Firstly, the title of this thread is a little misleading. I have no objection to using weights except that I don’t really have room to use or store them at home (and would rather not spend the money).
As a football (soccer) player and a keen runner I am already pretty fit and am just about at my ideal weight. However, both these sports are focused on my lower body and I would like to increase my upper body strength and to look a bit better in the process. I don’t really have time to start up a new sport or go to the gym to help achieve this and I don’t want to cut back on the running or footy.
I have recently started doing 30 sit-ups and 10 press-ups (and plan to steadily increase this) every morning before I go to work. This is the type of exercise I am looking for. i.e. quick, simple, and easy to do at home. I am not too concerned about immediate results as this is something I want to add to my routine permanently (if it’s too insane I just won’t keep it up.)
For those of you who have seen Spiderman, Toby Maguire and I share a similar build. If I could get to look even 50% as good as he does post-spider-bite I would be very happy.
Is this realistic in the least (for someone who is already fit) or does such a physique only come from hours at the gym (or radioactive spider bites)? Am I going to need to do 300 sit-ups and 100 press-ups a day to look like that?
Any expertise, encouragement or experience you can share would be most welcome. As are suggestions on the exact type, frequency and quantity of exercise I should pursue to build a balanced increase in upper body muscle.
Eat more protein for sure. Do not do press-ups everyday…alternate everyother day, to allow the striations in your muscles to form properly. When you do the press-ups do 10 regular, then ten with your feet on a chair (inverted) and then 10 with your arms on a chair feet on the ground (inclined) this will work the upper, middle, and lower pectoral muscles…giving you that ripped, clean, fit look. Otherwise, if you only work the mid-pectorals, you’ll develope man-boobs later in life. Trust me I had to work very hard to be rid of mine. And I;m a 34 year-old with a good build, but it took a lot of time, and effort to do it.
It’s also worth noting that press-ups (first time I’ve heard them called this, BTW) focus much more on the pecs, and if you also want to get your arms well defined, you’d probably have to do pull-ups, both regular and inverted, so you work both biceps and triceps.
Get a chin-up/pull-up bar. You can get them for cheap at sporting goods stores and they can be set in a doorway without any tools. You’ll probably find that doing even one pull-up is hard at first, so do sets of negatives: use a chair to get to the top position and slowly lower yourself down. This will help build your back muscles so you’re not just building your chest.
Also, while it may be impractical to fit a full bar and bench set in your home, would a dumbell set work for your situation? I have a pair of dumbells and a small set of weight plates that sit under my desk. I only have 40# total weight, but it’s better than nothing.
You’re going to be getting some workout of your biceps and triceps with push-ups but you’re not gonna get any back in. And if you just work your chest and not your back, you can get this kinda hunched over look. You can get a pull-up bar you can install and remove after each workout. It’s kinda tough to work the back with doing pull-ups. You can do diamond push ups where your hands form a diamond and your arms and back are straight up to your butt and then your legs are straight (so you form an angle) but they’re not all that effective.
Another way to work triceps is to do dips off the edge of a chair or sofa. For biceps, grab something heavy (maybe a milkjug wih a handle) and do curls.
Sublight, I have thought about shadow boxing but I always feel like a wally Maybe if I knew what I was doing a little more. And I don’t own a copy of the Rocky soundtrack
tremorviolet, it sounds like pull-ups are the way to go, are the install and remove doorway bars secure enough to take an adult’s weight?
akennett, dumbells would likely not be a problem, any routine recommendations?
Absolutely. And you know what? It hurts. And not just when you move, but all the time.
Furthermore, vertical pulling (chin-ups) is not an effective counter-movement for horizontal pressing (push-ups). You need to train the opposing movement in the same plane. So that means rows of some kind, which you’ll need something for.
Now, you can use a chin-up bar to do rows. Just put it in the doorway about three feet off the ground, lie under it, and pull yourself up. For more of a challenge, elevate your feet (same deal with push-ups).
There are any number of variations you can do with pushups. You can (unless my muscles have been lying to me) get good arm action with them as well as working your back. It’s just more difficult.
A quick thing you can do that requires nothing more than your arms (don’t need a floor, a chair, nothing) is … well, I don’t know the name for it, unfortunately. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is. Lemme 'splain:
Cross your arms in front of you - not against your chest but out away from you. Your elbows should be firmly at your sides and the palm of one hand should be over the palm of the other hand.
Move your arms down by acting to push down with one arm and up (but not with as much force) with the other. Your hands should feel this, but you needn’t clench them at all. The arm doing the pushing down will get its triceps (and some of the chest) worked, and the arm being pushed down will get its biceps worked. Then, without switching your hands’ positions, move your arms up. Your elbows should be at your sides for all of this (it keeps the chest worked).
Vary it some by switching your arms up - the one with the hand on top shouldgo to the bottom, and likewise with the other arm. You should be moving from about 45 degrees to about 135 degrees, give or take a few - you can go to 20 degrees, but I find the greatest resistance is from 45 degrees to about 135. This should make a V pattern against the front of your body. It looks like this: |<.
It won’t make you jacked, but it will tone (and tire) your arms.
If you want the grandaddy of bodyweight calisthenics, check out www.mattfurey.com. Keep in mind that he’s training wrestlers specifically, but you’ll certainly build muscle (not really body sculpting so much, but it’ll be there).
That and a good diet, which others are more competent to help you with than I.
A good excercise for deltoid and triceps development is the handstand pushup. Basically the name says it all. You do a handstand, lower yourself as far as possible toward the floor, and push back up. You need not actually be able to do a handstand unassisted to be able to do this movement; you need only position yourself near a wall, facing it, and kip yourself up into a handstand position. The wall will aid you in balancing.
Still, it’s better if you can actually do an unassisted handstand the work of balancing will bring stabilizing muscles in your midsection into play.
Look for children’s playground equipment. With all of the bars and whatnot usually attached to these, you can find something that will work as a pull up bar for you.
Oddly enough, I do almost the exact same exercise regularly, except with my legs–its purpose is to work the quads. I do it as part of a three exercise routine to help prevent runner’s knee. Very effective.
I typically do bicep curls, tricep extensions, rows, bench press, military press, butterfly, and lateral raises.
Like I said, I don’t have much weight, but I do long sets with minimal rest. This really works well for me to keep tone without becoming a hulking monster.
Remember that a pint of water = a pound. If you keep gallon jugs (bleach, milk, whatever) and fill them with water, you will have 8 lb weights to use, that won’t take up too much space.
And I;m a 34 year-old with a good build, but it took a lot of time, and effort to do it.