Critique my exercise program

[jagec]

I've never been "out of shape"...I'm one of those lucky bastards who can eat whatever they like and never gain a pound, and sit on the couch for months and then do a 5-hour hiking trip no problem.

However, I'm a bit of a weakling, and my stamina during aerobic activity isn't the greatest. I used to bike in college, but even then my style was to get up to a blistering fast pace in one giant surge of power, then coast for a while to recover my energy.

So, lately I've been starting the following.
Every other day I do a 20-mile bike trip (I'll have to increase this later, but there's this REALLY LONG hill that's the very last thing I do on the return leg, so I don't want to run out of energy beforehand).
After the bike trip, I do 15 push-ups on my fingertips, 10 normal pushups (I'm trying to build finger strength. Eventually I want to do the whole set on my fingertips), 100 sit-ups, and 10 more push-ups on my fingertips.

The days I don't bike, I still do the other stuff. I'd like to add pull-ups to that regime, but I need to find a place to do them, other than a nearby playground

So, does this sound like I'm doing the right sort of exercises for what I want? I'd like to do weight lifting, but I don't have a machine, and I'm too cheap to join a gym.

How fast should I ramp up this program?

 

[tfinch2]

So your doing a whopping total of 25 pushups? If you are a weakling, lift weights and cut down on the bike.

 

[Boztech]

Too cheap to join a gym? I just joined up with Bally's for $24/m. You probably pay 3x that for your cell phone, which is more valuable?

 

[Randum]

if youre just doing fitness for the hell of it, thats not bad, the bike will depend on your intensity. I cycle myself, and your heart rate will determine what level you are at, you can find that stuff on the net no problem-then again i am cycling for racing so thats a totally dif story.
Push ups and sit ups, try increasing like 5-10 every week until its just too high- for swimming when we did situps, you could do hundreds non stop, now i just work on form, and slowing them down, it gets to the point where you could spend about 15min doing them.

Weights, well, they are not my favorite but I feel like they are necesssary evil, so i fit a lifting routine in about 3 times a week, and if you want to lose weight, doing a short run in there wouldnt hurt- i vote for getting some weights

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Boztech
Too cheap to join a gym? I just joined up with Bally's for $24/m. You probably pay 3x that for your cell phone, which is more valuable?

I didn't even have a cellphone until a couple months ago. I'm spending $30 a month on mine, and I regret not going with prepaid since I never get close to using all my minutes. Believe me, I back up my lifestyle pretty well

Originally posted by: tfinch2
So your doing a whopping total of 25 pushups? If you are a weakling, lift weights and cut down on the bike.

My upper body strength is abysmal, I agree, but I don't have access to weights. I don't think I could get truly "strong" in my upper body without a crapload of work...I just don't have the build for it. But I would like to get stronger.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Randum
if youre just doing fitness for the hell of it, thats not bad, the bike will depend on your intensity. I cycle myself, and your heart rate will determine what level you are at, you can find that stuff on the net no problem-then again i am cycling for racing so thats a totally dif story.
Push ups and sit ups, try increasing like 5-10 every week until its just too high- for swimming when we did situps, you could do hundreds non stop, now i just work on form, and slowing them down, it gets to the point where you could spend about 15min doing them.

Weights, well, they are not my favorite but I feel like they are necesssary evil, so i fit a lifting routine in about 3 times a week, and if you want to lose weight, doing a short run in there wouldnt hurt- i vote for getting some weights

I don't need to lose weight at all (6'2", 160lbs), just get a bit more in shape. Maybe I should think about getting some weights...it's just that I don't want to get a whole bunch of stuff until I have a permanent residence. Right now I'm renting, and temping to make money while I look for a Chem E. job in the area. Not too many of those in Seattle, unfortunately.

I haven't measured my heart rate during biking (I guess I probably should), but I average 15mph for the whole trip (that lousy last hill...grrr), and I do a consistent 18mph on the flat areas. My bike is actually geared a little low for how I ride....I can only get up to 30mph on the downhill

 

[AbAbber2k]

Your routine is going to build aerobic capacity and muscular endurance, not strength or mass. Push-ups will only give you strength gains for a little while, depending on how weak you are, before it becomes purely aerobic in nature. If you want strength you need to lift, and utilize progressive overload.

 

[John P]

Just a few suggestions...

Add in about 3 sets of about 100 crunches/leg lifts and increase the push ups gradually to 3 sets of 75-100 if you can. If you don't want to buy a bunch of weights just purchase a nice curl bar + weights and you can do a bunch of different weight lifting with that, some squats, curls, reverse curls, military press, etc...

To add some more aerobic capacity add some elliptical trainer workouts or running in between the biking days. And then try to add a LONG bike ride or run in on the weekend.

Gyms are way overrated (for a 40 year old like me at least). I bought a nice elliptical trainer and plopped it in front of my tv (I live in the Seattle area also and the weather isn't always too pleasant). I can get a nice workout in in the time it would take me to get ready and drive to a gym and back. I throw in some coaching videos (I coach baseball and soccer) or just turn a ball game on and workout. I also try to run a few times a week when the weather cooperates. It's worked for me, lost about 15lbs averaging about a pound a week so far and still counting.

Good luck!!