tSR Workout thread

[Marth]

50 push-ups
20 clap push-ups
10 diamond push-ups
3 one armed push-ups (3 on each arm, THESE THINGS SUCK)

I used to be able to do more of these :/

I'm starting to work out again now though!

[Chris2Balls [:B]]

Oh man, that's amazing, Marth!
I can now do 30 push-ups.

[puggsoy]

Forgot pushups yesterday already

We've got a skipping rope so I might do that as well, like just skipping for a few minutes or so. That way I'll also get a bit of lower body exercise (although then I might end up being numb in all of my limbs).

[Kami]

Was throwing a brick back and forth with another person during break at work yesterday.(I didn't hit anything... yet.)

Then I did some working out later that day, at least I'm not being as forgetful as I used to be.

[PatientZero]

Whoa, have you guys never exercised before?
I'm not saying this as a snipe or to undercut the idea here, but you're coming at this all wrong.

Firstly you need to know what you're actually trying to do, not all exercises are equal, and I can tell you now, you guys aren't all gonna have the same physical condition to begin with.

Just to make the point, doing 10 push-ups a day isn't really an exercise regime that's gonna work for anyone, you might manage to build up a bit of muscle mass but ultimately all you'll end up doing is making your arms sore.
(and fyi, that muscle will be basically useless for anything if you haven't got the core muscles to support them, all the force from your arms goes through your trunk and down your legs)

Even if you ignore everything else I say, this is important, do not overexert yourself every day, you will injure yourself, potentially permanently if you go crazy with it. Rule of thumb; two to three days on and one day off, unless you're already fit and following a set regime I wouldn't push it further.
(there are people who do exercise every single day, but to be blunt about it they know what they're doing and/or have support from a trainer.)

Now if the aim of the game is to lose weight or to get "fit", and not to get TURBOXXXRIPPED, it's actually not as daunting as you might think, weight-loss wise your best bet is running, jogging, or even just walking.
To borrow a quote; "I don't care if you have to crawl, just get your ass around the block", you can use a treadmill if you really want to, but unless there's something medically wrong with you just eating right and getting yourself moving can work miracles.
As for doing more traditional cardio work, go for low strain and high repetition, maybe do some push-ups, next day do sit-ups, then squats, then a rest day. Rinse and repeat.
If you really want to give yourself a kick in the anatomy you can do smaller sets of each every day, or to make it simpler to follow do each until it starts to get hard (don't just keep going until you can't do any more, resist the urge to "push through the pain", you only make that mistake once), but it's only fair to warn you that doing it this way you will ache all over and the next day you'll wake up feeling like you've been hit by a small to medium sized car.

You can tell when you're actually getting a notable amount of exercise because at first it will suck completely, and you can tell when it's working because the suck starts going away.

tl;dr: 10 push-ups a day isn't gonna do anything but ache, you'd get more proper exercise just sweeping or mopping the floor every day.
(actually as dumb as it sounds doing housework can be pretty decent exercise and comes with an obvious pay off, if you don't already do it you might want to consider it)

[puggsoy]

You have to admit doing pushups is better than nothing. But I get your point.

Anyhoo, pretty much the day after my previous comment, my dad seemed to become psychic and out of the blue suggested that I exercise every day. I mean I'm not fat or really unfit or anything, but for the last half year I haven't really been able to do much physical activity. I mean not only I do correspondence school and my hobbies are computer-based (sprite ripping etc), but the position we're currently in doesn't exactly let me run around outside and play frisbee or football. In NZ we did plenty of that but right now if I tried to I'd probably hit a car more than once.
In any case, now I'm doing a whole sort of all-round regime. In the morning and evening I do some stretches, push ups, and some general limb movement. After study (about 3-4PM) I do the works. A variety of arm and leg stretches, push-ups*, touching my toes (or trying to)* crunches*, squats*, star-jumps*, jog back and forth* (not much space unfortunately), skip rope, and I also try to jump up and touch my ceiling (not sure if I'll ever get there but it's exercise). By the end, the mixture of the heat and exercise gets me pretty tired and sweaty, but it feels good (the exercise not the sweat). Also when I exercise in the evening I do it just before I go to sleep, so I can fall into bed tired.

So yeah it's going pretty good so far, my arms aren't on fire when doing push-ups anymore

*With these exercises I started at 10 and increased the amount I do by 1 every day, today I'm up to 13.

[ThePortalGuru]

Hey guys, I'm starting Couch to 5k two days from now, if you guys'd like to join in. Also, it's not healthy to be doing push ups every day. Give that part of your arms a rest for a day or so. Make sure you get around to exercising all of the muscles in your body by the end of the week. A gym membership is great, but it's possible even if you don't have one.

Oh, and WATCH WHAT YOU EAT, too. You can't just keep eating a bunch of junk food and expect to become a macho man in the course of a couple weeks. Eat a ton of protein after your workout (not before, oh god, not before), and try to stay away from things with corn syrup or hydrogenated fats. I cut junk food out of my diet for a month a while back, and it felt absolutely wonderful. Gonna try and do it again soon.

[Sunlight]

Lately I have started doing chin-ups whenever I've felt like it (basicly every other day or so). I'm not really out of shape, I'm just looking to gain some muscle. I've been taking long walks every day for about 6 or 7 years now, but I'm just not sure if just walking and doing chin-ups is very.. ergonomic.
I'm not really the kinda guy who goes to the gym though, I feel much more comfortable exercising at home.
Any ideas?

[PatientZero]

Lately I have started doing chin-ups whenever I've felt like it (basicly every other day or so). I'm not really out of shape, I'm just looking to gain some muscle. I've been taking long walks every day for about 6 or 7 years now, but I'm just not sure if just walking and doing chin-ups is very.. ergonomic.
I'm not really the kinda guy who goes to the gym though, I feel much more comfortable exercising at home.
Any ideas?

Oh, well that's simple enough, muscle building is effectively the opposite to cardio, rather than high repetition and low strain, you want low repetition and high strain.
Rather than making your muscles repeat what they can already do you need to push them to their limits, unfortunately you should know that since the idea is actually to damage the muscles so they heal back stronger (nature is weird like that), it does ache a bit.

Obviously the ideal would be to hit the gym and PUMP SOME IRON, but you could always get some free weights to do curls or lifting at home.
I'm afraid if you're looking for a cheap-as-free solution there aren't too many options, there's always the simple "find something heavy and lift it" answer, but for most people moving their furniture around that often just isn't practical.
However, what does work is if you can get hold of bottles to fill with water, water is heavy, a lot of water is a lot of heavy, you can use big bottles to lift with, and a backpack filled with water bottles makes any exercise a feat of endurance. (also you always have drinking water with you, win/win)

To give you some personal insight, what I used to do was load up a pack with water and go for a march, not only does this really work your legs and your core muscles but if you push yourself too hard (I am an idiot and usually did) you can just dump out the water and walk home with a bag that's only slightly heavier than air.

[puggsoy]

I'm not really the kinda guy who goes to the gym though, I feel much more comfortable exercising at home.
Any ideas?

All the stuff mentioned in my post I do at home. Weights aren't necessary I don't think, you can find alternatives like lifting yourself up if there's something to hang on. Or you can lift some sacks of flour or something, as PatientZero said bottles of water would probably work. But apart from that you can do all the exercises of the gym at home, if you're a bit inventive.

[Marth]

Started P90x again and gonna finish it this time and not let school get in the way. Simply because working out now fits into my schedule in college unlike it did in high school.

Time to see if t his shit works or just makes me uber skinny.

[Kami]

Let me know if it works.

[Sunlight]

Oh, well that's simple enough, muscle building is effectively the opposite to cardio, rather than high repetition and low strain, you want low repetition and high strain.
Rather than making your muscles repeat what they can already do you need to push them to their limits, unfortunately you should know that since the idea is actually to damage the muscles so they heal back stronger (nature is weird like that), it does ache a bit.

Obviously the ideal would be to hit the gym and PUMP SOME IRON, but you could always get some free weights to do curls or lifting at home.
I'm afraid if you're looking for a cheap-as-free solution there aren't too many options, there's always the simple "find something heavy and lift it" answer, but for most people moving their furniture around that often just isn't practical.
However, what does work is if you can get hold of bottles to fill with water, water is heavy, a lot of water is a lot of heavy, you can use big bottles to lift with, and a backpack filled with water bottles makes any exercise a feat of endurance. (also you always have drinking water with you, win/win)

To give you some personal insight, what I used to do was load up a pack with water and go for a march, not only does this really work your legs and your core muscles but if you push yourself too hard (I am an idiot and usually did) you can just dump out the water and walk home with a bag that's only slightly heavier than air.

That sounds like a great idea! I'm gonna start with some weights though. I have a few stored away and I know a place where I can borrow some. I'm actually pretty excited to try the backpack-filled-with-water thing as well! Do you have any tips regarding how often I should be exercising though? This whole "when I want to" thing is starting to feel so unproductive.

[PatientZero]

That sounds like a great idea! I'm gonna start with some weights though. I have a few stored away and I know a place where I can borrow some. I'm actually pretty excited to try the backpack-filled-with-water thing as well! Do you have any tips regarding how often I should be exercising though? This whole "when I want to" thing is starting to feel so unproductive.

Well I'm not sure on your current level of fitness so you'll need to make a little judgement call, but since you're looking at some pretty demanding exercises you might want to ease into it, maybe start with every other day and see how you go.

Just pay attention to what your body is telling you and don't overdo it, if you're still aching after you've had a rest day then there's no shame in taking two, or just doing a different kind of exercise that day instead.
So long as you're not working muscles that are still aching from the last time you can't screw it up too badly, and you'll learn your limitations and figure out a regime that works for you quickly enough.

[Marth]

P90x

aka

my fucking body burns.