Starting from somewhere

[testosteroni]

Greetings, all. I wanted to know what the effectiveness of sit-ups, push-ups, lifting random household objects, is at achieving noticeable results. I'm 5'11" and 140 lbs, and I want to know what I can start doing now, at minimum, towards improving how I look--apart from just eating more, which is true.

[brent]

Test,
I'm a little confused as to what equipment you (can) have access to. It's great that you are doing push-ups, I think they are the best exercise around. However, I hope you are doing crunches, rather than traditional sit-ups. Thy are much easier on your back.

[arpeejay]

(1) Like Brent said: Crunhes, not sit ups. If you need some pointers on how to do one, let us know. Kinda hard to describe in words!

(2) Push ups are great. I did 'em for years (mostly when my kids were itty-bitty) when getting to the gym was next to impossible. Ten sets of 20 (or more) over the course of the day really add up!

(3) Chin ups are really good, too. You can get the expandable kind that goes in a doorway for about $20. As with push ups, you keep doin' 'em all day long and it adds up!

Hope this helps!

xoxo

richard

[BigSteve6ft3]

Testosteroni,

You ask what you can do "at a minimum" to start looking better.

First of all, "just eating more" isn't going to help. At best, you'll go from skinny to pudgy. Or, even worse, to skinny AND pudgy. (i.e., fat belly, love handles, skinny arms and legs). You MUST exercise to gain quality weight.

Any exercise is better than none at all, so if you've never exercised before, pushups, situps (or crunches), etc., will probably provide some noticeable improvements.

Once you've built up some chest/tricep strength from pushups, you can try dips. If you absolutely have to restrict yourself to stuff you can do around the house, you'll need to find the appropriate pieces of furniture to do these on. Find two sturdy items (chairs, dressers, kitchen counters, etc.) that are the same height (at least waist high) and capable of supporting your weight without breaking or tipping over, and place them about shoulder width apart. Place one hand on each of these things, then bend your knees and support your body weight with your arms. Slowly lower yourself as far down as you can go, then push back up. I used to do these at home; back then I had a small kitchen and could place one hand on top of the stove and the other on the counter top.

I agree that chin-ups are very good, for both back muscles and biceps. But if you're not strong enough starting out, you might have trouble doing even one. Depends on the individual and their strength/bodyweight ratio. You're pretty thin, so this might not be a problem for you.

As for lifting random household items, I don't think you're going to get very far that way. It's hard to find objects that are both heavy enough to do any good, and small enough to be easily handled. Sorry, soup cans or milk jugs just aren't going to get you very far. This kind of thing might be OK for women and the elderly wanting to tone up a bit (my 73 year old mom does exercises with soup cans to ease her arthritis), but you're young and male, which puts you in a different league.

You're only going to get so far using bodyweight-only kinds of exercises (unless you're an olympic gymnast). The problem with improvised exercises is that it's hard to come up with a balanced full-body workout. To look and feel your best, you want to exercise all your muscle groups, not just your abs and triceps.

If you really want to see some results, and put on weight in the places it looks good, you're going to want to lift some real weights. At the very least, go out and buy yourself some dumbbells. Get the kind that have a separate bar and several plates that you can take on or off to adjust the weight. They're not very expensive.

And if you've got the space, I'd recommend buying a complete weight set with dumbbells, a barbell, and a bench with a weight rack that will let you do bench presses. Again, a starter set is not very expensive. Check out your local sporting goods store.

Also, if you're a complete novice, I'd recommend buying yourself a book or two on weight lifting. You'll want one with lots of illustrations showing proper form, etc. It's a bit dated and I don't know if it's still in print, but "Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men" worked pretty well for me when I was just starting out. Also, magazines like Men's Health and Men's Fitness have some pretty good info for beginners in most issues.

If at all possible, get yourself to a real gym and do it right, with some advice and supervision from someone who knows his stuff.

In any case, start light and do high reps (~15-20 repetitions on each exercise) until you build up your strength and your body adjusts to the idea of weight training. That way, your joints and tendons, which tend to lag behind the muscles, will not be over-strained. Be warned: you will be sore after your first few workouts, but don't let that discourage you. Soreness is much less of a problem (and actually feels kind of good) once you get into the swing of it.

After a couple of weeks, you can start increasing the weight and lowering the reps. Once you've gotten warmed up, you should be lifting weights you can do for 6 to 12 repetiitions.

Good luck, and have fun improving your body. When I was your age, I was 6'3" and 175 lbs, which, proportionally, is even skinnier than you are now, so I know where you're coming from. A lot of years and seventy pounds of muscle later, I have to say that making that initial commitment to working out is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

Go to it.

Steve

[brent]

I agree with BigSteve, but I'd like to add one item. If you get a home weight set, get quick/easy clamps to operate. Saving money on the clamps is bad because then you won't want to change the weights, and then you won't want to lift. Also, a crappy/flimsy bench can be as bad as no bench at all.

[glammaman2000]

if the pushups start to get too easy;try putting your feet up on the couch.lunges,even without weight,can build legs at high reps.dips are great,but take the advice about stability SERIOUSLY.chins are great,too;but modern construction standards being what they are,you may risk busting a doorframe.be careful&good luck!

[glammaman2000]

big ol'Wisk bottles can make good dumbells(with handles,yet!)you can adjust the weight with the amount of water inside.later,you can add sand,gravel(cement?)good for shoulder work,traps,maybe biceps...