Can anyone help me set an exercise goal? I’m 41, male, and trying to add some muscle / strength training to my exercise routine, which up to now has consisted of living in a third-floor walkup and lugging a giant backpack full of books around public transit. Push-ups and sit-ups are easy to do in a tiny apartment with no gym access, so I’m starting there.
What I can’t figure out is what’s a reasonable target for daily calisthenics: how many sit-ups per day? How many push-ups?
My goal is just to increase my overall physical health. I am not doing this to lose weight and I’m not trying to get toned muscles. Unfortunately, these two goals dominate the internet, and I can’t find good general information for the clueless. Is there a calculator somewhere where I can plug in age, weight, and family medical history? Is there a standard for guys my age? I’m maybe 10–15 pounds overweight but otherwise in decent shape.
I read through some very educational old threads here, but I couldn’t find anything that addressed this specifically.
Rather than targetting some arbitrary number, why not do as many as you can do now, then each week add a few? If you can do 10 push ups and 25 sit ups today, aim for 12 and 30 next week. Once it gets really easy, change the exercise.
I’d also suggest not just doing simple push ups and sit ups. Your arms and core have more muscles than the biceps and the rectus abdominus. There are different types of push ups and abdominal exercises you can do that targets the entire muscle group - plus, you want some balance, especially in your core (don’t forget your back!).
Not an expert or bodybuilder here by any stretch, but for whatever its worth, I also do calisthenics for strength training, and I’ve found for me if I don’t do the same muscle groups every day, maybe allow a day or two recovery, I get much better results. You can also find a variety of different exercises that you can do in a small space without equipment, shouldn’t be hard to google.
I think the most important part is just being consistent with it.
Good luck!
That’s where I’m sort of starting. I am adding 2 of each per day, and once I’m comfortable with the concept will probably follow the other advice and work in other exercises.
But where do I stop? What is “really easy”? Right now, I’m adding 2 of each per day. I see online that people do thousands of these per day, but that’s not going to happen here.
Could you expound on this a little? I am somewhat confused by your goal here; what does your “increased overall physical health” entail without at least some weight loss, muscle growth, muscle toning or combination of the three?
If there is weight loss and muscle growth / toning, that’s a great fringe benefit. The reason I’m doing this, though, is because I’d like to develop some better habits with regard to diet and exercise. I come from a family rife with diabetes and heart disease and a distressing tendency to drop dead in one’s 50s. The people with good habits don’t necessarily avoid them, but their quality of life is much higher. My father, at 70, has both conditions but nevertheless has amazing energy and stamina.
Overall I’d like to lose a little weight, but that’s covered under cardiovascular exercise and eating different food (and less of it). I don’t think you can really lose weight by doing sit-ups unless you do them for hours.
Edit: 300 a day sounds like a lot. Might be a good goal to stick with: I’m currently at 27 / day of each. (And even a few weeks ago, there’s no way I could have done 27 push-ups in a day, so I guess another goal is just self-esteem. I would like to think of myself as basically fit if I can.)
Good for you. About a few weeks ago I started the same idea (not sit-ups – can’t stand them – just pushups).
27 a day puts you ahead of most people, I’d guess. Back when I was last doing pushups I used to stagger them in sets (I think sets of 20 was what I was at – my pecs are not strong and never have been). Are you doing something similar? I found it pretty effective at increasing the total number I could do in a day.
I also used to like bench dips for a regular calisthenic exercise – plus, if you’re just out for a jog or a walk, you can do them periodically without looking like a Jack Palance wannabe (kidding – it probably looks kind of butch to bust out some perfect pushups at random in public). Relatively discreet.
I got to know – wide arm “stance” or close-together? Or a mix of both. Knuckle pushups? I guess it’s probably not terrible for the wrists, just flat palms on the deck, but I’m starting to get a little paranoid about jacking my wrists up. But I don’t want to hurt my knuckles either – at my age that’s a sure way to lose a girlfriend, by breaking a finger.
Oh, my own goal is to do 100 a day without taking a rest – I’m 36, could stand a little weight-loss, but eat very well and do plenty of cardio, so kind of similar to your physical condition and age.
Basically, you just want to do them all throughout the day. When you wake up, when you’re watching TV, whenever you have a chance. Set yourself a goal. I used to do around 500 a day. A couple of times I used to do a 1,000.
It’s really not hard once you get into it. Just do 50 at a time or so. Also, I’d incorporate some cardio and get a pull-up bar and do those as well. That way you can do push-ups one day and pull-ups the next. Like a push and pull type thing.
Also, make sure to stretch. That can help a lot too.
You’ll want to change up your routine a bit day-to-day to get the most benefit, like Emanj said you have more than just two muscle groups. Fortunately there are about nine million variations of pushups and sit-ups that you can work into your routine, many of which are as simple as changing the position and orientation of your hands/arms/legs. I use Youtube to find these sorts of exercises.
One piece of equipment you might want to look into is a kettle bell or two. There are about a million simple exercises you can do with these simple weights, and they’re a great way to grab a quick 10-minute workout at some point in your day. They also make great door-stoppers.
I used to do 100 sit-ups twice a day … until I developed back problems. Dunno if that was related or if it was just the logistics of my physique. However, I did 25-30 push-ups twice a day for 20 years, and my doctor did tell me it was the main culprit in my shoulder problems that led to two shoulder surgeries.
Again, it could just be the logistics of my physique, but I’m dubious now of the benefits of those two types of calisthenics.
Siam Sam, yours is the cautionary tale that illustrates why adding variety will be important after our op achieves goal one of consistency. You do not want to get your muscle groups developed in an imbalanced way. That’s not about aesthetics as much as it’s about avoiding injury. There are tons of body weight exercises to mix it up with and several tons more of exercises to add with minimal equipment - a few dumb bells or kettle bells, a jump rope - if those get boring. That BodyFate app does look cool.
For all those recommending variety and sending me cautionary tales:
Right now, we’re talking about doing something vs. doing nothing, which has been my plan for the last 40 years. I’m prepared to change up / adjust once I’m confident that excercise is really part of my daily routine and not just a phase. Right now, though, you’re (kindly) putting the cart way before the horse. I do hear you, and I do believe you, but I also know myself. If I try to take on too much at once, it will scare* me and I’ll quit.
Let’s just say I’m working on an excercise plan to get me through 2012. Then I’ll get a book so I can learn a little bit more about how to do a balanced exercise program and make the sensible adjustments. For now, though, it’s a very short-term goal. Think of it as preparation for an exercise program rather than a real one.
(Oh, and Jaledin: Close together for now, but I read about wide-stance and I’ll try that.)
*(What scares me is "omygod there’s so much to know! omygod what have I been doing to myself by ignoring this my whole life! These things will be easier to face if I can say “well, at least I am already doing a bunch of good things, I just have to add some variety.”)
I’d agree with this. If you haven’t been exercising regularly you’ll be able to increase your reps for several weeks before reaching any sort of plateau.
I actually did something similar over a year ago, using a book called ‘Convict Conditioning’ - exercises that can be done with minimal equipment, as in a jail cell.