owww, just did situps for the first time in about 6 years

I can't even do 5 push-ups.

 

Good for you! Try to keep it up and doing it regularly, thats the hard part!

 

Hurts dunnit?

Hey, you might want to reconsider the good old sit-up and go with an alternative. Crunches are easier on your back. Just a suggestion.

Bo

 

Big +1 to that. Situps are monstrous unless you've got a young, strong back. I had a lot of problems with them until after I started doing lots of back workouts (DEADLIFTS!) to strengthen my back.

FWIW, dude, crunches do plenty. Unless you want to take a half a box of tylenol 3's every day for the rest of your life, I'd recommend staying away from situps.




EDIT: Vertical situps are...when you're hanging from your knees, or what? That stuff's intense!

 

Don't rule out cardio work dude, I believe it's the best way to burn fat. Situps and so forth are great for toning muscle, which is important, but if your ultimate goal is weight loss, train cardio as well.

Good luck, as soon as I get a job, I'm going to get a membership at the YMCA. I want an eliptical machine so bad, they're awesome because jogging wrecks your knees/back eventually. My gym coach from high school has a displaced disc in his back because he jogs all the time.

 

I don't know anything about losing weight (never needed to) but I'm right there with ya with the situps! I need to do them cuz my six-pack turned into cardboard box. You inspire me!

I always break them up, do 1/2 crunches and 1/2 leg lifts to isolate the upper and lower half of my abs.

Maybe you can have an official "did you do your situps tonight?" thread!

 

REEEEEEEEEEEPOOOOOOOST!

Best Life Online

Body

Iron Out the Kinks

by Trevor Thieme
Mar 2, 2007 - 9:33:53 PM

Five common exercises you should never do

The test of time usually works. Futile fads like sweatboxes, vibrating belts, and most tips from the odd, ponytailed Tony Little have died out quickly enough. But a few bad exercises have persisted, and exercise physiologists don’t see how these ineffective and sometimes dangerous maneuvers have survived. Take the sit-up, which can be quite damaging if done improperly. “Locking your hands behind your head can torque your cervical vertebrae,” says David Pearson, Ph.D., director of the Strength Research Laboratory at Ball State University. The result: neck pain. In fact, sit-ups are the kind of “unsafe behavior” scientists at Arkansas State University say account for 63 percent of all weight-lifting–related E.R. visits, so purge them and the rest of these body breakers from your routine.

Posterior (Behind-the-Neck) Pull Downs This exercise rotates your shoulders into a position that strains your rotator cuffs, paving the way for inflammation. “I’ve also seen guys pull the bar down so fast that they crack their spinous processes [little nubs on top of the vertebrae],” says Pearson.
Safe Alternative: Anterior (Front) Pull Downs Not only is pulling the bar to your chest easier on your shoulders, but “it flexes the lats through a greater range of motion, accelerating muscle growth,” says Pearson.

Behind-the-Neck Shoulder Presses Just as posterior pull downs strain your shoulders on the way down, this exercise hurts them on the way up. Pearson says it also puts too much stress on the acromioclavicular joints (those little knobs on the tops of your shoulders), which can lead to an overuse injury commonly referred to as weight lifter’s shoulder.
Safe Alternative: Alternating Shoulder Presses Sit on a Swiss ball and hold a pair of dumbbells overhead with your arms straight and palms facing each other. Next, bend your left elbow and lower your left arm, moving your elbow out to the side, until your upper arm is parallel with the floor. Press it back up and repeat with your right arm.

Straight Bar Curls If you let your arms hang loosely by your sides, you’ll notice that your palms face inward. The problem with straight bar curls is that they lock your arms into an unnatural palms-up position. “In so doing, you’re stressing your elbow joints, and that can lead to tendinitis,” says Pearson.
Safe Alternative: E-Z Bar Curls The bar is angled to put your elbows in a more natural neutral position.

Leg Extensions The four parts of your quadriceps are designed to work together as one, but a recent study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that leg extensions activate the sections slightly independently of one another. Even a five-millisecond difference can cause uneven compression between the kneecap and thighbone, inflaming the tendon that connects the kneecap to the shinbone (a painful injury known as jumper’s knee).
Safe Alternative: Squats To squat safely, place the bar across your shoulders (not your neck) and keep your back straight, bending slightly at the hips through the squatting motion. Proper form is crucial with this exercise.

Sit-ups Not only are sit-ups bad for your neck, but they’re also one of the least-effective abdominal exercises you can do, according to a recent study at San Diego State University.
Safe Alternative: Bicycle Crunches That same study found the bicycle maneuver works the abs and obliques 250 percent better than traditional crunches or sit-ups. Lie on your back with your feet up in the air, then bend your knees at a 90-degree angle. With your hands behind your ears, pump your legs back and forth while moving your armpits (not your elbows) toward the opposite knees.

© Copyright 2007 Best Life Magazine

 

Yessir. Situps/crunches without cardio work will just make you get a bigger gut!

As for the running thing, that's a very good point. Low-impact is the way to go, IMO. Ellipticals are perfect for such a thing. Also, you should never count out the value of biking, swimming, and rowing.

 

I just started doing pushups/situps myself, about a week ago. I haven't done anything since highschool football three years ago. I made a "summer resolution" to get into better shape before I go back to studying every day and have nomore time.

 

Good start. Do that for a week then add a bit more or do more sets. Later on you can add more exercises to address the rest of you.

Just remember that you will never get your 20 y o bod back.

 

*cracks knuckles*

Alright, let's **** this goat.

1) Stop doing situps. It's a waste of time. It makes your abs irritated, that's about it.

2) Join a gym if you can, one with proper free weights. None of that metrosexual cardio stuff. You need weights. For cardio you can get a bike.

3) Get a bike for cardio. Or if your gym has a pool, use it. Best cardio ever.

4) You need to lift weights to lose weight. It's the best way to do it.

No more bullets. Now I go into why weights kick ass and how you, as a beginner, should go about doing them.

Why they are great:

Lifting weights causes muscle growth. How much is irrelevent. You won't get to be like Arnie unless you start inhaling steroids. I doubt you'll do that. Anyway, those muscles need to eat or else they die. What do they eat? Calories. Fat, carbs, whatever. So the more muscle you get, the faster you'll burn calories by just sitting there. How cool is that?

You still need cardio, though, so you have some balance. Riding a bike around is great cardio. If you have a proper bike, your knees should be fine. "Proper" meaning, when the pedal is at its lowest point, your leg is almost completely straight. That's the safest pedaling uhhh... thing. Doesn't matter what kind of bike you get, though, so get something with a comfortable seat.

Another thing lifting weights does is make you stronger. Doing squats, deadlifts, and overhead press will work your abs by having them stabilize you so you don't fall over. That's what they were designed for, so that's the best way to use them.

Do you want to see your abs? Well too bad. You probably never will. A six-pack is made in the kitchen, not in the gym. You have to count calories and stuff like that. Getting rid of sugar and saturated fats is great, but any more than that and it becomes too much of a hassle. =/

Just make sure you drink enough water, eat fruit, veggies, protein, etc. Just stay healthy. You'll look good enough, trust me. I would NOT recommend eating less at this point. Replace (some of) your snacks with healthy snacks and space out your meals throughout the day if you eat them in big sittings. But don't reduce anything yet. It will be too much to handle at once. Plus, you need some kind of reward for working out. Nothing like ice cream or a twinkie.

What lifting exercises you should do:

Bench press, standing overhead press, squat, deadlift, pull ups*.

*These will be hard for you at first, so replace them with barbell rows or something. Pull ups are DAMN hard, so don't get discouraged.

Anything you want to add to that is up to you, but that's your bread and butter right there. Those hit all the important and big muscles.

How should you do it?

At first do some fairly easy weight. Like 60% of your 1 rep-maximum (the most you can lift once) 12 times, for 3 sets. Or start easier and work up to 60% on the 3rd set. Do that for like 3 weeks or so to get your joints used to the movements and your body used to the technique. Technique is VERY imporant, since you are, or will be soon, lifting heavy objects. You don't want to screw up. It would be best if you had someone who knows what they are doing show how you it's done. Don't be afraid to ask, or to pay extra for personal training for like a month if you can afford it.

Later you can go 5x5, going up to 80% from a lighter weight.

This is all I can think of for now. If you have any more questions, just ask.

 

Until December.

 

If you're ready for an onslaught of information:

forum.bodybuilding.com

Poop-Loops is right on, personally I think running is the best cardio; but it is high impact and hurts.

If you really want to shed pounds from the bone, about three times a week do high intensity interval training (HIIT). What you do is about 1 minute of jogging, 1 minute of sprinting. Do this for about 20 minutes. If you can only make it to the first 5 minutes your first time, don't feel bad, its the hardest working out you can do. This will literally melt felt paired with proper lifting: squat, bench, deadlift.

And of course... nutrition.

 

Work hard on the cardio. You could have abs of steel (not thats thats what you're going for) and never see them if you've got fat sitting on top. If you can't afford a bike and the requisite safety gear, and can't get to a gym to swim and such, buy a skipping rope.

Skipping is very effective exercise, and works a lot of muscles in one go. It will strengthen your legs, especially your calfs with the "popping" motion you use to jump, it will makes your shoulders stronger as well as strengthening your back (due to it being used for balance). It will also work your abs, in fact, it'll kill them at first. The up and down jumping motion will cause plenty of tears in the muscle, but keep working hard at the skipping and you'll get faster, your coordination will improve and you'll work harder, for longer.

At Muay Thai training sessions we do a mile and a half run, followed by 20 minutes skipping interspersed with press ups, sit ups and squats. Thats just to get you warmed up!

 

and you are excersising, why?

 

+1 to Poop. Adding muscle is the best way to lose fat. Even if you don't lose all the fat you want, you will look a lot better with toned muscle underneath.

Swimming is the best cardio and is no-impact.

Cut potatoes, corn, white bread, and sugar from your diet. That's really all you have to do. Other foods will make you feel "full" before you overeat, at least it works for me.