@kyleforrester87 that's pretty good considering your arthritis and muscle waste!
I actually saw a video on a YouTube channel called hybrid calisthenics a couple of weeks ago that lays out basically what you've said about doing push ups. The fella who does it seems like quite a happy upbeat guy but anyway, I saved the video with an eye to return to it. It's got an extra intermediate step between the wall and the knee and lays out the rep/set goal before you move on to the next one. Basically a lot of detail for a 60 second vid!
Last night after I admitted that I can't do a push up, I actually tried it. I thought I'd be able to do the goal of of 3 sets of 40 wall push ups but honestly I could only do 3 sets of 25. It was harder than I thought it would be! But I think I will carry on with it so I can finally put to bed my life long shame at not being able to do any or many push ups 😂. I mean I eventually learned how to whistle so I've gota do this too!
You reckon it's better to do them every day then? I think the guy (and I assumed as well) said it would be better to do every other day/3 times a week so the muscles can heal on the day without push ups. I might just see how I feel.
In fairness, I can do a plank and a push up in the DDP yoga, I just can't do it every time and drop to the modification position (knees) if I need to. There's kind of a lot going on in the session so sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can't. But yeah, this kind of incremental decrease of the angle definitely seems like a better way of getting there instead of just sort of doing a single push up when I am able to.
He has the incremental videos for other exercises too like pull ups, squats, leg lifts etc. I can't do pull ups either so I'd like to give that a go. Unfortunately I've got nothing to hang off, even at an angle with my feet on the ground but maybe I can work something out!
@ralphdibny I tend to do them every other day although sometimes there are bigger gaps. Historically I have got really into them, then had a week off and just stopped. So I am just trying to stop that from happening if I can. I need to be able to hold myself comfortably on the bike for 4 hours+ so if I keep thinking of that I'll hopefully stay motivated lol.
The plans you can find online can be quite specific, I have to be honest I have not followed them closely, which is probably why I've never got close to the dream of 100!
Pull ups and chin ups are also great, I try and do those along with the push ups.
@kyleforrester87 my triceps are killing me after a sleep! It's funny, I never really thought of press ups as a tricep exercise but I suppose it is really as you contract your tricep to actually push your body weight up. I know a good controlled press up works out like your core and other muscles too but having never really thought about it before, i now think my lack of tricep strength is where I've been quite literally falling flat.
Definitely going to continue with the wall push ups until my bingo wings can manage a steeper incline 😅. I'll probably use my window sill for the next difficulty before I move on to the knee pushups. I wonder how long it will take me to get to that stage, we will see!
I managed to get out for a slow walk before it got dark today (I seem to be nocturnal at the moment so I sleep through most of the daylight). I think my muscles were pretty knackered from the red hot core tape and the wall push ups. I only managed 2 miles before it started getting dark. Anyway I found a pull up bar on my travels that's in a park that I probably wouldn't be too embarrassed to do them in.
I think I'm going to order some gymnastic rings to use on it so I can do the modified exercise to build up to the full pull ups. This has the added essential benefit of putting a barrier between me and potentially Covid covered public pull up bar. Should be ok if I put the strap part in its own bag to quarantine it after use. The ones im looking at are £24 but I have an Amazon voucher so I should be able to get them for £14 so not too expensive really. I wouldn't be normally buy gym equipment but these seem like they could be fairly useful for a long time.
That hybrid calisthenics guy is actually quite non specific. He does sort of have a free workout plan and lots of tutorial videos but the schedule is written in such a confusing way that it's hard to make sense of. I think what I really like about his videos though is that they describe the modifications from Very easy up to very difficult incredibly well.
Have a search on YouTube if you fancy it, it's very much not like any exercise tutorials I've seen before. He seems to know his stuff too and it's all logical and makes sense. There isn't that many exercises but the ones he does seem to be demonstrated very well.
@ralphdibny generally the further apart your arms doing push ups the more you’ll be using your chest muscles, closer together your arms (primarily triceps!)
Try doing some (or even getting down without collapsing!) with each index finger and thumb from each hand touching each other to form a diamond shape - you need some tricep strength for that!
@kyleforrester87 hmm that's interesting, it's probably why I have been able to manage a single push up before then, because my chest is stronger than my arms. I did the closer together arms for the wall push ups last night because that's what the video said to do. Maybe his other exercises work out the chest more
I wouldn't be surprised if that diamond push up shows up as a move in a later and harder DDP yoga video. He loves naming the moves after diamond related stuff because his name is diamond Dallas page 😂
@ralphdibny@kyleforrester87 I missed this entire conversation about push ups. It's a good topic though as they are generally really good for strength seeing as you are working quite a bit of your upper body. I do pilates classes and sometimes we do the round the clock one where you start with your hands underneath your chest thumbs touching, do a press up, then move them up slightly to the 12 o'clock position, and press, then out slightly to the sides to 10 and 2, press, then 3 and 9 and so on. That's really hard work, especially when you get to the 6 o'clock position, but it definitely gets you everywhere.
Did my longest ride yesterday (80miles, 130km), 4000 feet of elevation according to Strava but I think it was more like 3000. Took me 5 hours 34 minutes, with 5 hours 14 of that moving which included 2 or 3 short rest stops at the top of big climbs, a wee in a bush and traffic lights. Not bad on less than 5 hours sleep! According to my Fitbit I burnt nearly 6000 calories for the day. I managed to stay awake for the rest of the day but I was in bed by 8:30pm and slept like a baby until 7:30 this morning lol.
Took it really easy cycling in to work this morning and my shoulders kind of ache.
I don't pretend to be an expert but it's my understanding that when starting off with pull ups or chin ups, by far the majority of people including people with good physical fitness won't be able to do a single one so it's not something to be disheartened by if this is the case when you try doing one.
When I started off I had to use one of the those thick rubber resistant bands to support my weight. It can feel a bit like putting training wheels on a bicycle but it's well worth doing, it will get you where you need to be within a few weeks and really give you a nice boost to that upper body strength.
I can do 4 sets of 10 now whenever, no band required. Well worth considering.
My tactic to get "good" (I am not good, but I can do some) at chin ups was to start on a chair at the top position and really slowly lower myself down then start again from the top on the chair. Could of weeks later my arms were strong enough to actually pull myself up lol.
My triceps hurt for days after doing those wall push ups last time. So from Wednesday night until today (5 sleeps in that time) I was unable to do any more and could barely lift my arms without pain (playing heavy rain with the motion controls was physically painful as well as mentally painful 😅). I think it was DOMS as it did hurt all the way up the back of my arm but the pain was focussed closer to the elbow so I have some concern that it may have been joint pain, its hard to tell when the pain radiated out from so close to my elbow. I'm not sure if it was so bad because I didn't do a proper warm up for it or just because I'm not used to it.
Anyway, I let it heal for as long as it needed to. I did the yoga tape today (thankfully one of the lighter tapes) and decided to try the push ups again straight afterward while I was still warmed up. Before doing them, I did still have some pain but nowhere near as bad as the last 4 days. I managed to do the same reps/sets again - 3 sets of 25 so we will see how I fare on that in a couple of days!
I've also been doing wall pull ups every other day (starting last Thursday night/Friday morning) while I wait for my rings to arrive. Thankfully these are much easier for me and I can do the full 3 sets of 50 that are recommended before moving on to using rings. Also I've managed to go out for walks on my non-yoga days which last week was Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.
The hybrid calisthenics guy also shows how to do leg raises, squats and bridges. I feel those sections are covered by the yoga tapes moreso than the arms but I was curious anyway and decided to try some leg raises on a chair after the yoga tape/wall push ups. Not sure if I was just too tired by that point but I only managed one set of 15 and then 2 sets of 5. I thought I'd be able to do more as I can do the harder variations in the DDP yoga tapes.
I may carry on with the yoga tapes for the next couple of weeks while continuing to do the easy variation pull ups and push ups. There's a few new tapes being added so hopefully once I've watched them I may be able to work out a way to combine the two workouts. I kind of want the strength and stretching from a fixed yoga routine but I also like the idea of building up to lifting your own body weight in various ways that the hybrid calisthenics tapes offer. So I guess I just want to work out a way to combine them so I don't overwork certain muscles by double dipping the two workouts.
@render that sounds pretty gnarly. I think I'm a fair way from around the clock push ups but when/if I get there then I will certainly give them a go!
@kyleforrester87 ahh nice work on that 130km! How is work for you? Do you feel relatively safe there or do you just not have much of a choice because you can't work from home or something?
@LieutenantFatman I think all the easy variants feel like training wheels to be honest. It may be why I didn't even bother with them up until now, out of some sense of embarrassment. Or maybe I just thought I'd one day get there with my arms once I've lost some weight and therefore have less weight to lift.
My brother has a band, I don't see him work out so he may have used it in a similar way to you or maybe for days he doesn't need to go all out or something. I'm optimistic about using the gym rings myself though. Could be quite fun and interesting for a while at least. We'll see!
Are we still on for some Darkstalkers tomorrow afternoon? I'll send you a message on PSN around 4/half 4 tomorrow if you are still about for it
@ralphdibny once the Doms wears off get straight back on the push-ups, it’s the only way!
Without sounding too cavalier (nor do I want to turn this into a coronavirus discussion) I am not overly worried about coronavirus myself although obviously I am conscious of the collective responsibility. That said I do all my social distancing/wear a mask, but our industry is allowed to operate and I find I’m significantly worse off health wise if I don’t keep up with my commutes. So no, on balance I’m personally fine with going into work and much prefer it to working from home.
@kyleforrester87 cheers, yeah I will do! I did the same sets/reps today so hopefully I'll do it again in a couple days
👍 That's fair enough, it's going to be different for everyone but I'm glad it keeps you up and about. I feel like a sparsely populated work place will be the least of my worries when I have get on a packed train to get to the work place so I imagine that cycling/driving/walking the commute instead is overall a lot better if it's possible!
@ralphdibny yeah exactly, we’re doing alternate shifts in the office so I only come in contact with a couple of the same staff members and other than that I’m riding to work and back so all good I reckon!
@ralphdibny
Yes mate, looking forward to some Darkstalkers tomorrow. Don't worry about the triceps, always happens to me when I haven’t worked out a muscle group in a particular way for a long time. I reckon a couple more sessions will see them being much more receptive to it. Just remember to do the stretches as well!
I remember the first time I went climbing. Almost completely lost my grip strength for an entire week. Made riding the motorcycle very tricky, lol.
I just nipped down the park to try out these gym rings. I decided to take some spray and cloth to wipe down the bar instead of faffing around with quarantining parts of the ring strap.
I set the rings to chest height, I had my feet on the floor aligned with the bar the rings were hanging from and I lifted myself up to the where the rings came out to when my body weight was hanging off it.
I managed one set of 20 and two sets of 10. The goal is 3 sets of 30. I think I'll try 3 sets of 15 next time I go up there.
Oh dear, my arms are killing me the day after those pull ups 🤦♂️. I can't straighten them fully, pain is mainly around the inside of my elbows, like above and below them. Some pain at the top of the back of my arms near my shoulders which feels more like a muscle pain.
It's probably good to work out my limits early on so I know where to stop for exercising in future. Can't say I don't feel embarrassed to be walking around like a T-Rex today though lol
Edit: I actually don't think I can do my yoga tapes today, I can barely move my arms which is going to make it very difficult to do broken tables, one legged dogs etc. I'm Gona have to push the schedule back a day. Hopefully I'll do the tape tomorrow, push Fridays to Saturday and skip Saturdays tape altogether
How is everyone else getting on? Anyone managed to get out for some exercise this weekend? Are people still doing their everyday cycling/running/walking/stretches/lifts/kettlebells?
My pull up DOMS lasted longer than I thought it would, I could barely move my arms for days and it hurt way more than the tricep DOMS so yoga was completely out of the window for me this week. Instead I got out for a 3.4 mile (1hr10) walk on Thursday and a 5 mile (1hr50) walk on Friday. Both felt pretty good. Hopefully it made up for not being able to work out my C3PO arms for 3 days 😂.
A bit stiff still today and can't fully extend my right arm yet but I thought I'd do a yoga tape today followed by the wall press ups. I went all in on the tape which felt pretty good. Unfortunately I only managed one set of 25 wall press ups and 2 sets of 15 which is less than I managed the last 2 times I did it.
Hopefully I will get out for a long walk tomorrow and attempt some more ring pull ups while I am out there. I think I am just going to do week 8 of the yoga again next week seeing as it was pretty much a write off this week.
"One of the unloveliest and least enlightening aspects of contemporary discourse is the tendency to presume that whatever one disagrees with must be very simple—not only simple, but also simply wrong." - Elizabeth Bruenig
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