Squats Alternative for Home Gym

MisterAnarchy

I am having a few problems doing squats at home.
I dont have a squat bar and trying to do Barbell squats with any reasonable amount of weight is very dangerous .
Getting the weight up and down off my shoulders is risky.
I also dont like doing Deadlifts as I fear for my back.
Most books rate Squats and Deadlifts as 2 of the basic exercises for building strenght.
Are there any alternatives I could use that would be pretty effective and safer ?

D-Generate

I can understand you not doing Squats if you don't have a rack but you will always have a weak back unless you do Deadlifts. Just start off light and practice your form lots and lots!

You could try a hack squat aswell
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/Quadriceps/BBHackSquat.html
Not quite the same muscles as a normal Squat but it contains squat in it and if you don't do them the you will be doing diddley squat (Ho ho.....)

davyjose

Front squats are probably gonna be a little easier. and as the man said - hack squats, Barbell or Dumbbell. Single leg Bodyweight squats are quite good for building strength - the thing is unless your in a gym your going to find it difficult to put on huge amounts of mass. If your serious I would advise this (or buy a squat rack, but that's probably less of an option). you need to ask yourself are you willing to be limited by what you can do at home. Because depending on how big you wanna get, there ARE limitations.

MisterAnarchy

Hack Squat looks good.
I dont want to get too big.
Currently I'm 6ft 2 and 182lbs.
I'm of light build prob Skinny Fat.
I am pretty trim but I do have love handles and a bit of a belly which is growing.
The goal is to get rid of the belly and build some muscle and strength.
I have no aspirations of becoming a body builder or the like.
Just want to build my body up ,something like Christian Bale in Batman Begins is my target.
The nearest gym to me is expensive and pretty crap so thats why I have a Home Gym.
I must try to get a Squat rack if my budget permits.

davyjose

Well I can assure you Christian Bale didn't get that way at home - personal trainers, nutritionists and the best gyms . To be honest the Hack squats should do you fine. Also start deadlifting. There's no need to start hitting the big weights (and jeopardising your back) just now - i made such a mistake a few months ago - work your way up to it, and work hard on core exercises in the meantime. I presume you have a bench already, my next purchase would be a chin-up bar.
Squats are important but it would be a bad idea to start out too heavy - esp without a spotter - and you can probably clean 60 or 70 kilos onto your chest for some front squats - these are a lot safer for working out alone, in which case there's no real need for a rack.

MisterAnarchy

I have a bench yip.
I have a decent enough setup now.
Chin Up Bar,Exercise bike,Push Up stands,Tricep and Bicep Bars,lots of dumbell and Barbell plates,Swiss ball,skipping rope,ankle weights plus a powerball.
I also got a situps bench today in Lidl .
I started doing weights about 1 year ago and worked out 3 times a week until June then stopped to do cardio and play golf.
I didnt like Barbell squats and my knees were very sore after doing weights.
I'm going to start again this week but want to find an alternative for the squats as I dont want any accidents,I nearly went thru a partition last year:D

davyjose

For your knees try half squats, they don't technically work the entire muscle, but you could couple it with some dumbbell lunges.
Yeah you seem to have all the gear - maybe grab hold of someone next time your going to try squats - just to be safe

tribulus

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=1023821

A short article about squats and misinformation. Maybe some points in it could be argued but I see no advantage of halfsquats over full squats.

For one, he still has to get weight on his back.

He should be able to use more weight if it's a limited ROM thus making it even harder to get the weight on his back!

Getting the posterior chain involved is good, most people including myself have crap ones.

There are also studies around indicating a danger or increased risk of injury when only partial squatting.

OP: squats are great if you get into them, just learn good technique from the start - and get dooowwn (I wish i had). If not try doing DB split squats off your bench, lunges or even try learning some oly techniques and squat clean the bar onto your shoulders and then front squat away!

There's also no reason to fear deadlifts. People generally seem to have an irrational fear that any thing involving their back will mess them up.

Again just get your form down and keep the weights light until you gain confidence.

Don't forget your hamstrings too. RDL's/SSDL's are a good exercise that won't involve having to get the weight onto your back e.g good mornings

HammerHeadGym

To be honest,
there really is no substitute for squats and deadlifts, if you wanna get into batman's shape. Sorry mate. On the bright side, deadlifts are easy once your get the form down and very easy to get good weight up. Which is more good news, coz lifting heavy things is cool.

davyjose

Don't do half squats then:D my advice is do the deadlifts, and maybe some lunges

rubadub

MisterAnarchy- you sound similar to me, I have similar equipment, goals and fear of squats and deadlifts!

I was asking before here about squats and many were saying that high rep low weight squats were beneficial. I cant do hack squats since I always loose form as it knocks against my legs. I can comfortably get 45kg on my back, at a stretch I can get 55kg. I also used a DIY weighted vest or put weights in a back pack, then put up an easy weight on my back so I could easily get around 60kg up. I have to start doing deadlifts again. I always did them slowly with perfect form, this does not allow you to try too much weight. The main thing putting me off them now is the loading of the bar!.

I had stopped squats for a while but started again, after doing 20 reps I am in bits, out of breath, and the next day my inner thighs are aching (nicely).

MisterAnarchy

rubadub wrote:

MisterAnarchy- you sound similar to me, I have similar equipment, goals and fear of squats and deadlifts!

I was asking before here about squats and many were saying that high rep low weight squats were beneficial. I cant do hack squats since I always loose form as it knocks against my legs. I can comfortably get 45kg on my back, at a stretch I can get 55kg. I also used a DIY weighted vest or put weights in a back pack, then put up an easy weight on my back so I could easily get around 60kg up. I have to start doing deadlifts again. I always did them slowly with perfect form, this does not allow you to try too much weight. The main thing putting me off them now is the loading of the bar!.

I had stopped squats for a while but started again, after doing 20 reps I am in bits, out of breath, and the next day my inner thighs are aching (nicely).

Yip 50kg or 110lbs is about the max I can get up too.
I can do 4 sets of 10 reps pretty well but the prob is that I cant get enough weight up to push myself enough.
I'll give the Hack squats a try and if they arent successful I'll try your back pack idea.
I can do the stiff legged deadlift pretty well too,about 110lbs x10Reps (Is that too little ?) I'm not so good at the Deadlift though.
I must get a big mirror for my gym,that way I can check my form to make sure it is correct.
I will just go back to basics with these 3 exercises and perfect my form then add weight over the weeks.

Boru.

Just tio throw in my two cent - have you considered the bodyweight alternative?

Hindu Squats (Dands) for the legs and lungs. Whne you can knock out 300-500 in under 15 minutes I can promise you you will have very strong and muscular legs.

As reagrds the back - try bridging. Wrestlres or gymnastics style. If the bridge is too difficult try wall walking. If you can hold a nose to floor bridge for 3- 5 mintues you will have a very strong back. Requires no equipment, no spotters, just self discipline.

Oh - and I've actually had the pleasure of speaking to Chrsitain Bales trainer. He did do a good bit of benching, squats and deadlifts, but more than anything else he did thousands of pushups - all sorts of variations - standard, Atlas, Liderman, Elevated etc. They were performed daily - then weights. Very little cardio and apparently LOT's of pizza.

justsomebloke

I say this alot but, dumbell/barbell thrusters FTW

davyjose

Boru. wrote:

Oh - and I've actually had the pleasure of speaking to Chrsitain Bales trainer. He did do a good bit of benching, squats and deadlifts, but more than anything else he did thousands of pushups - all sorts of variations - standard, Atlas, Liderman, Elevated etc. They were performed daily - then weights. Very little cardio and apparently LOT's of pizza.

There is hope for us all Surprising to hear that. Have started doing pushups a lot more (since someone recently posted a Dominic Lacasse video). Tring to get the reps up, before getting onto claps.

BrianD3

When people say deadlift i presume they are talking about conventional stance bent legged deads? Sometimes the Sumo stance deadlift gets forgotten about. This stance can result in more leg drive and less back involvement. Sumo deadlifts are also a real killer on the groin/adductor area.

As already mentioned, pistols can be done at home. Weight can be added to these after a while although from a practical/safety POV there's a limit to how much weight can be added IMO.

Glute-ham raises using a low mounted chin up bar can be done at home. Brutal on the hamstrings.

One legged deadlifts can be done at home with far less weight than a normal deadlift. Concentrate on leg drive with these (very easy to hunch over too much and let your back take over) Another exercise that is brutal on the hamstrings and very taxing on the groin and knee musculature too.

Snatch followed by overhead squat. The OHS is another very hard exercise which can be done at home without a power cage and needs little weight to be very challenging. The snatch to get the bar over your head is technically difficult but doesn't have to be perfect form if your just using it as a precursor to an OHS.

So there you go - excellent exercise to do at home with basic equipment. Demolish yourself with a few of the above exercsies and you will far far surpass anything Christian Bale has ever done.

rubadub

Boru. wrote:

Oh - and I've actually had the pleasure of speaking to Chrsitain Bales trainer. He did do a good bit of benching, squats and deadlifts, but more than anything else he did thousands of pushups - all sorts of variations - standard, Atlas, Liderman, Elevated etc. They were performed daily - then weights. Very little cardio and apparently LOT's of pizza.

So if I leave out some bit, i.e. just eat the pizza will I get half as big

Seriously though is doing 1000's of pushups not overtraining? I do benching 3 times a week, mon, thursday and saturday. I usually do 3 sets of all my exercises mon & thursday and only one set each on saturday. In other threads I see people saying to only do benching once a week. But those pushups are working the biceps etc too, so all is overtrained, no?

Was he doing any other muscle groups every day?

I was asking before if anybody recommended doing light weight work on off days and everybody said no, that it would be overtraining. I cycle everyday and was saying that it is equivalent to doing leg work everyday so is supposedly overtraining by the same logic.

Did the trainer actually recommend pizza to him? I was thinking that wholewheat based pizza with little cheese would be ok.

MisterAnarchy

Boru. wrote:

Just to throw in my two cent - have you considered the bodyweight alternative?

Yip I sure have.
I have a few ebooks I must read Combat Conditioning and the Naked Warrior,these seem good.
I have just read Tom Venuto's book 'Burn the fat ,feed the muscle',I see you recommend that.
I have 2 other ebooks Anthony Ellis's 'Gaining Muscle', and Pete Sisco's 'Training for Bodybuilding' plus 'Body for Life' in Hardback.
These are my main sources of info to date.
'Training for Bodybuilding' by Sisco is HIT so thats not applicable for a home gym.
I must now try and create a successful workout combining bodyweight exercises and weight exercises.
The Hindu Squat and Hindu push up look good ,that back bridge looks a bit tough.

BrianD3. wrote:

As already mentioned, pistols can be done at home. Weight can be added to these after a while although from a practical/safety POV there's a limit to how much weight can be added IMO.

I tried doing pistols before at the top of the stairs at home,bloody difficult !

rubadub

MisterAnarchy wrote:

I must get a big mirror for my gym,that way I can check my form to make sure it is correct.

The form is better seen from the side, and trying to look across while doing it can distrub your form, so catch 22. You could set up a digital camera to take a little video clip of yourself from the side.

tribulus

BrianD3 wrote:

When people say deadlift i presume they are talking about conventional stance bent legged deads? Sometimes the Sumo stance deadlift gets forgotten about. This stance can result in more leg drive and less back involvement. Sumo deadlifts are also a real killer on the groin/adductor area.

As already mentioned, pistols can be done at home. Weight can be added to these after a while although from a practical/safety POV there's a limit to how much weight can be added IMO.

Glute-ham raises using a low mounted chin up bar can be done at home. Brutal on the hamstrings.

One legged deadlifts can be done at home with far less weight than a normal deadlift. Concentrate on leg drive with these (very easy to hunch over too much and let your back take over) Another exercise that is brutal on the hamstrings and very taxing on the groin and knee musculature too.

Snatch followed by overhead squat. The OHS is another very hard exercise which can be done at home without a power cage and needs little weight to be very challenging. The snatch to get the bar over your head is technically difficult but doesn't have to be perfect form if your just using it as a precursor to an OHS.

So there you go - excellent exercise to do at home with basic equipment. Demolish yourself with a few of the above exercsies and you will far far surpass anything Christian Bale has ever done.

Great post BrianD3 , can I ask whats your various DL's up to now, I think you said a while back it was 195kg or thereabouts?

HammerHeadGym

As an alternative, and remember, I am not recommending this for a minute, in fact I strictly forbid anyone from ever doing this or even thinking about it. But you could set up a makeshift squat rack with a couple of step ladders.

Boru.

rubadub wrote:

So if I leave out some bit, i.e. just eat the pizza will I get half as big

Seriously though is doing 1000's of pushups not overtraining? I do benching 3 times a week, mon, thursday and saturday. I usually do 3 sets of all my exercises mon & thursday and only one set each on saturday. In other threads I see people saying to only do benching once a week. But those pushups are working the biceps etc too, so all is overtrained, no?

Was he doing any other muscle groups every day?

I was asking before if anybody recommended doing light weight work on off days and everybody said no, that it would be overtraining. I cycle everyday and was saying that it is equivalent to doing leg work everyday so is supposedly overtraining by the same logic.

Did the trainer actually recommend pizza to him? I was thinking that wholewheat based pizza with little cheese would be ok.

You will get even BIGGER - but its mostly going to be fat :rolleyes:
and no doing thousands of pushups everyday is not necesarily over training - it depends on your level of conditioning - I do about between 200-500 daily, and I'm no where close to his size, nor am I overtraining, I od them mostly because I enjoy doing them, rather than as an actual program. About 6 months ago I did a thread on building up to 1,000 a day - it's actually not that hard. Keep in mind these things are all relative. For some people 25 pushups is over training, for others such as wresters, athletes, martial artisists 1,000 pushups is a warm up.

AT the time Bale was directed to bulk up as quickly as possible - he was taking in about 7,000 + cals a day and stuffing himself to the point of nauseau - he was ingesting hight calories foods, like pizza, and ice cream too I believe....this of course resulted in getting very chubby...he topped 300 lbs at one point I believe then he went on a serious cut and viola - Batman.

I actually have one of this suits form Begins - and its HUGE on me.... the guys was big.

I was speaking to his tainer at a conference in the UK, he was over at the time doing a series of articles for Men's Health - inculding one outlining bale's pushup program.

He was of course also following a weight lifting program incoperating the big three - but the main focus was on body weight - the idea being his physique shouldn't be a "gym built" look but the brutish animal bear like look when you spend all your time in prison fighting and doing pushups - best way to achieve that physique? Do lots of pushups.

Boru.

MisterAnarchy wrote:

Yip I sure have.
I have a few ebooks I must read Combat Conditioning and the Naked Warrior,these seem good.
I have just read Tom Venuto's book 'Burn the fat ,feed the muscle',I see you recommend that.
I have 2 other ebooks Anthony Ellis's 'Gaining Muscle', and Pete Sisco's 'Training for Bodybuilding' plus 'Body for Life' in Hardback.
These are my main sources of info to date.
'Training for Bodybuilding' by Sisco is HIT so thats not applicable for a home gym.
I must now try and create a successful workout combining bodyweight exercises and weight exercises.
The Hindu Squat and Hindu push up look good ,that back bridge looks a bit tough.

I tried doing pistols before at the top of the stairs at home,bloody difficult !

Dude that's all you need. There's TOO much info there. Eat BFFM, do combat conditionig using Pavles GTG from Naked Warrior and you'll be AWESOME!!!!

MisterAnarchy

Boru. wrote:

Dude that's all you need. There's TOO much info there. Eat BFFM, do combat conditionig using Pavles GTG from Naked Warrior and you'll be AWESOME!!!!

Cheers Boru,I will give that a go so for the next few months.

BrianD3

tribulus wrote:

Great post BrianD3 , can I ask whats your various DL's up to now, I think you said a while back it was 195kg or thereabouts?

Yeah it was 195 kg and I got up to 205 kg in both the sumo and conventional before christmas. But since then i've gone backwards and am back at 195 again.

The one legged deadlifts are cool but as I mentioned above it's very easy to let your back take over as your leg strength is reduced so much. I was doing them with 126 kg but was using almost all back and was rounding it so was fooling myself. Have been concentrating on the leg drive of late and have done doubles with 86 kg which were really really tough

iascanmore

Was going to start a new post but it seemed logical to put it here...

Any ideas on where I'd get one of these here in Dublin - or something similar.

http://www.sportsunlimitedinc.com/york-press-squat-stands.html

Size is crucial, ie small is better so one of those "proper" racks is not what I'm after.

Thanks

Boru.

Yep you can order then from Star Fitness in Bray.

davyjose

Boru. wrote:

You will get even BIGGER - but its mostly going to be fat :rolleyes:
and no doing thousands of pushups everyday is not necesarily over training - it depends on your level of conditioning - I do about between 200-500 daily, and I'm no where close to his size, nor am I overtraining, I od them mostly because I enjoy doing them, rather than as an actual program. About 6 months ago I did a thread on building up to 1,000 a day - it's actually not that hard. Keep in mind these things are all relative. For some people 25 pushups is over training, for others such as wresters, athletes, martial artisists 1,000 pushups is a warm up.

AT the time Bale was directed to bulk up as quickly as possible - he was taking in about 7,000 + cals a day and stuffing himself to the point of nauseau - he was ingesting hight calories foods, like pizza, and ice cream too I believe....this of course resulted in getting very chubby...he topped 300 lbs at one point I believe then he went on a serious cut and viola - Batman.

I actually have one of this suits form Begins - and its HUGE on me.... the guys was big.

I was speaking to his tainer at a conference in the UK, he was over at the time doing a series of articles for Men's Health - inculding one outlining bale's pushup program.

He was of course also following a weight lifting program incoperating the big three - but the main focus was on body weight - the idea being his physique shouldn't be a "gym built" look but the brutish animal bear like look when you spend all your time in prison fighting and doing pushups - best way to achieve that physique? Do lots of pushups.

what sort of back exercise was he doing do you know? I find it hard to believe he was doing pull-up's at 300lb with a high bodyfat (maybe he was though). And apart from pull-up's are there any other decent bodyweight exercises for the back, to counter hundreds of push-ups per day?

rubadub

Boru. wrote:

and no doing thousands of pushups everyday is not necesarily over training - it depends on your level of conditioning - I do about between 200-500 daily, and I'm no where close to his size, nor am I overtraining,

Thanks for the reply. Do you, or others you know, do any other work every day like this? I was asking about doing lower weights on my off-days as a form of cardio.
I figured it was equivalent to cycling, i.e. some resistance but shouldnt be overtraining. I did get a stepper but returned it since I didnt like it. Also my legs get enough workout since I cycle 45min each day and walk around a lot. I wanted some sort of cardio to do in front of the tv. Most talk of 500 pushups or situps per day, but you dont hear much about military presses or bicep/tricep work done at 500 reps at relatively low weights.

Is there a % of my 1RM that I should be aiming for to do these high rep workouts. I am fond of military presses and do 8-10reps at 41kg at the moment. Also how many sets are you talking about for your 200-500 daily pushups?

Boru.

davyjose wrote:

what sort of back exercise was he doing do you know? I find it hard to believe he was doing pull-up's at 300lb with a high bodyfat (maybe he was though). And apart from pull-up's are there any other decent bodyweight exercises for the back, to counter hundreds of push-ups per day?

Pushups can actively work the back as well. Rather than just falling down and allowing gravity to do the work for you, next time you do a pushup try actively tensing your chest and arms resistingthe pull of gravity and actively your back muscles in PULLING yourself down. Believe me with proper muscle contraction 1 pushup can work every muscle in the body.

I admit I never asked about the back...I know from my own expereicne it can be developed from pushups with proper contraction and just assumed this was how it was developed.

As regards bodweight exercies, I've said it before and I'll say it agian, the back bridge, wrestlers bridge and gymnastic bridge will build and incredibly strong and flexible back. That said you can of course supplement that with leg pulls, back extentions, wall walks, hand clasps, lat extentions etc.

Hope that helps.

Boru.

I figured it was equivalent to cycling, i.e. some resistance but shouldnt be overtraining. I did get a stepper but returned it since I didnt like it. Also my legs get enough workout since I cycle 45min each day and walk around a lot. I wanted some sort of cardio to do in front of the tv.

Is there a % of my 1RM that I should be aiming for to do these high rep workouts. I am fond of military presses and do 8-10reps at 41kg at the moment. Also how many sets are you talking about for your 200-500 daily pushups?

rubadub wrote:

Thanks for the reply. Do you, or others you know, do any other work every day like this? I was asking about doing lower weights on my off-days as a form of cardio.

Dude I train like this daily. It's my life. I do a major lifting session once every 8-16 days depending, and just spend 15 minutes every morning realxing and enjoying the movements of my body performing these reps along with some concentrated muscle tension exercises.

rubadub wrote:

Most talk of 500 pushups or situps per day, but you dont hear much about military presses or bicep/tricep work done at 500 reps at relatively low weights.

That said low weigths for cardio, while still a possability is NO WHERE near as effective as power calisthenics. Forget the weights. The reason you rarely hear of someone doing 500 rep military presses, or bicep / tricep exercises is beacause they don't. The don't have to!

When you're knocking out 250 -500 pushups a day your biceps, tricpes and deltoids get an incredible workout. Besides which, if you really want to workout your arms and shoulders do extended range handstand pushups. Essentially do a handstand with your arms on two chairs...then lower yourself till your teeth thouch the floor. Then push back up. I doubt little more than 0.5% of the worlds best athletes can perform that for reps.

rubadub wrote:

Is there a % of my 1RM that I should be aiming for to do these high rep workouts.

Nope. Yous hould be aiming to increase your 1 rep maxes aby aout 15-20% every time you attempt them though.

rubadub wrote:

I am fond of military presses and do 8-10reps at 41kg at the moment. Also how many sets are you talking about for your 200-500 daily pushups?

Ah sets...thats' funny...I don't do sets - their done straight. You start at 1 and stop at 500. No just kidding. There are days I do that, there are days I don't. God knows I didn't start that way. The way to do it is set a goal and achieve it. It doesn't matter how, so much as its done. It teaches you great will power and determination.

Say in 6 weeks you want to do 500 pushups - it doesn't matter if you do 100 sets of 5 or 5 sets of 100 - as long as you do them. You're body will very quickly adapt, and when you want to you can knock out 500 straight. I do about 11 pushup variations throughout the day. This prevents over or under developing particular muscles.

This reminds me of a story Bil Star used to tell about a guy who was stationed with him in Iceland while he was serving in the air force. A young corperal had allowed himself to get in dire shape and had gained about 50 lbs of flab. He found out that he would be getting leave to go back and get married to his fiance and he resolved to get back in shape. He remebered how well pushups had served him in his bootcamp days so he went on a pushup blitz.

At the start he managed a shaky 5. Every time Starr saw the corperal on base he would drop down and do a set of pushups. Pretty soon he got to apoint where he was doing 20 sets of 75 reps a day, for a total of 1500. - Less than a month later this guy had an incredible physique with the spectacularly devleoped arms, chest, back and shoulders.

Probably a very exagerrated strory, but when I pushed myself over three months to get to 1000 pushups a day - I don't think I ever looked better.

davyjose

Boru. wrote:

As regards bodweight exercies, I've said it before and I'll say it agian, the back bridge, wrestlers bridge and gymnastic bridge will build and incredibly strong and flexible back. That said you can of course supplement that with leg pulls, back extentions, wall walks, hand clasps, lat extentions etc.

Hope that helps.

it very much does - cheers mate

davyjose

Boru. wrote:

Probably a very exagerrated strory, but when I pushed myself over three months to get to 1000 pushups a day - I don't think I ever looked better.

I've since read up on this (cos it's hugely intriguing) that Christian Bale was unable to perform 1 push-up after filming the Machinist, and within six months he was, well, Batman :eek: and had almost doubled his bodyweight! Impressive.

rubadub

Boru. wrote:

The reason you rarely hear of someone doing 500 rep military presses, or bicep / tricep exercises is beacause they don't. The don't have to!

I just wondered why it is always pushups or situps that you hear about people doing all the time. I thought some might do other exercises to work every muscle they can. You talk of varying your pushups for this reason too.

I was thinking of doing light weights as an exercise at home while watching TV, doing exercises other than pushups allows me to do this easier.

Boru. wrote:

Nope. Yous hould be aiming to increase your 1 rep maxes aby aout 15-20% every time you attempt them though.

I was wondering at what level will it be overtraining. If I can only manage to do 10 pushups, then I would imagine doing 10 sets of 10 pushups every single day would be overtraining (no?). If somebody can bench 200kg then I would imagine the pushups are only a light workout to them, like cycling is.

justsomebloke

rubadub I know weight loss or maintance is your main goal for weight training so you could try the tabata method http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=04-046-training as part of your training as this would help remove the need for a seperate weight "cardio" day

rubadub

jsb wrote:

rubadub I know weight loss or maintance is your main goal for weight training so you could try the tabata method http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=04-046-training as part of your training as this would help remove the need for a seperate weight "cardio" day

Thanks for the link, I had read that a long time ago and had forgotten all about it, will give it a go tonight.

Boru.

rubadub wrote:

I just wondered why it is always pushups or situps that you hear about people doing all the time. I thought some might do other exercises to work every muscle they can. You talk of varying your pushups for this reason too.

Well pushups and squats are awhole body movement - performed in a specific manner you cna work every msucle in the body. As for situps, I think it becasue people donlt read enough about bodyfat % :rolleyes:

rubadub wrote:

I was thinking of doing light weights as an exercise at home while watching TV, doing exercises other than pushups allows me to do this easier.

Go for it! Bruce lee in particualr was famous for this - he had a light 5lb dumbell that he curled continuously while watching tv, doing the splits and reading a book.

rubadub wrote:

I was wondering at what level will it be overtraining. If I can only manage to do 10 pushups, then I would imagine doing 10 sets of 10 pushups every single day would be overtraining (no?). If somebody can bench 200kg then I would imagine the pushups are only a light workout to them, like cycling is.

This is a VERY intertesting question and one I personally have made a major study of. Now, I'm only mentioning this okay...but...I have conducted trials where clients would be in an overtrained state that would impeed further progress if they performed a workout with anything less than 32 days between. I have unconfirmed reports of even longer periods.

I currently, loosly define overtraining as point where I have not sufficetly recovered to allow me to exceed my pervious best by a minimum of 5%. Now i realsise this is not a conventional definition but it is the one that suits my purpose and most accuractely reflets what I percieve to be an overtraining state in which the growth / recovery cycle is interuppted and strength gains are not increased.

Overtraining is quite individual - and as such you are your own best guide. That said I do have a system in place for estimating overtraining cycle's and maintaining indefinite continued progress by regulating recovery days. As you may be aware I'm on a 8-10 day recovery cycle, but even then I will perform daily exercise in the form of static contractions, muscle control, hand balancing (thanks Emmet!), and power calistenics.

Incidentally the ability to bench 200lbs + doesn't translate into pushup ability. Many bodyb uilders, power lifters and weight lifting enthusiasts I know can not perform 5 consectutive properly performed pushups. (Just to back me up on this there are many weight lifters on this very forum that I have had the privilage of seeing and testing - and they have all had difficulty in perfoming over 5 repitions of the hindu pushup - lads I invite you to shame yourselves ).

In conculsion I say go for it - see how you find it. If it inteferes with your muslce output, leads to small niggling injuries or depressed mood then ease off. If not push forward. Log document and analyse and then let us know what you find.

rubadub

Boru. wrote:

I currently, loosly define overtraining as point where I have not sufficetly recovered to allow me to exceed my pervious best by a minimum of 5%. Now i realsise this is not a conventional definition but it is the one that suits my purpose and most accuractely reflets what I percieve to be an overtraining state in which the growth / recovery cycle is interuppted and strength gains are not increased.

Good post, I never saw a method of rating if you are overtraining.
So this is 5% more of either weights or reps every 8-10days?
I managed 25 pushups (deep controlled ones on pushup bars) the other day so 5% more would be 26.25. But I would not imagine I could increase by 5% every single day.
Is the increase essential, if I was at the same level I am still as strong. If I was dropping the amount of reps that would be a sure indication of overtraining. I would expect and increase of 5% per 10 days would be very feasible.