I'm in the gym a LOT and nothing worked until I started doing squats. When I started doing squats, everything got better. This list leads off with bodyweight squats.
After you're comfortable with bodyweight squats you can go further with Ass To Grass and Paused ATG. After that, Pistols. At that point, you've more than won.
The one area of the list that I'd quibble on is push ups. If you are starting push ups, you should start with knee push ups. You should be able to knock out maybe 25 knee push ups before you progress to full push ups. And push ups for taller and heavier people are harder than for shorter and lighter people. Same with planks.
Mobility is much more important to get right before going heavy or going deep in squats. You can injure your back really easily doing squats w/o good form.
I would probably say, if you can't straight back past vertical hips don't go heavy yet, stretch daily until you can.
Otherwise, yes this is a great place to start it's just not trivial.
Yes, but these are bodyweight squats and you are not going to injure your back doing bodyweight squats. Definitely form is key.
Doing olympic ATG squats, you will naturally use less weight which will proportionately be easier on your back. You can also low bar squat. BTW, I used to have back pain. Squatting made my whole posterior chain a lot stronger. No more back pain. Plus if I do say so myself, I have a nice ass.
A key issue with squat mobility is dorsiflexion, ankle mobility, which I guess you can improve (to a degree) with calf stretches. That's gonna translate to how much butt wink you have. Also the structure of your hip bones is going to be different from pretty much everyone else. So you can't just look at Arnold and try to do it exactly the same way. You have to find the foot position and knee tracking which is right for your skeleton.
> Yes, but these are bodyweight squats and you are not going to injure your back doing bodyweight squats. Definitely form is key.
This is really bad information to be relaying. You have no idea what is the health profile of the people reading this advice, and what damage believing it might do. You can very easily hurt yourself with bodyweight exercises, especially if you're very out of shape.
Even more important than mobility in the back is knee stability. Also people think that injuries happen at the gym, this is very rarely the case. Usually you do the small amount of damage at the gym that then cascades later on due to your improper seating posture, your slouching, then bending over to lift something at home doing yardwork, then bam all of a sudden you are in the shower and your back locks up.
In the case of improper squating without proper knee stability -- you won't notice a microscopic tear immediately, but it's very possible. You'll tweak something and say "hm, that felt weird." Then a week later you get out of bed to check on the kids, step on a lego and bam -- blown knee.
Don't read pseudo-science lifter articles folks -- you can't rush into this. Do your stretches, and build your stabilizer muscles. Squatting builds your glutes, but you need stable hips and knees.
All fitness advice assumes some context. It doesn't make it bad advice, just contextual. Part of the difficulty with communicating this info over the internet is that you can't see people's mechanics nor do they often give you their full situation. E.g., telling a 400 pound person that squatting is good for them is not the advice which should be prioritized and doesn't really make sense compared to other approaches. Telling a random dude on the internet that he needs more volume to hit 2x bodyweight deadlift might make sense until you learn that he's 5'8" 115 pounds and needs to get out of caloric deficit.
Additionally, the "form is key" part covers your point already. If you're doing it with proper form and you still get hurt then that's pretty weird, and not really on the parent.
Well, to be fair, Arnold comes from an earlier era. Whenever I look at his Encyclopedia I think it was maybe useful then but not now. But Pumping Iron is just an awesome movie.
There's a shit ton of useful information now written by people who want you to learn. Arnold had his day but this is the golden age.
Nuckols is great; his deadlifting guide is absolutely incredible. I'm happy that my physio is so big on strength and evidence-based treatment, he's recommended a lot of great resources including Stuart McGill and Alan Aragon, the latter of whom I especially like for his mythbusting.
I don't think it's as simple as stretching if you have anterior pelvic tilt and spend the majority of your day in a position that either makes it worse or keeps it in its current state.
I never imagined I'd get into group exercise, but I did a couple of years ago and it changed my life. From personal experience, I recommend the Les Mills group ex brand. For building all around strength and endurance, look into the GRIT (30 min)[1] and BODYPUMP (30/45/60 min)[2] formats. Both involve a variety of lifts — their focus is on high reps and relatively light–medium loads. Done regularly, those programs won't make you huge, but you can build lean muscle, stay well toned, and burn large amounts of calories. As a programmer, who spends a lot of time standing/sitting in front of a computer, that's exactly what I need/ed. And there are added benefits of working out in a group: you can make friends, and be encouraged and challenged by the efforts of your fellow classmates. N.B. the quality of a class can depend a lot on the instructor; don't be afraid to attend different instructors' classes and/or shop around gyms offering such classes.
BP is a great full body workout in an hour. Hell, I did a ton of Bodypump. I did BP when they used New Zealand cover music. We did our squat track to the Haka.
But I can't stand the pop music now and I had definitely plateaued. At a certain point, I ventured out into the weight room. While BP got and kept me in shape, I'm now a big believer in the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. Yep, I walk around the weight room with my iPhone. 90 seconds between sets. Check off my set.
I prefer now to do a 30-min Pump followed by a 30-min HIIT class (e.g. GRIT or cycling), or vice versa. I still do 60-min "full" Pump classes, but definitely not my first preference for how to spend an hour at the gym, as I like more overall variety. I should note that I got so into Les Mills that I went on to become a certified instructor, so I'm a little biased.
The pop music in Pump can get a little tiresome, I actually agree with you there. FWIW, the music in their GRIT and SPRINT formats is much edgier and some of the quarterly releases even feature original music produced exclusively for those formats.
Les Mills classes are definitely not a long-term fit for everyone. I do, though, encourage folks to give them a try, especially if they don't have any kind of fitness regimen and/or they're struggling to stay regular with their solo workouts.
Hitchhiker: You heard of this thing, the 8-Minute Abs?
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.
Ted: Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you're going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted: You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
Ted: That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
Ted: That - good point.
Hitchhiker: 7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.
"The best exercise is the one you actually keep doing" is probably the best thing to keep in mind here. I kept seeing these same lists of exercises, then downloaded all sorts of apps and even subscribed to classes, but the initial excitement wore off pretty quickly.
One year then I took one item (it was the burpee, but it could be any of them really, the point is not having to think about what exercise to do all the time), and from a January-1 on I did one more burpee each day. This proved to be an easy to make a habit: "c'mon, you do have time to do 5 quick push-ups" took away the excuse factor, and by the time I noticed I've already set aside 5-10 minutes per day for some regular exercise.
I get up every morning at 6am to feed my dogs. I used to just do meaningless tasks while they ate and went outside, took about 10-12 minutes.
Recently my wife bought a play mat from Ikea for our kids and so I decided to use that 10 minutes to do some pushups, crunches and squats. The biggest difference I've noticed is that I'm instantly not tired and ready to start the day. It's just a short time, but it's a good boost to start the day.
This looks great. Know what I'm going to do? I'm going to print out the worksheet today, and try it during my gym time tomorrow.
Know what I wish I could do instead of printing it out? Download an app where I can hit "Play," it displays the exercise (picture, animation), starts a timer, exercise for one minute, shows the next exercise, etc, all the way through for the 11 minutes.
There are probably apps that target what you're talking about and I don't know what they are. But I do use an iPhone app for weight lifting (stronglifts.com) and I can tell you that an app definitely helps immensely.
Instead of me wandering around wondering what to do next, I leave that to the app. 90-180 seconds between sets? Keeping track of progress? Increasing progressions? Took a couple of weeks off and need to reset? I leave that to the app. I leave the details to the app. I still take responsibility for decisions like whether, when and how much to increase.
So I'd encourage you to look for an app. I just don't know which one.
Also, for what it's worth a 5X5 workout for those who have the time for the gym is probably the best if you're limited on time - but have more than 10 minutes a day. There are a whole bunch of variations, but it's mostly 3 moves, with a 5 rep/set.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 53.8 ms ] threadI'm in the gym a LOT and nothing worked until I started doing squats. When I started doing squats, everything got better. This list leads off with bodyweight squats.
After you're comfortable with bodyweight squats you can go further with Ass To Grass and Paused ATG. After that, Pistols. At that point, you've more than won.
The one area of the list that I'd quibble on is push ups. If you are starting push ups, you should start with knee push ups. You should be able to knock out maybe 25 knee push ups before you progress to full push ups. And push ups for taller and heavier people are harder than for shorter and lighter people. Same with planks.
I would probably say, if you can't straight back past vertical hips don't go heavy yet, stretch daily until you can.
Otherwise, yes this is a great place to start it's just not trivial.
Doing olympic ATG squats, you will naturally use less weight which will proportionately be easier on your back. You can also low bar squat. BTW, I used to have back pain. Squatting made my whole posterior chain a lot stronger. No more back pain. Plus if I do say so myself, I have a nice ass.
A key issue with squat mobility is dorsiflexion, ankle mobility, which I guess you can improve (to a degree) with calf stretches. That's gonna translate to how much butt wink you have. Also the structure of your hip bones is going to be different from pretty much everyone else. So you can't just look at Arnold and try to do it exactly the same way. You have to find the foot position and knee tracking which is right for your skeleton.
There's a ton of useful video on Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQWzAs2m0ck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy28eq2PjcM
This is really bad information to be relaying. You have no idea what is the health profile of the people reading this advice, and what damage believing it might do. You can very easily hurt yourself with bodyweight exercises, especially if you're very out of shape.
In the case of improper squating without proper knee stability -- you won't notice a microscopic tear immediately, but it's very possible. You'll tweak something and say "hm, that felt weird." Then a week later you get out of bed to check on the kids, step on a lego and bam -- blown knee.
Don't read pseudo-science lifter articles folks -- you can't rush into this. Do your stretches, and build your stabilizer muscles. Squatting builds your glutes, but you need stable hips and knees.
Additionally, the "form is key" part covers your point already. If you're doing it with proper form and you still get hurt then that's pretty weird, and not really on the parent.
Or listen to him on a lot of things. I find that he shares quite a bit of broscience (eg 'shock the muscle', etc). He is very inspiring, though.
There's a shit ton of useful information now written by people who want you to learn. Arnold had his day but this is the golden age.
https://www.strongerbyscience.com/
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-iHzlWnwq4
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWuc67ZiVs4
But I can't stand the pop music now and I had definitely plateaued. At a certain point, I ventured out into the weight room. While BP got and kept me in shape, I'm now a big believer in the Stronglifts 5x5 workout. Yep, I walk around the weight room with my iPhone. 90 seconds between sets. Check off my set.
https://stronglifts.com/
The pop music in Pump can get a little tiresome, I actually agree with you there. FWIW, the music in their GRIT and SPRINT formats is much edgier and some of the quarterly releases even feature original music produced exclusively for those formats.
Les Mills classes are definitely not a long-term fit for everyone. I do, though, encourage folks to give them a try, especially if they don't have any kind of fitness regimen and/or they're struggling to stay regular with their solo workouts.
Ted: Yeah, sure, 8-Minute Abs. Yeah, the excercise video.
Hitchhiker: Yeah, this is going to blow that right out of the water. Listen to this: 7... Minute... Abs.
Ted: Right. Yes. OK, all right. I see where you're going.
Hitchhiker: Think about it. You walk into a video store, you see 8-Minute Abs sittin' there, there's 7-Minute Abs right beside it. Which one are you gonna pick, man?
Ted: I would go for the 7.
Hitchhiker: Bingo, man, bingo. 7-Minute Abs. And we guarantee just as good a workout as the 8-minute folk.
Ted: You guarantee it? That's - how do you do that?
Hitchhiker: If you're not happy with the first 7 minutes, we're gonna send you the extra minute free. You see? That's it. That's our motto. That's where we're comin' from. That's from "A" to "B".
Ted: That's right. That's - that's good. That's good. Unless, of course, somebody comes up with 6-Minute Abs. Then you're in trouble, huh?
[Hitchhiker convulses]
Hitchhiker: No! No, no, not 6! I said 7. Nobody's comin' up with 6. Who works out in 6 minutes? You won't even get your heart goin, not even a mouse on a wheel.
Ted: That - good point.
Hitchhiker: 7's the key number here. Think about it. 7-Elevens. 7 dwarves. 7, man, that's the number. 7 chipmunks twirlin' on a branch, eatin' lots of sunflowers on my uncle's ranch. You know that old children's tale from the sea. It's like you're dreamin' about Gorgonzola cheese when it's clearly Brie time, baby. Step into my office.
Ted: Why?
Hitchhiker: 'Cause you're fuckin' fired!
-There's Something About Mary
Pronounced "7 dorfs" for some reason, which made it even better.
If anyone's looking for more progressions on these exercises, the link above has some cool routines to checkout.
One year then I took one item (it was the burpee, but it could be any of them really, the point is not having to think about what exercise to do all the time), and from a January-1 on I did one more burpee each day. This proved to be an easy to make a habit: "c'mon, you do have time to do 5 quick push-ups" took away the excuse factor, and by the time I noticed I've already set aside 5-10 minutes per day for some regular exercise.
Recently my wife bought a play mat from Ikea for our kids and so I decided to use that 10 minutes to do some pushups, crunches and squats. The biggest difference I've noticed is that I'm instantly not tired and ready to start the day. It's just a short time, but it's a good boost to start the day.
Know what I wish I could do instead of printing it out? Download an app where I can hit "Play," it displays the exercise (picture, animation), starts a timer, exercise for one minute, shows the next exercise, etc, all the way through for the 11 minutes.
Anything like this already exist?
Instead of me wandering around wondering what to do next, I leave that to the app. 90-180 seconds between sets? Keeping track of progress? Increasing progressions? Took a couple of weeks off and need to reset? I leave that to the app. I leave the details to the app. I still take responsibility for decisions like whether, when and how much to increase.
So I'd encourage you to look for an app. I just don't know which one.
Also, for what it's worth a 5X5 workout for those who have the time for the gym is probably the best if you're limited on time - but have more than 10 minutes a day. There are a whole bunch of variations, but it's mostly 3 moves, with a 5 rep/set.
Stronglifts have a good one, Fat Shredding too - http://fatshredding.com/workouts/5x5-workout/