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Old 08-26-18, 10:40 PM  
OSusanna
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Western WA
Essentrics muscle gains

Hi everyone,

I wrote about my questions about how muscles are worked when we do Essentrics in this thread: http://forum.videofitness.com/showth...ght=Essentrics

And I got wonderful responses, thank you. I feel extraordinarily worked when I do these workouts. Right now I’m on Season 6. More questions!

There seems to be a lot of quad work when we do legs. Do you think these workouts are balanced between quad and hamstring/glute work? I’ve done around 30ish workouts now and I only recall 2 workouts with work in the hamstring area. Plies perhaps, but I don’t feel my back leg area working as hard as the quads.

I’m not someone with a lot of muscle bulk (I’m just fluffy for other reasons, lol). Could this workout cause some enlargement of muscles or is it mostly just definition that people get?
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Old 08-27-18, 11:06 AM  
DCW
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Join Date: Dec 2016
Hi!!

After a little more than two years of Essentrics, I have a lot more muscle definition. I just finished up with Season 6. I really enjoyed it and now look forward to season 7.

Right now I am doing Full Body Toning workout in the morning, the standing routine only. So the rest of the week i will mix it up with Miranda, Sahra and the other instructors. One of favourite dvd is Stretch and Strength in Motion which has an emphasis on hamstrings.

Hopefully Jackie and Pam will comment too.
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Old 08-27-18, 11:35 AM  
Izzy
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: West of Chicago in the Illinois Corn Belt
Sometimes, Miranda will mention when a move works your hamstrings. I happened to pick up on this the other day. To be honest, I have done CS/Essentrics for so long sometimes I tune out Miranda not because I don't like her but because I have heard things over and over. But she was working on legs and afterwards was doing this stretch which she said works your hamstrings and lower back muscles. I thought "hmmm..I didn't realize that." And this move she does in a lot of her workouts. Unlike many other instructors they don't always say when a move works a specific area. But the new workouts from Gayle, Amanda and Meg they will say what area it works. And Sarha will as well.
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Old 08-28-18, 03:43 PM  
Fidget Queen
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
I think every time you do the plies, even if she emphasizes the quad work, hamstrings (as well as the whole thigh) should definitely be working, as well.

Also, every movement that involves those side-to-side lunges should be working your hamstrings and glutes a lot. It may take awhile of doing them to feel the work in all areas, but you can definitely get there. Even more, you can continue to go deeper and deeper over time and get into those muscles even more.

I actually had to decrease my range of motion a lot for a time in order to focus on using those leg muscles consistently instead of just jamming my weight into my knees and hips so that I LOOKED like I was moving like Miranda instead of really MOVING more correctly.

I love my Classical Stretches
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Old 08-29-18, 07:28 AM  
Judith L
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: CT
I agree with everything Fidget Queen wrote above. If you are using "resistance" in every movement (going and coming, rising and lowering), in every movement in which you feel it most in your quads, you will be working your hamstrings also. For example with plies: one should be resisting the downward movement, but also the upward movement.

It is the claim that the essence of "essentrics" is to stretch and strengthen while using eccentric contractions thereby creating strong elongated muscles and not the usual hypertophy. -- An added bonus is that creating all this tension in our movements engages the fascia - stimulating, hydrating, strengthening, stretching and refashioning it and thereby magnifying whatever muscular benefits you derive from the exercises.

As regards "muscle definition" though, that has more to do with your body fat. So muscles of whatever shape or size, will only become more "defined" with some loss of body fat. With excess body fat, any muscle growth of whatever type, may just give the appearance of more fullness -- at least in the beginning, since muscle lies beneath the body fat. If you increase your musculature (and muscle burns more calories than fat), and don't increase your caloric intake, then you should lean out and begin to get some muscle definition.
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