form is shit.
I advise you read Starting Strength many times. Throughout your training. And film every single set you do for the first couple of months and scrutinize it with the literature.
That's what I had to do to make sure I was lifting correctly. I filmed every single set. And I still film sets now to confirm.
You don't have to *do* Starting Strength. You can skip the program and do something else. But the biomechanical information in the book is unquestionably the best out there in terms of clarity, correctness, and ease-of-understanding for a beginner.
>>36317657
Suggesting weak tris and then telling him to weaken them further (by fatiguing them) makes no sense. Just do your flyes first, then hit bench.
>>36317714
I'll re-read it again, but I thought I had it down pretty good. It's just that I've tried doing things like lunges or a kickback machine specifically for my ass, and I can't really contract it at all, or it's very hard to. I push back on the kickback machine and no ass is being used. Or planks, I could never hold one properly for more than maybe 15 seconds before my form goes to shit. Or situps if I do them my lower right back pops every time. My has always been oddly weak and my ass particularly bony.
>>36317758
Your ass is underdeveloped, but you can fix that by squatting properly.
>>36317832
I've read conflicting info on if high bar or low bar is better for your ass. Which one is it? I've also heard it's good to implement front squats because of the core stabilization that it requires.
>>36317865
The hip angle on the low bar squat is more severe, so the glutes are involved in a larger hip extension on the low bar.
However, due to the less severe and more upright-angle of the high bar squat, this drastically shortens the hamstrings which then prevents them from effectively producing hip extension and so the glutes (or, if you have shitty technique and valgus knee collapse, the abductors), take a more dominant role.
Now, you can squat more weight low bar as well...so honestly, it's hard to say concretely which would result in more ass work.
Since SS teaches a low bar squat and there is not literature of as high quality for the high bar squat, and since the high bar squat results in more knee sheer towards the quads due to the less effective involvement of the hammies to counter-act the pulling of the knee by the quads I'd say--given your history of knee pain and shitty technique--you should low bar squat. It will also be easier on your back.
You can then front squat on light days to get some more ass involvement as the extremely vertical position of the front squat renders the hammies even less effective and really will make your ass sore.
You should also deadlift heavy. How do you think you stand up vertically from a deadlift once you've gone through most of your knee extension? Your ass.
>>36317926
Alright, low bar squat it is then! I'll try to adjust my form as well as I can. Deadlifts I used to do pretty heavy. I worked up from a 185lb deadlift when I first started lifting to 315lb in about a month and a half without gaining a single pound. I shit you not. Though, I mostly only felt it in my hamstrings and lower back. I used a closer stance and basically kept my legs a lot straighter than normal. I did the technique taught by pavel tsatouline and there was a really good video on youtube by some black guy about pulling and pushing your hips forwards that really helped.
>>36317981
I'd honestly just use Starting Strength. Rippetoe has a fool-proof method for deadlifting. You can't fuck it up. It's like 5 steps and you just follow it and you're 95% there.
I really can't stress enough that you cannot be lazy with the reading. Re-read it and re-read it and actively read it while you're lifting between sets.
Good luck!
>>36318002
Alright, it has been a long time since I've read it, but I'll do it again for sure! Thanks for the info.
General question to you and the thread though - are there any good supplemental exercises specifically for glutes and abs? I was thinking planks, kickbacks, leg raises?
>>36318084
pic is my ass.
all I do is squat/deadlift. I don't front squat. I do zero ass assistance work.
If you squat and deadlift heavy you'll have an ass. The assistance work is bullshit. Maybe glute-ham raises if you're totally desperate but just squat heavy and properly.
>>36318177
oh I do power cleans too, those probably help a bit
>>36318084
Hip thrusts
>>36318202
asked for assistance exercises, not how to be a huge faggot with dangerous and stupid exercises.
