How often should i do pushups and squats?

Hey,

My husband is a Stregth Coach and Personal Trainer. We don't use
machines either. We are coaches at the local CrossFit Gym. CrossFit
philosophy is that fitness it best attianed with natural and
functional movements with full range of motion and modality.

You should be doing pushups and squats every day as part of your warm
up. And you should be varying your workout with other functional
movements.

I would like to help you more, but it's hard to do so via email.
Here's the link to my husbands blog, and you can contact us here if
there is anything more we can do for you.... http://precipiceathletics.blogspot.com/

You can visit CrossFit.com for more info. Here is a article from the
CrossFit journal about what fitness is. http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ-trial.pdf
Here's also a very simple workout you can do ...
http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/BeginnersMay03.pdf

I really hope this helps
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

writes:

> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
> day?
>
> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
> these?
>
> Thanks.

You can do bodyweight exercises every day if you like. The reason is
that after you get strong enough to do ten to twenty repetitions
you're primarily training endurance rather than strength. Strength
training generally requires more recovery time than endurance
training.

There are ways to make pushups and squats more challenging, but that
doesn't sound like what you're interested in.

--
Jim Janney
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

wrote in message

>
> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
> day?
>
> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
> these?
>
> Thanks.

You need to find what works for you with a given set of exercises but if
you don't change it, it won't work forever so you need to be prepared to
understand the principles and adjust as needed. There is no single
"right" training schedule for bodyweight or any other kind of exercises.

Generally speaking, doing something relatively brief but relatively
intense every day is a good way to improve strength (and likely residual
muscle tone as well) without bulking up. Bulking up is actually pretty
hard to do, anyway.

Pushups and squats can be tweaked to become effective strength training
by moving towards one-armed pushups and one-legged squats. I practice
both and think they're great, and at 153 lbs., no one has yet accused me
of bulking up. The book which provided and provides my guidance on
these two exercises is Pavel Tsatsouline's, "Naked Warrior", link here:
http://www.kbnj.com/nw.htm

If you choose to do them in their original versions, I'd be sure to do
lots of them. You might also want to Google on hindu squats and hindu
pushups - they are yet another wrinkle on the same subject and a lot of
people like them for high reps.

Last but not least, don't forget pullups - they're another great
bodyweight exercise. As but one example, here's my workout from
yesterday:

Pullups @ bodyweight + 20 lb. dumbbell held between my feet: 8 reps x 1
set
One-legged squat (pistol) @ bodyweight: 4 reps left, 4 reps right x 1
set
Chinup @ bodyweight + 20 lb. dumbbell held between my feet: 8 reps x 1
set

I did 10 minutes of joint health movements, mostly qigong, to warmup,
and that's all I did - was a simple workout that left me feeling like I
had worked everything pretty hard. The whole thing took less than 20
minutes to complete, including the warmup. One could easily do the
pullups bodyweight only or substitute a harder version, e.g., pullups
holding onto a towel draped over the bar, and a doorway ledge or a tree
branch will suffice instead of a pullup bar.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

In misc.fitness.weights Jim Janney wrote:
> writes:

>> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
>> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
>> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
>> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
>> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
>> day?
>>
>> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
>> these?

> You can do bodyweight exercises every day if you like. The reason is
> that after you get strong enough to do ten to twenty repetitions
> you're primarily training endurance rather than strength. Strength
> training generally requires more recovery time than endurance
> training.

Unless like me you're no longer young and start doing that from a
position of long term unfitness and only at first able to a very few
of the exercise. I did that, and developed muscular strength so much
faster than tendon and joint strength that by the time I'd got up to
ten I'd seriously knackered joints and tendons. It took me over a year
to recover. As a result of that experience I'd advise not doing any
the next day if it hurts a bit, and waiting until the soreness has
gone before resuming the exercise.

I now do them nearly every day without problems, but it took a long
time to get up to that level of robustness in all the musculature
tendons and joints involved.

--
Chris Malcolm
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

In article ,
Chris Malcolm wrote:

> In misc.fitness.weights Jim Janney wrote:
> > writes:
>
> >> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
> >> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
> >> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
> >> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
> >> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
> >> day?
> >>
> >> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
> >> these?
>
> > You can do bodyweight exercises every day if you like. The reason is
> > that after you get strong enough to do ten to twenty repetitions
> > you're primarily training endurance rather than strength. Strength
> > training generally requires more recovery time than endurance
> > training.
>
> Unless like me you're no longer young and start doing that from a
> position of long term unfitness and only at first able to a very few
> of the exercise. I did that, and developed muscular strength so much
> faster than tendon and joint strength that by the time I'd got up to
> ten I'd seriously knackered joints and tendons. It took me over a year
> to recover. As a result of that experience I'd advise not doing any
> the next day if it hurts a bit, and waiting until the soreness has
> gone before resuming the exercise.
>
> I now do them nearly every day without problems, but it took a long
> time to get up to that level of robustness in all the musculature
> tendons and joints involved.

Don't discount the importance of nutritional support.
--
Peace! Om

"Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them." -- Dalai Lama
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

"Chris Malcolm" wrote in message

> In misc.fitness.weights Jim Janney wrote:
>> writes:
>
>>> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
>>> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
>>> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
>>> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
>>> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
>>> day?
>>>
>>> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
>>> these?
>
>> You can do bodyweight exercises every day if you like. The reason is
>> that after you get strong enough to do ten to twenty repetitions
>> you're primarily training endurance rather than strength. Strength
>> training generally requires more recovery time than endurance
>> training.
>
> Unless like me you're no longer young and start doing that from a
> position of long term unfitness and only at first able to a very few
> of the exercise. I did that, and developed muscular strength so much
> faster than tendon and joint strength that by the time I'd got up to
> ten I'd seriously knackered joints and tendons. It took me over a year
> to recover. As a result of that experience I'd advise not doing any
> the next day if it hurts a bit, and waiting until the soreness has
> gone before resuming the exercise.
>
> I now do them nearly every day without problems, but it took a long
> time to get up to that level of robustness in all the musculature
> tendons and joints involved.

There are other approaches which I advocate - use a moderately heavy
weight and don't do high reps. The addition of muscle tension,
especially in people who don't have a high skill level in a particular
movement, can actually make it safer - the muscle tension will tight up
the joints. I know this might sound counterintuitive but don't assume
that your year got you stronger connective tissue - it may simply be
that your skill at performing the exercise improved so that the load
actually goes where it's supposed to.

For example, a 5-rep set with a 10-rep max will, IMHO, work a lot better
for more people new to lifting than will a high rep daily calesthenics
routine. The right amount of resistance can effectively enforce good
form.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

wrote in message

>
> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
> day?
>
> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
> these?
>
> Thanks.

Hi Frolib,

I'd suggest sliding over to http://bodyweightculture.com/ . You'll need to
sign up but its free and includes a range of bodyweight programs or indeed
you can cherry pick the exercises to suit as I have choosen. There's also a
forum there, I haven't used it but assume it'll be a good place.

As to frequency: If you want to continue to train to failure then I'd think
rest days are probably called for but what I understand from my reading and
the consensus from chaps in this newsgroup (as I understand it, jump in if
not) if you're looking for strength gains I'd think doing fewer of each
exercise in each workout but more workouts a day. i.e. during coffee breaks
and lunch hour.

Now if I can take the liberty of adding my 2 pence worth even tho it's not
answering your question directly ...... Doing some, even sporadic, weight
sessions should really help you in the strength department. Even if only
once a week or maybe less. Compound exercises (especially when weighted)
ensure all manner of useful hormones are released by the body. So just a few
exercises, bench press, squats and shoulder presses; a relatively heavy
weight, and perhaps 3 or 4 sets of 3 reps will improve srength no end.

I'm not saying just weights by any means, it's just I've found the best
results come from mixing it up extremely frequently.

Cheers
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

Dnia 2008-11-20 napisa³(a):
> On Nov 20, 3:08 pm, wrote:
>> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
>> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
>> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
>> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
>> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
>> day?
>>
>> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
>> these?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> I forgot to mention that i do each to failure.

About a set per day per exercise is what most people can tolerate well
with high rep calisthenics. That is, if you train every other day, do
two sets, every day - only one set.

BTW - without some back training you'll develop bad posture and you may
injure yourself over time too. Your body prefers to have balanced
muscular development, especially shoulders. They are funny that way.

--
Andrzej Rosa
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

On Nov 20, 10:08 am, wrote:
> Hello. How often should I do pushups and squats? I'm a thin guy; I
> don't intend to lose weight. I don't want to use equipment, I need
> calisthenic exercises I can do anywhere. I want to do them to ward
> against stiffness, and also to keep a toned body without getting
> bulked up. Should I do them: twice a day, once a day, every other
> day?
>
> I also intend to the do bicycle crunches. How often should I do
> these?
>
> Thanks.

Exercise to the body is like reading to the mind. You have to
progress. If the only book you ever read is "Fun With Dick And Jane"
you would not grow intellectually.
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats? 

hi if your exercise schedule is not good for you.
try this
step 1 if you are doing exercise for long time i suggest give a 20
day break.
step 2 begin with a WEIGHT THAT YOU CAN PERFORM 10-15 REPS AND DO
ONLY ONE SET , However do few warm up sets.
step 3 increase weight everytime you perform same exercise. do it
again after 5-7 days.
step4 after some time your growth will cease. that is you will reach
3-4 reps and will find hard to increase more weight.
step 5 rest for 20 days
step 6 repeat
step7 give it a try it will work


you must have tried few nasty schedule try this. tell me if this works.
 >> Stay informed about: How often should i do pushups and squats?