Quote from: Aos;459645Right now I just do them until i can't do any more. Drop off wait for stage 2 and repeat. The second set is sadly always less than the first (usually by 1). I'm not sure I understand your suggestion about building the total. Please elaborate if you can.

Sure. I'm sure I laid it out in the original post, though.

All you worry about is the total reps of the exercise in that session, how many you get in one go doesn't matter. Then build that total up, when it hits 50 it's usually time to progress the difficulty of the exercise (eg from knee pushups to full pushups to pushups with your feet on a bench, etc).

Our body adapts because we ask it to do more than it did before. So doing more total reps, we adapt. if you just go to max every time, then one day you do 8+4=12, the next you do 7+5=12, another you do 8+5=13, a fourth you do 9+3=12, you are not really doing more, it's up and down. So you don't get stronger, your body has no reason to adapt.

But if you don't worry about how many reps you do in one go, and just total them through the workout, then you can make sure you do more in every session than before.

Let's say you can do 8 in one go. You know how it goes.
Rep 1, easy, you could go forever!
Reps 2-4, easy but you know you couldn't go forever
Reps 5-6, you slow down but still get up there
Rep 7, slow and hard
Rep 8, you grind it out, maybe swing your legs a little, and you are pulling a lot more with your stronger side, maybe you hunch your shoulders up and twist your neck a bit

Rep 8 actually cost you 2 reps in the next set. If you'd stopped at 7 you'd have got 6 next time, instead you only get 4. So you got 8+4 = 12 total instead of getting 7+6 = 13 total. But doing 13 total would have been better, because 13 is more than 12. The total matters with bodyweight work.

Okay, so you say you can do 8, great. Just do 4. Rest, then another 4. Rest, then another 4. Total = 4 + 4 + 4 = 12.

Next session, a total of 13. And so on. When you can do 50 total you'll certainly be able to knock out 10 in a row, and it'll be time to progress the difficulty of the exercise.

As well, you can do other exercises in between this one. Let's say you're doing squats and pushups and chinups, it might look like

- squats, 10
- pushups, 8
- chinups, 4
- look at therpgsite for a minute, laugh at Pundit
- squats, 11
- pushups, 9
- notice your shoe is sticky, spend 4 minutes getting the gum off it, realise the other shoe is coming off the sole
- chinups, 4
- squats 12
- pushups 11
- chinups 3
- go out and buy new shoes
 
and in your journal you just write down "Squats 33, pushups 28, chinups 11", and you know that next time you must do at least 34 squats, 29 pushups and 12 chinups.

I have taken several people who initially struggled to do 3 inverted rows with their knees bent and got them to do chinups in this way.

• inverted rows with knees bent, total 10, build up to 50, then
• inverted rows with legs straight, begin with 20 total, build up to 50, then
• inverted rows with legs straight and feet elevated, begin with 20, build to 50 total, then
• be able to do 1-2 chinups... begin with 10 total, build to 50, and then...
• sky's the limit!

QuoteIn other news, my shirts are all funky tight across my chest and my pants are falling off my waist.

I suggest you buy new pants, or else wear attractive underwear.

Thanks Kyle. I will try it your way. I can already feel the burn.
New pants will require a trip to the boy's section, sadly.

And here's an article talking about how they got a woman to do 17 chinups in a go.

They go for a "ladder." If you can do 8 chinups in a row, you do 1,2,3,4, then the same again twice more - so you've done 30 in all. Next time, go for 31 in all. And so on.
   Note that she is rounding her shoulders forward at the end and letting the reps get slow and "grindy." This is never, ever allowable in training; only on a test day once every few months where you are just going for numbers. If you do that regularly you will get weaker. That I can promise you.

I'm not so fussed whether the person does a "ladder" or not. Just get them out and make sure none of the reps are grindy.

For example, at my gym when not doing appointments or paperwork or tidying things up, I do a walkaround of the gym to say hello to people and make sure everything's safe. I had a quiet shift for the first 2-3 hours, so did this every 15 minutes or so. Every second walkaround I stopped at the chinup bar and knocked out 5 reps. So by the end of the shift I'd done 5 sets of 5, 25 reps in all.

Even if you've not got chinups in your regular workout, and even if you can only do 1, you can knock 10 out in a session in this way. Stick them in between sets of other exercises. Other people will put a chinup bar in their doorway and do a single every time they pass it.

I mean, this is how Army gets people doing 50-100 pushups. You do 10-25, but 10-40 times a day spread over the day...

Applies to any bodyweight exercise. Just knock some out whenever you can, record and build up the total over time.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;459635Brendan, if you can watch tv while lifting weights, you are not lifting heavy enough, or are fucking about too long between sets. Use more weight. As for rest, there are three stages to the fatigue after a set.

• "Phew! No way I can do that again."
• "I guess I could do it now if I had to, but I'll wait a bit."
• "Okay I'm ready now."

Start your next set at #2, not #3. And put another slice on the salami they call the barbell.

Thanks Kyle. I should probably clarify it is more on in the background (it is usually either that or music for me) to keep my energy level up. With resting between sets kind of depends on what I am going for. Though I am not certain I am doing things the right way any longer, since its been a while since I had real instruction.

Basically before these surgeries, my aim was more for endurance, strength and explosive power than speed (was really not looking for size or mass---actually was hoping to drop down form 180 to 150----thanks to the surgeries I am at 163). So some days I would really try to do a lot of reps to exhaustion with little break between sets. Other days, I would focus on using weights and resistance with explosive motions, but with a bit more rest between sets (I think 30-60 seconds between sets, with 2 minutes between routines). My goal really was to get back into boxing, and since I am older now, I needed my muscles not to fatigue and I needed that explosive power. Also really worked the cardio pretty good.

Given these goals, what would your suggestion be. Bear in mind it will probably be a few months before I can get back into heavy duty weight training.

Recover first, then in a few months see where you are.

This Will Wheaton post intrigues me,

   This actually made me think of something: has anyone done a fitness guide for gamers? Something that makes exercise and healthy eating into a game, with levels and achievements and stuff? I'd love to read and use something like that. We'd call it the d20 diet or something clever.

Okay, here are the Red Box Basic Fitness Rules

• Everyone begins with 0xp at level 0.
• Everyone loses 5xp a day. This is called "growing old."
  
• Each 1,000 steps taken that day grants +1xp
• Each 10 bodyweight squats, pushups, or inverted rows grant +1xp; bent-knee pushups and rows only count if you can't perform a single full version
• each serve of junk food (a "serve" fits comfortably in your hand, as in the original post), fizzy drink or alcohol loses 1xp
  

• Level -3, HD1-3, -8,000xp, Death's Door Cripple
• Level -2, HD1-2, -4,000xp, Mockable Weakling
• Level -1, HD1,1, -2,000xp, Typical Office Slob
• Level 0, HD1, 0xp, Ordinary Schmoe
• Level 1, HD1+2, +2,000xp, Occasional Non-Embarrassing Sportsperson
• Level 2, HD2, +4,000xp, That Girl/Guy Who Bikes to Work
• Level 3, HD3, +8,000xp, Fit & Sporty

Level 4-7 will be covered in the Expert Rules.