One Hundred Push-ups and/or Two Hundred Sit-ups

[Buff]

This one is for all you fitness experts out there. I got to thinking about these after reading that thread about eating 100 treadmills:

http://hundredpushups.com
http://www.twohundredsitups.com

I'm thinking of following these programs. For starters they are free. Also, for the life of me, I just can't get together a decent program that I stick to. These seem to have that goal in sight that I may need to stick with a program. So they are short term programs, but they're about 5 weeks longer than any kind of program I can plan on my own. I used to go to the gym 3-4 times a week back when I was 19-20 years old, and about a year and half before that I stuck to a good plan of doing lots of push-ups and sit-ups combined with cardio each day. I just lost my interest and motivation in what I used to do.

So what do you fitness experts think of these? I know that I can't expect doing sit-ups to trim my big belly. That is what cardio is for, but sit-ups are beneficial, no? As for push-ups, well now that I'm playing hockey three times per week I'm noticing that my big moobs are not so full and are sagging some more, so I feel the push-ups are a good starting point to tightening up my chest.

[troutman]

Seems to me you are only working a couple of muscle groups if you all you do is sit-ups and push-ups.

[Buff]

yes, but my thinking is that it is a start. I previously only played hockey once per week, and that was from October through March. Now I play 3 times per week during the hockey season and once or twice during the summer. Now that I'm more active I'm getting more motivated to do more exercising. If I can do these programs I may have the motivation to do more and to keep going.

[Igottago]

Seems interesting I might try it too. I think pushups do a good job of in terms of targeting a lot of major muscle areas, do they not? Like you I don't always want to head to the gym, this would be a good thing that can be done at home.

[llama64]

Mix in some chin ups as well if you want to stay on the cheap end of things. They hurt like hell but they are damn effective as an excercise.

[Flame Of Liberty]

You'd have to be crazy to do that many sit-ups. This is a small muscle group that can get over-trained easily. Especially when you have higher body fat %, you will not see your stomach muscle no matter how strong they will be. That will make you think they are weak, so you will train them more = over training = not good at all (injuries, muscle loss, plateauing, ...).

Sit ups should be a supplementary exercise, not a primary one.

[Bill Bumface]

I started with the 100 push ups program. It went really well for the first few weeks, until I had to do my re-test at the midway mark. It turned into a re-test/competition with my brother in law, and I managed to rattle off 50, which was a big improvement from where I had started. The problem is I was sore as hell after. Between playing hockey twice a week and volleyball once and only ever getting a max of 2 days off with this program I failed miserably at the next week and was so demoralized I gave up on it. I'm planning on giving it another go one day when my sports schedule is a little lighter (up to 4 days a week now, and I find some muscles are often toast from not having enough rest when they line up on consecutive days. Playing hockey with dead legs sucks).

[Mayer]

Can you actually workout 3 times a week (30 minutes/week total as advertised) and see results? Something seems odd about that.

I couldn't find it on the site, but I'm guessing mixing this with cardio/chinups etc is recommended?

[metallicat]

You guys need a well rounded workout like crossfit.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Mayer

Can you actually workout 3 times a week (30 minutes/week total as advertised) and see results? Something seems odd about that.

I couldn't find it on the site, but I'm guessing mixing this with cardio/chinups etc is recommended?

I didn't look at it as something that was going to get me in great shape, but more an accomplishment to say I did 100 push ups once.

It did get me from just 30 some pushups to 50 in 3 weeks

[Buff]

I just remembered another push-up theory that my buddy told me about. I never got around to trying it. He and some guys he works with started off with 5 pushups. Then each day they added one more push-ups. They did this for a few weeks and got together at the end to see who could do the most push-ups. Not sure how well it worked out.

[jtfrogger]

Well, I certainly applaud anyone wanting to do a hundred pushups, but take it from this old gym rat, I've spent my entire adult life in the gym, and a program like this one can do more harm than good.

If you only train one part of your body (and that's all a single exercise like pushups is going to do for you), you're setting yourself up for injuries down the road. I've seen it a hundred times.

It's like putting a powerful engine in a stock Toyota Tercel. What will you accomplish? You'll blow out the drive train, the clutch, the transmission, etc., because those factory parts aren't designed to handle the power of an engine much more powerful than the factory installed engine.

Push-ups basically only train the chest muscles and to some extent, the triceps. What you really want to do is train your entire body, all the major muscle groups (chest, back, abdomen, legs, shoulders and arms) at the same time, over the course of a workout. And don't forget your cardiovascular work!

I'm proud of you guys wanting to do this. Three cheers! Falling in love with exercise, eating right, etc., is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself. And you WILL fall in love with it if you can just force yourself to stick with it a year or two and experience the amazing progress you'll make.

But do it right, okay?

My advice, find a good gym, with qualified trainers who will design your programs for you (especially in the beginning, until you get the hang of it yourself) and guide you in your quest for physical fitness. Thirty to 45 minutes a day, three days a week, is all you'll ever need to do (I refuse to believe anyone is so busy that he or she cannot make time for that, especially considering how important it is).

And don't worry about being embarrassed or not being in shape the first time you walk into the gym. You have to start somewhere and almost every one of us were there ourselves at one time. So no one will say anything to you and very, very quickly you will progress way beyond that stage anyway.

Now get out there and do it! :-)

[Rathji]

^^^^

But what about the Big Macs?