Is this exercise plan insane or just ambitious?

July 16, 2009 10:44 PM

After a somewhat less than satisfactory personal training session, I've decided to go it alone, but I'd like to check with others who've tried a similar plan first. Much more detail inside.

Last week I had a free session with a personal trainer at my gym, and while he seemed to know what he was doing, I had a few concerns. First and foremost, it seemed like he was required to push for the hard sell instead of giving any truly useful information in the first session- try as I might, I couldn't get a workout plan out of him that I could use on my own, or even a summary of what I did that day. Hell, he even did all the stretches for me at the end of the session.

As best I can remember, this is the routine he had me on:

5 minute warmup on the elliptical, staying over 70 RPM (this seemed a bit excessive; I couldn't keep it above the mid-60's after a minute or so, and it sent my heart rate through the roof, somewhere in the neighborhood of 160)

*10 bodyweight squats, with the help of a bench, followed by holding the squat position for 20 seconds

*10 step up/step down with each leg (sorry, no idea what the actual exercise is called, but I had one foot up on a low bench and stepped up and down with the other leg)

*one minute rest, then repeat the above

*one minute rest

*10 pushups

*? shoulder presses (can't remember how many he had me doing, and instead of barbells he used his own weight, pushing against me with his hands- another bit of potentially useful info unattainable)

*? skullcrushers (same, can't remember how many reps, and he pushed against my hands for resistance instead of having me use a weight)

*rest, repeat the upper-body exercises

*20 situps

*cooldown and stretching

I can't afford further sessions at my current salary, so I went looking around the web for basic strength training plans to go along with my current routine (1 hour of moderate cardio every day, split between the treadmill and elliptical). Starting Strength comes highly recommended, but it has a heavy emphasis on squats, and as I learned at the gym bodyweight squats are absolute murder on my knees, let alone with a barbell- I messed up my knees pretty badly falling down an escalator when I was a kid, and they've never totally recovered.

The upper-body stuff was much easier, though, and I've decided to give One Hundred Pushups and Two Hundred Situps a shot. My questions are:

Have any fellow MeFites tried either program? How did it go?

Is it overly ambitious for an untrained beginner to try and do both programs at once on alternating days, or am I setting myself up for failure?

If, as I strongly suspect, they'd be better done one after the other, how should I incorporate the first exercise into my routine after I've finished the final test? For example, I'm probably going to do the pushups program first, as I find them a bit easier; how then to add situps to my daily fitness routine while I'm doing the 200 situps challenge?

Sorry about rambling on so much, it's all a bit overwhelming and I figured too much information would be better than too little.

posted by Merzbau to health & fitness (10 comments total)

Starting Strength will be fine on your knees *if* you squat deep enough (ie, below parallel). Look at Stronglifts 5x5 for a variation on Starting Strength. Note, you'll really need a barbell w/ weights.

Otherwise, the workout he showed you seems fine, but basic. If you want some ready-made plans you can do on your own, check out Turbulence Training - the main program has about 4-5 months worth of workouts, which you can do with dumbbells.

I haven't trie the pushup/situp programs, but I've been interested in the pushups for a while.

Hope this helps, it does all depend on your goals though :)
posted by mahke at 10:55 PM on July 16

To answer your second question, there's nothing wrong with doing lots of pushups one day and doing lots of situps the next, and vice versa. You will get sore sometimes. It'll be ok.

However 100 pushups or 200 situps aren't really strength programs. If strength is your goal you should look elsewhere.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:03 PM on July 16

OMFG do NOT go to the Turbulence Training website.
It was almost as bad as porn sites with all the pop-ups, discounts, etc.

ugh.
posted by j at 11:05 PM on July 16

I've never been a fan of the push up program. You'll get better at push ups but you'll possibly develop shoulder strength imbalances and probably develop an internal rotator dominance. And I like push ups. They're awesome in a balanced program.

What are your goals? What do you want to get out of working out?

By the way, that trainer gave you a shit workout.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:15 AM on July 17

As to the trainer -- a trainer is a salesman first and an educator second. It looks like he tried to make his presence integral to as many exercises as possible.

Ditto on P.o.B: what are your goals?

As to ambition, you should know yourself. Pick something you can see sticking to for the long-term. I believe one should start small. The best training program is the one that you adhere to. IMO, if it gets your heart-rate up and challenges your muscles for a half hour, that's plenty. Anything beyond that is gravy and depends on your specific goals.
posted by dualityofmind at 12:26 AM on July 17

Have any fellow MeFites tried either program? How did it go?

After exercising 5x/week for over a year, I started 200 situps and 100 pushups at the same time. After a couple of weeks I was starting to skip days, both cardio and strength. I stopped both programs and went back to a more varied routine.

The best exercise advice I've ever heard was from someone on metafilter. "Don't do the same exercise twice in one week." It's just too easy to get bored, and that impacts the rest of your workout. Even for cardio, I have to vary the location and type several times a week. Different parks or tracks for jogging and walking, short sprints interspaced with jogging or walking, jumping rope in my garage, biking, etc. Looking back, joining a gym has always been a death blow to my exercise commitments.

That said - I know a lot of people who can keep a regular workout routine so YMMV. It just doesn't work for me.
posted by txvtchick at 5:37 AM on July 17

I'm not sure what your budget is, but if you're looking for overall fitness, perhaps you could checkout a local boxing gym? Many boxing coaches have training programs for people who want to train like a boxer but not actually step into a ring and get punched in the face.

Another option is Crossfit, which you can do on your own if you have the gear, or you can join a local chapter.
posted by jcmilton at 9:54 AM on July 17

Right now my goals are to work on my cardiovascular fitness, lose fat (ideally about 20 pounds to get down to 170), and work on upper body strength- my legs are in decent shape, and my endurance is improving, but I'm all wet-noodly above the waist.
posted by Merzbau at 3:13 PM on July 17

Alright, here is a quick rundown:

- Get your diet in order. Unless you're young and/or have really good genetics then you need to take a serious look at what you consume.
- Losing fat/wieght and building muscle/strength are not diametrically opposed goals but for the sake of simplicity you should really concentrate on one or the other.
- Last, but not least, make sure you get enough rest.

All of these things you should be able to look up on your own. Take some time with your goals, sit down and learn the basics on how to achieve them.

Another thing. Your knee bends. Squatting is a basic function of the human body. There would have to be something drastically wrong with your knees to not be able to squat. I'm going to use the old sport adage; are you hurt or are you injured? Is it a sharp shooting stabbing pain or is it a tightness with some acheyness? Simply put, just because there is pain does not mean there is an injury. I am not a doctor or anywhere near that, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say doing squats is not out of the realm for you.
One thing you could do to see if this is really an issue is to squat just above where the pain begins. Then systematically lower yourself in subsequent workouts. You may be able to do that without any pain at all. I know there is an old doctor adage of if it hurts then stop doing it, but I would bet dollars to doughnuts that if you went to a smart coach/trainer/strength coach they are going to find a way for you to squat.
posted by P.o.B. at 12:02 PM on July 18

Thanks for the reply, P.o.B. Point by point:

1. I've been eating well (or what I understand to be well, anyway) for the last year or so, prior to starting a serious exercise program- very little sugar, heavy on fruits and vegetables, chicken and fish for protein, lots of greens, etc. About 1800 calories, spread across 4 or 5 smaller meals.

2. Good point. I suppose for now the weight loss is my #1 goal.

3. Absolutely. Everything I've read has cited 8 hours a night as a minimum, and I've been making sure to do that.

The stuff with my knees- they're always very stiff no matter what I do beforehand, and while I don't feel either a shooting pain or an ache, I do experience sort of a grinding, friction-y sensation (usually accompanied by loud cracks) that had me worried about the condition of the joint. I don't think I'm heavy enough for that to be the cause of it (190 lbs at 6'0").
posted by Merzbau at 10:05 PM on July 18