Pushups!

[SagaLore]

I am very out of shape right now.

Recent winter, I was increasing my calories to get some weight on me, then the plan was to weight lift and use the extra fat to help with building muscle, then get myself back to lean.

Well with moving and having to put the weight bench in the shed, and taking classes, I seemed to have missed the "working out" step.

I was approaching 200, decided to take some action and cut back on my calories, I've leveled off around 185 again.

Until I can build the roof over my porch, the bench has to stay in storage, so I need to find other ways of working out. My plan now is to start off with pushups.

A few days ago I started with 10. Then 11. This morning was 12. In 30 days I will be at 42 pushups.

I've read an article before that explained that you don't have to exert your muscles to exhaustion to build more muscle. If you don't exhaust yourself, then you can weight lift more often. So if I can just keep upping my pushup count, this should work, right?

 

[Kalvin00]

I told myself I was going to do pushups everyday at the beginning of summer.


I haven't done a pushup in 6 weeks.

 

[urname7698]

pushups will help some, but consider other easy things as well.. chair dips, rigging a pull up bar, etc. Pushups will only develop parts of your chest and some tri..

 

[MacBaine]

IN CADENCE!






EXERCISE!

 

[alexeikgb]

don't forget the abs, do abs every day as well, increasing the ammount each week...

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
I told myself I was going to do pushups everyday at the beginning of summer.


I haven't done a pushup in 6 weeks.

Get to it! Now I'm going to PM you every day to make sure you did them.

 

[DougK62]

You'll see some results if you stick with it, but that's definitely not the ideal muscle building situation.

 

[Amused]

Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

 

[theNEOone]

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure of proper form.

edited for accuracy.


=|

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: alexeikgb
don't forget the abs, do abs every day as well, increasing the ammount each week...

I borrowed some device from my brother, it's one of those "as seen on tv" things - it looks like an arrow and has resistance, you put it against your stomach and just pull which makes you tighten your muscles to keep from thrusting it into your internal organs. No idea if this thing works but my abs are a little sore feeling.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: theNEOone

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure of proper form.

edited for accuracy.


=|

Well, I figured that was a given.

 

[Yossarian]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
I am very out of shape right now.

Recent winter, I was increasing my calories to get some weight on me, then the plan was to weight lift and use the extra fat to help with building muscle, then get myself back to lean.

I suggest you do some research at the various training and bodybuilding sites because you don't know wtf you're doing.

Pushups are going to do very little for you. Dont' expect gains to be linear.

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

I'm 37 years old. I've worked out many different ways (including the army way, which is all body weight exercices). The most effective at building mass and strength has been minimum reps, minimum sets, minimum frequency and maximum intensity.

Anything else is, and has been a waste of time and energy.

 

[azazyel]

good for you. My advice would be to get some push up stands. It allows you to go down further and will help you don't stress your wrists. Push ups won't make you buff but you will start to feel stronger after a few weeks.

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Yossarian

Originally posted by: SagaLore
I am very out of shape right now.

Recent winter, I was increasing my calories to get some weight on me, then the plan was to weight lift and use the extra fat to help with building muscle, then get myself back to lean.

I suggest you do some research at the various training and bodybuilding sites because you don't know wtf you're doing.

Pushups are going to do very little for you. Dont' expect gains to be linear.

I agree with Yossarian, you don't really want to just gain fat. Fat does not turn into muscle.......

 

[RagingBITCH]

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

Um, numerous studies. Look it up on Google, or pickup a health magazine of some sort. Why would you not work it to exhaustion?

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

Um, numerous studies. Look it up on Google, or pickup a health magazine of some sort. Why would you not work it to exhaustion?

Exactly.

Besides, I cannot understand why people WANT to reject this. It is the EASIEST and least time consuming way to build muscle... AND it's the most effective.

 

[azazyel]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

I'm 37 years old. I've worked out many different ways (including the army way, which is all body weight exercices). The most effective at building mass and strength has been minimum reps, minimum sets, minimum frequency and maximum intensity.

Anything else is, and has been a waste of time and energy.

He is kind of right. I wouldn't say that everything else is a waste of time. For me I like body weight exercises with high reps. But then I am not going for bulk at all. My recommendation for you if you want to trim up would be to do body weight work outs 3 days a week and swim twice a week. You don't have to really swim hard at first just remember if your not touching the walls or the floor your exercising. Then when you start trimming down if you want to beef up then start hitting the weights hard.

 

[Gurck]

It can't hurt, but you have to push real iron, and to exhaustion, to build 'real' muscle. I don't care what you read to the contrary

 

[Sluggo]

If all you have are push-ups right now, try to add a little variety to push-ups.

Got a wife or little brother? Have them sit on your back, or lay on your back while you do some push-ups. Anything to increase the amount of workload your muscles have to do.

Elevate your upper body and do some. Elevating your feet will increase the workload of the muscle since you are now doing a larger percentage of your body weight. You can start with a chair, then try puttig your feet up on a table and doing some, they get really difficult the higher you get your feet.

Of course the higher you get your feet, the more you are going to engage your shoulder muscles to assist until you eventually become vertical and are doing mainly shoulders.

You can also pick up a big exercise ball at Target or something and put your feet on that. That will increase the difficulty since you will also have to balance yourself and build up lots of the stabilizing muscles. The big blue balls ( Ha-ha) are also good for ab work.

 

[Klixxer]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

I'm 37 years old. I've worked out many different ways (including the army way, which is all body weight exercices). The most effective at building mass and strength has been minimum reps, minimum sets, minimum frequency and maximum intensity.

Anything else is, and has been a waste of time and energy.

Definently true, if you want to be big you will have to lift big, join a gym and start packing on mass.

When you get to sticking points after a few years then you can start experimenting with pyramid training, extremely high reps and such, until then, low reps, big weights and few sets/excersises is the best way.

Oh, and you need to eat.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: azazyel

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

I'm 37 years old. I've worked out many different ways (including the army way, which is all body weight exercices). The most effective at building mass and strength has been minimum reps, minimum sets, minimum frequency and maximum intensity.

Anything else is, and has been a waste of time and energy.

He is kind of right. I wouldn't say that everything else is a waste of time. For me I like body weight exercises with high reps. But then I am not going for bulk at all. My recommendation for you if you want to trim up would be to do body weight work outs 3 days a week and swim twice a week. You don't have to really swim hard at first just remember if your not touching the walls or the floor your exercising. Then when you start trimming down if you want to beef up then start hitting the weights hard.

His stated goal is to put on muscle. I shared the easiest and most effective way to do that.

 

[BAMAVOO]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: SagaLore

Originally posted by: Amused
Join a gym. Go religiously.

And the best way to build muscle is to lift each set to failure.

But why? Has that ever been proven? Your nervous system fails before the muscles do. Studies have shown that hypnotic suggestion / imagery can also increase muscle strength; is it really necessary to work the muscle to exhaustion?

I'm 37 years old. I've worked out many different ways (including the army way, which is all body weight exercices). The most effective at building mass and strength has been minimum reps, minimum sets, minimum frequency and maximum intensity.

Anything else is, and has been a waste of time and energy.

SO what is the routine?

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: MetalMat

Originally posted by: Yossarian

Originally posted by: SagaLore
I am very out of shape right now.

Recent winter, I was increasing my calories to get some weight on me, then the plan was to weight lift and use the extra fat to help with building muscle, then get myself back to lean.

I suggest you do some research at the various training and bodybuilding sites because you don't know wtf you're doing.

Pushups are going to do very little for you. Dont' expect gains to be linear.

I agree with Yossarian, you don't really want to just gain fat. Fat does not turn into muscle.......

I know this. When I was weight lifting before, I became so exhausted at one point it took me a few weeks to recover. And I couldn't get past a certain point - even with the additional proteins and carbs I was consuming.

My brother on the other hand was very fat in high school, but he started weight lifting and was gaining muscle very fast. He then lost his fat and just had the muscle. Apparently worked very well for him. Based on what I've read about fat and ketosis, I figured it was worth a shot gaining some weight before weight lifting again. Since I was having trouble fueling my own muscle regeneration with diet, I figured the additional fat would help. It is not just amino acids that muscle needs to repair, it needs energy to perform the repairs. I could be wrong though!