working out at home - General

Are there any decent workouts I can do at home without any weights or equipment? I'm female, 5'4" and 110lbs and I can't do a single pushup :( I really wanna start jogging too, but I live somewhere a bit steep and when I have to run for more than 30 seconds I get so tired it feels like I'm gonna throw up. I'm this incredibly unhealthy.

We all gotta start somewhere, keep doing that 30 seconds of running and then it'll turn to a minute and then 10 minutes and so on. Same with push ups, just do easier push ups like on your knees and go up from there, I'm too lazy to go look up a list of bodyweight exercises but I'm sure someone will hook you up with one soon enough.

females on facepunch. this is preposterous

I did 5x5x100lbs on overhead press few days ago, I hope to be at 110lbs in a month or two. Funny when I remember I had trouble even with 40lbs few months ago. On a more serious note...what are you goals ? Probably just to be fit. If you can't run, just walk a bit faster. Then in a week start running for a few minutes then walk while resting, then run again and repeat. In no time you will be running like crazy.

My goal is to burn a bit of fat but more importantly to get stronger. Seriously I just want some muscle mass, my arms are scrawny as fuck. Tight abs and firmer butt would be nice too. Should I be looking to work out every day or should I take a day's break between workouts? Does giving up soda yield worthwhile results, or is it not worth the mental and physical anguish? Also I found a routine online that consists of crunches, pushups, squats things like that. Is this a good way to start? Any ideas for makeshift weights?

First of all you need to be aware that building muscle is REALLY hard, it takes months, years. And above all it's much more difficult for girls, since their body is designed to carry fat and not muscle. If you want to get stronger and build muscle you will need to workout hard, you need to challenge your body and give it a reason to build more muscle. You will also need to eat more(around 250kcal more than your body needs every day) and supply your body with quality food, so it can build those muscles (fish, lean meat, nuts, fruit, vegetables, oats, milk...). But that will also cause you to gain weight and fat too, you can't really avoid that (unless you count every calorie and have phd in nutrition and physical health). Would you be OK with that ? I mean you can work your ass of every day, be on a diet and lose fat, and get stronger and leaner, but that wont make your muscles bigger and you are already pretty tiny. About those workouts... don't worry much about abs. Abs are made in the kitchen and not working out. You need to lower your body fat below 10% to make them visible, and that requires a really strict diet. How often you should workout depends on how hard your workouts are. You can workout every day if you can, but a good amount of rest is very important especially if you workout hard and you want to build muscle. I personally workout 2 days in a row then rest one day. Starting with bodyweight workouts is OK, you can do a lot with that: - Push ups for chest and triceps (if its too hard you can do them on the knees, or you can place your hands on a elevated surface like a desk) - pull ups for back and biceps (again if its too hard you can put a broomstick between two chairs, and lift yourself with your legs on the floor (google for bodyweight/inverted rows)) - squats, leg lunges for glutes and legs - and all those girly exercises that are only good for warming up :) - shoulders - front, back, front raise - two plastic bottles filled with sand is enough to start. As for makeshift weights... since you don't plan to get huge, I think it would be best you just buy a pair of dumbells with small changeable weights. 10kg would me more than enough I think. That's 40-50€ where I live (and everything is expensive here).

Try doing girl push ups (the ones where you start on your knees), 3 sets of 20ish for a few days until you can do normal push ups, then get on this: [url]http://hundredpushups.com/[/url] If you can make it to 100 then great, if not dont feel bad, 100 push ups is ridiculous. [editline]17th March 2014[/editline] Squats and lunges are great too, even better if you can add weight.

I forgot to mention chair dips for triceps (I can't edit my previous post for some reason).

What if I did a 1 hour session of girly warmup exercises like the ones you mentioned each day, and tried some lifting (starting with makeshift weights like bottles), while still maintaining a calorie deficit? Is that a bad combo or would it help burn fat at all even without the cardio? Thank you for the helpful reply :)

Whatever you do you will burn fat. You don't even need to exercise, you can sit in a chair whole day and eat at a caloric deficit and you will lose fat slowly. Fat are just your energy reserves, if you don't eat enough your body uses it to power itself. You can get stronger and feel better working out and being on a deficit, but you wont build any muscles, you can only make the ones you have(and you said you don't have any) more visible by losing fat. You need to pick either to burn fat or build muscle. Building muscles is good in a long run because the more muscle mass you have the easier it is to burn fat later, since muscles require a lot of energy, which also means you can eat more and don't have to worry about getting fat :). That is one of the best things about working out.

Just correcting Antonio a bit, as girls have more essential fat than guys, Abs will start appearing at ~18% bodyfat and under as opposed to the ~10% for guys.

[QUOTE=Heigou;44269303]Just correcting Antonio a bit, as girls have more essential fat than guys, Abs will start appearing at ~18% bodyfat and under as opposed to the ~10% for guys.[/QUOTE] That is probably the usual case for women who store fat mainly in their buttocks, hips and thighs, and not waist. But then there are women who store it whole over the place or mainly in the waist area, basically like men.

Abs are cool, but maybe not a priority. That low BF% sounds like a sad, sad life... Thanks for your replies, I guess I will get used to a life of exercising and healthier eating before I start setting any specific goals.

its just all about starting small changes if anything, it's more about your willpower and your mentality changing with your body. of course they both kinda go hand in hand(ie, if you see yourself getting a nicer body, you will become more motivated to do better, which leads to more work being done, etc). rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is fitness. you might only be able to do a quarter pushup today, but if you keep working at it, i guarantee you that you can do a true pushup soon. after that, you can do two more, then three, and so on.

[QUOTE=AntonioR;44269641]That is probably the usual case for women who store fat mainly in their buttocks, hips and thighs, and not waist. But then there are women who store it whole over the place or mainly in the waist area, basically like men.[/QUOTE] Not really, female physiology is different from man in certain aspects, our essential fat is 2-5% while for a female it's 10-13%, are you trying to kill this poor woman? It has nothing to do with where their fat is located, essential fat isn't even fat that you can see as it's the fat surrounding the organs and stuff like that. A 10% bodyfat female would be as ripped as a 2% bodyfat male. [editline]18th March 2014[/editline] Almost as dead too.

[QUOTE=meek;44261325]Are there any decent workouts I can do at home without any weights or equipment? I'm female, 5'4" and 110lbs and I can't do a single pushup :( I really wanna start jogging too, but I live somewhere a bit steep and when I have to run for more than 30 seconds I get so tired it feels like I'm gonna throw up. I'm this incredibly unhealthy.[/QUOTE] Squats and oats, my girl.

[QUOTE=Heigou;44270669]Not really, female physiology is different from man in certain aspects, our essential fat is 2-5% while for a female it's 10-13%, are you trying to kill this poor woman? It has nothing to do with where their fat is located, essential fat isn't even fat that you can see as it's the fat surrounding the organs and stuff like that. A 10% bodyfat female would be as ripped as a 2% bodyfat male.[/QUOTE] I didn't say I disagree. Basically I meant "That makes sense". Still if you store fat on other places and not in the waist area your abs will be visible even at higher bodyfat level. Essential or not, you can't disagree with that.

If you want more structure, for running, there's the [URL="http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml"]Couch to 5K program.[/URL] If week 1 is too much, there are plenty of pre-C25K programs, like [URL="http://coacheaglesgirl.blogspot.ca/2011/07/pre-c25k.html"]this one.[/URL]

[QUOTE=AntonioR;44271057]I didn't say I disagree. Basically I meant "That makes sense". Still if you store fat on other places and not in the waist area your abs will be visible even at higher bodyfat level. Essential or not, you can't disagree with that.[/QUOTE] Of course but you told her to reduce her bodyfat below 10% to make them visible, that would simply kill her.

[QUOTE=Arkei;44271940]If you want more structure, for running, there's the [URL="http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml"]Couch to 5K program.[/URL] If week 1 is too much, there are plenty of pre-C25K programs, like [URL="http://coacheaglesgirl.blogspot.ca/2011/07/pre-c25k.html"]this one.[/URL][/QUOTE] ty for the links, I was actually gonna try this today but because I ended up working out yesterday, I woke up with awful soreness all over my body, probably because I was so rusty

You should stretch for 5-10 minutes after workouts, it should help a bit. After few workouts, when your body adapts, you will get less sore or not sore at all. Try not doing same workouts twice. Eg. if you did 3 sets of 20 squats this week, next week do 3 sets of 25, or 4 sets of 20, or just rest less between sets. Always give your body a new challenge in the next workout.

[QUOTE=cathal6606;44268320]Try doing girl push ups (the ones where you start on your knees), 3 sets of 20ish for a few days until you can do normal push ups, then get on this: [url]http://hundredpushups.com/[/url] If you can make it to 100 then great, if not dont feel bad, 100 push ups is ridiculous. [editline]17th March 2014[/editline] Squats and lunges are great too, even better if you can add weight.[/QUOTE] 100 push ups is a good program for getting a lot of pushups, but the strength gains will be minimal as it's primarily an endurance program. If OP's goal is strength she should start with a strength program. Here are a few really good read ups on bodyweight fitness (bwf) for strength training. I would highly reccomend you at least skim them, because they will give you the foundations of strength training in general, as well as the knowledge needed to effectively progress in bodyweight fitness. [url]http://strengthunbound.com/bodyweight-strength-training-beginners-guide/[/url] [url]http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/training_guide[/url] Here are two programs I would recommend. Each group of exercise has what is known as a "progression," where you start at an easy exercise (wall pushup,) and it does harder and harder exercises as you get stronger (regular pushup and beyond.) This can be roughly thought of in the same way one would think about adding weight to the bar as they got stronger. Pick one, or make your own based on your goals, and stick with it. If you can't even do a single push up, don't worry; these will take you to the very, very beginning. I had to start at wall push-ups too, there's nothing to be ashamed about. [url]http://www.fitloop.co/activities/bodyweight-fitness[/url] [url]http://www.startbodyweight.com/2014/01/basic-routine-infographic-poster.html[/url] If you stay consistent with one of these I promise you will see serious strength gains. The only thing I would warn you about in bwf is that while there are tons of upper body exercises, bwf is lacking in lower body and back exercises; it's highly recommended that you try to get to the gym to do squats or deadlifts if at all possible. Finally, the only equipment you really need for this is a place to do pullups and a place to do dips. You can do pullups with a doorway bar (Look up "Iron Gym" for a great example that's only $20-$30 usd,) and you can do dips on two sturdy chairs or stepladders. (Pullups are mandatory though, so you need a solution to this problem if you don't have a place to do them.) [editline]18th March 2014[/editline] (Also, OP, at 5'4" you have a tremendous advantage should you chose to follow bwf and gymnastics style stuff. If you're interested in this stuff, look into more "pure" gymnastics. You might find the sport to be tremendously satisfying.)

AWESOME links, thank you! I think I'll give those routines a try. I've honestly been meaning to get a pullup bar since forever, maybe I'll finally get around to it. As for your suggestion of gymnastics, I'm actually really into it, I have above average flexibility from dancing as a kid and I love those kinds of exercises. I would have joined a beginners class long ago if it didn't mean I'd get grouped with a bunch of 5 year old girls, I dunno how I feel about that lol

'You are your own gym' - by Mark Lauren includes loads of bodyweight exercises built around using equipment in your house, and it's designed with progression from exercises any person should be able to do to similar exercises that are built so they're very hard to do. For the example you mentioned: [url]http://i.imgur.com/jinL5hx.png[/url] and if you got good at doing those, you could try moving on to the easier variations of a one-armed push up. Also if you listen to the gospel of Mark Lauren you'll be doing door pull ups for dat resistance.

[QUOTE=Heigou;44272099]A 10% bodyfat female would be as ripped as a 2% bodyfat male. [/QUOTE] Haha, I found something: [quote][img]http://www.bug.hr/_cache/8606fabab7a841f6475ee42b5ca58100.jpg?rand=881260661[/img][/quote] I guess I am somewhere between 15-20%. Edit: The image is deleted :(

[QUOTE=rapefruit;44324939]'You are your own gym' - by Mark Lauren includes loads of bodyweight exercises built around using equipment in your house, and it's designed with progression from exercises any person should be able to do to similar exercises that are built so they're very hard to do. For the example you mentioned: [url]http://i.imgur.com/jinL5hx.png[/url] and if you got good at doing those, you could try moving on to the easier variations of a one-armed push up. Also if you listen to the gospel of Mark Lauren you'll be doing door pull ups for dat resistance.[/QUOTE] Overcoming Gravity by Steven Low is also gonna be in its second edition soon. That book is arguably the Starting Strength of the calisthenics world.

The exercises in YAYOG are good, but you should look into making your own program. The program in the book splits it into 4 days, with push, pull, leg, and core all being on different days. Try to move it around and see if it's more effective.

Not sure if a split is the best idea for a beginner

They are various interesting types of workout like as a resistance band workout, dumbbell workout, Cardio workout, Circuit training etc.