Push Ups / Sit ups routine

JSK 252

I was just wondering could somebody give me some advice on a simple push-up and sit-up/ crunch routine I could do daily to gain a bit of muscle? Its mainly for rugby ( wing or scrum half ) and for karate ( black belt ). I dont really mind about not getting a 6 pack or anything.

amazingemmet

JSK 252 wrote: »

I was just wondering could somebody give me some advice on a simple push-up and sit-up/ crunch routine I could do daily to gain a bit of muscle? Its mainly for rugby ( wing or scrum half ) and for karate ( black belt ). I dont really mind about not getting a 6 pack or anything.

A simple push up sit up rountine would be

20 push ups x3
20 sit ups x3

Interspersed with some hard breathing and you're sorted

If you actually want to get in shape for rugby, you'd need a more thought out routine

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/westside_for_skinny_bastards

madmik

i would add 20x3 bodyweight squats
and also 20x3 wide grip pullups if you have somewhere to do them

if the pullups are too tough do as many as possible x3

quirkster

doing them daily will just over train the muscles and not give them time to grow. take at least a days rest inbetween

Brian?

JSK 252 wrote: »

I was just wondering could somebody give me some advice on a simple push-up and sit-up/ crunch routine I could do daily to gain a bit of muscle? Its mainly for rugby ( wing or scrum half ) and for karate ( black belt ). I dont really mind about not getting a 6 pack or anything.

Push-ups, pull-ups and Situps/crunchs aren't going to add much muscle once you can do over 12 reps of each.

You can add resistance to push ups by raising your feet and to pullups by adding weight to a belt.

Including dips would be a good idea as would bodyweight squat and planks. In fact forget about crunches and do planks.

I reckon you'd be much better off investing in some weights though.

siochain

Vary your hand positions on the pushups.

Hands facing out then facing forward. You could also vary the width of your hand position from wide spread to hands clasped in the middle. This will hit the arm and shoulder muscles in different ways. A cheap investment would be a body ball, do pushups with just the tips of your toes on top of the ball this is good for strengthening your core and stabilizing muscles. Body ball can be used in countless ways for abs conditioning.

As said above body weight squats, lunges and horse stance work would help with leg strength and complement both your sports.

Good luck

JSK 252

I came across this 100 push up program and I might do
it. http://hundredpushups.com/

Roper

briankeating wrote: »

Push-ups, pull-ups and Situps/crunchs aren't going to add much muscle once you can do over 12 reps of each.

You can add resistance to push ups by raising your feet and to pullups by adding weight to a belt.

Including dips would be a good idea as would bodyweight squat and planks. In fact forget about crunches and do planks.

I reckon you'd be much better off investing in some weights though.

Can you do 12 full ROM pull ups? Unweighted?

Brian?

Roper wrote: »

Can you do 12 full ROM pull ups? Unweighted?

Is this a trick question of some kind?

Remmy

briankeating wrote: »

Is this a trick question of some kind?

Doubt it,I think he is just getting that anyone who can manage 12 full rom pullups would have a decent amount of muscle.They shouldn't be discounted.

siochain

JSK 252 wrote: »

I was just wondering could somebody give me some advice on a simple push-up and sit-up/ crunch routine I could do daily to gain a bit of muscle? Its mainly for rugby ( wing or scrum half ) and for karate ( black belt ). I dont really mind about not getting a 6 pack or anything.

Excuse my ignorance on this one but karate is not a ma I know much about but I am curious -

As a Karate black belt would you not already be very well versed in pushups, core work and general conditioning?

airscotty

The plank and side plank for 30-60 sec's depending on your level gives the best bang for your book im told. Great for the core strength:)

JSK 252

siochain wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance on this one but karate is not a ma I know much about but I am curious -

As a Karate black belt would you not already be very well versed in pushups, core work and general conditioning?

Its mostly leg strength and balance you concentrate on in Karate. There isnt as much emphasis put on upper body strength. I mean we do the odd push ups from time to time but its mostly exercises that work the calfs more than anything.

Brian?

Remmy wrote: »

Doubt it,I think he is just getting that anyone who can manage 12 full rom pullups would have a decent amount of muscle.They shouldn't be discounted.

Roper,

Apologies, I read it first as "can you do 12 push ups" so I was wondering what you were getting at.

If you can do 12 pullups, which I can't, you'll have a fair bit of muscle alright. My point was that doing a push up/situp program won't add much muscle, I didn't actually mean to put pull-ups in there with them.

madmik

if youre serious about gaining muscle just do 3 exercises

benchpress
squat
deadlift

the rest is optional

Roper

briankeating wrote: »

If you can do 12 pullups, which I can't, you'll have a fair bit of muscle alright. My point was that doing a push up/situp program won't add much muscle, I didn't actually mean to put pull-ups in there with them.

Sorry yes that's what I was getting at. I wasn't issuing a pull up challenge

OP,
What age/level are you at. You have to remember that for sport, more muscle mass does not mean more strength. You should be doing movements that strengthen you in key areas rather than looking to build a big upper body or get some abs. If you're thinking about getting stronger for sport than you should be thinking about two things, injury prevention and performance. If you do a routine based upon sit ups and push ups then you will be injured fairly soon. There's simply no balance to a programme like that.

Also if you listen to advice like this:

If youre serious about gaining muscle just do 3 exercises

benchpress
squat
deadlift

the rest is optional

You'll be pretty screwed after a while too for the same reasons.

What I would say to you is that if you want to be strong for rugby or karate, you probably won't get anything worth using from this forum. That's not to say that the advice here isn't good, just that a lot of the guys here are powerlifting based which is good for powerlifting, and others are fitness oriented which is good for weightloss etc. In terms of sports performance there's no magic bullet or one size fits all programme. What you need to do will depend on your current levels, your body type, the position you play and so on and so on.

I know that's probably not the answer you were looking for but if getting guys fit and strong could be done via message boards then life would be simple.:)