I need a LOt of HELP

K

kapral_rudy_jacek

New Member
Hi
First of all I have to say that I’m not only new on this forum but I’m also relatively new to the English language (I’m from Poland) so – in advance – I apologize for any weird phrases or a sense lacking sentences.
I’m 26 years old, 173 cm high, weighing about 130 pounds – so as you can see, I’m quite skinny – and unfortunately VERY VERY WEAK
A few years back I’ve tried to start lifting some weights – I was doing a regular split with 3 – 4 workouts a week, 2 – 4 exercises for each body part, 4 sets for each exercise, with reps 12 – 10 – 8 – 6 – so a typical pyramid
Unfortunately I haven’t made any significant progress with that
And when my financial situation changed (i.e. got a LOT WORST) I’ve lost any chance to use a professional the gym – thus, for a long years I haven’t been training

But NOW I’ve decided that at least I’ll try to do some bodyweight exercises
Plus I’ve managed to get 2 pieces of equipment – namely: pull-up bar and a Power Pushup 2 (LIFELINE)

As you can see I don’t have much to work with but I’m trying
Now moving to my question:
Is there any chance I could somehow build some muscles and strength using HST with just my Bodyweight; pull-up bar and a Power Pushup 2 ?
Like I’ve said – I’m VERY VERY WEAK – I’m not able to do even 1 pull-up on that bar I have – and what I think is even more pathetic – I’m so weak that I can’t do even one normal push-up

I really need some help and advice – I don’t even know where or how to begin – how to work my way up – not only in general – but also I don’t even know how to work my way up to do a decent pull-up or push-up
I can only train at home so I’m able to train even twice a day
I have the will to do something – but I just don’t know how to use what I’ve got and get the most of it – I don’t know how to combine the time I have, the equipment I have and the HST philosophy to get the most results

thank you for all of your help
 
Welcome Kapral!

The best possible thing you can do first is to figure out if you can afford to eat enough calories to make your training as successful as possible. If you can afford plenty of milk and eggs, hopefully some oily fish (eg. sardines) along with a reasonable selection of fruit and vegetables you should start to make some progress.

Here's a list of a few exercises you can do:

Freehand squats - Learn good form and then work at them until you can do sets of at least 30 reps, past parallel. http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_AirSquats.wmv

Pistols - these are one-legged squats where you shoot the free leg out in front while squatting with the other. Don't attempt these until you have developed some quad strength from the squats. Again you need to learn good form (no going up on your toes!) and you will need to develop your balance.

photo-one-leg-squat-1jpeg.JPG


Make a couple of sand bags. Find a steep hill then sprint up it, carrying the bags over your shoulders. Make the bags as heavy as necessary and so that a 20 sec sprint is really hard. Jog/walk back down and repeat 3-5 times.

Box Jumps: Find something sturdy that you can jump up onto. Start out with something around 20" high and then do as many reps as you can, jumping up on to it with both feet together, then extend your hips (ie. standing up straight) and jump back down. To make these harder, make the surface higher. For variety you can jump right over the box from one side to the other and then back again. Side-to-side is another good variation.

Push-ups - As you are struggling with these right now, do this: instead of pivoting about your feet, pivot about your knees instead. ie. your knees will stay in contact with the floor as you press your body up and then lower it again. The handles you have actually make push-ups easier by elevating your upper body so that should help too. Once you can do 10 reps with your knees down, you should start doing regular push-ups. Then, once you can do 10-15 regular push-ups you should elevate your feet to make the exercise harder. Place them on a chair seat and then do your push-ups.

Dips - it is possible to do dips using two chair backs for support (be careful not to let them tip towards each other) or you can use an internal 90 degree corner of a kitchen work-surface.

Chins/Pull-ups - These are both great exercises. If you are unable to do more than one rep you can do jumping pull-ups. Jump just enough to help you to get your chin over the bar and then lower under control to a count of 2. Stop when you can't control your descent. Be sure to do both chins and pull-ups on your bar.

Handstand Push-ups - these will be very hard to begin with. Use a wall to rest your feet against so you can keep your balance. Aim to place your hands about 8-12 inches from the wall and then kick yourself up into a handstand. Initially, just holding yourself in a handstand until you feel fatigued will help develop some shoulder strength. Once you are able to hold a handstand you can start by lowering yourself under control down into a headstand and then bring you legs back down. Repeat as many times as you can under control - ie. don't get so fatigued that you drop down onto your head! Eventually, you will be able to press yourself back up. Once you can do 10 reps you can use your push-up handles - they will increase your ROM and make the press significantly harder.

For abs the simplest movement you can do is sit-ups with feet under a ledge of some kind. Put your hands behind your head to make them harder.

Hanging leg-raises are also a great exercise but are not easy. Start by hanging form your pull-up bar and try to lift your knees up to your chest then lower and repeat. Once you can do several of these, keep your legs almost straight and then lift them so that your feet touch the bar. Lower and repeat.

There are many other exercises that you could do but these should give you a good start.

Choose around four exercises to do each session and then really go for it. Keep good records and try to better yourself each session.

Here are some videos that should help you with your form and give you some more ideas:

http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html#Exer
 
Thanks a lot for that exercise list
I have to rectify something though - I'm not able to do any pull-up/chin-up - zero
I can't lift my sorry ass up even once
Is there any way to work my way gradually - slowly - step by step - to do at least 1 pull-up/chin-up --- just as you've described it with the push-ups i.e. starting with the easiest knee-push-ups and then with time going onto the normal push-ups ??? Is there any way to gradually work my way to the pull-ups ??? Starting with the easiest movement there is that can slowly build me some strength and muscles so I can move to a harder movement/exercise/ and then eventually, do a real pull-up ??? If so, what are those movement's /i.e. exercises/ ???

And how can I combine the exercises you've described into a HST routine ? Is it even possible to do a HST at this point? I meant not only with this level of "strength" but also only with the bodyweight exercises ?

Again
Thank You For Any Of Your Help And Advice
 
If you can't do jumping pull-ups (as I mentioned in my previous post) and you don't have access to a pull-down machine then all you need to do is grab a chair and stand on it to lift yourself into the top position; then lower yourself down under control in around 2-3 seconds. Repeat this until you cannot control the speed of your descent.

As far as using HST is concerned, you are going to have to build up a useful level of strength first. Not being able to do a pull-up or a push-up means you can make a lot of progress just through regularly working out. Just doing the exercises in my list (along with any others you fancy) on a regular basis (say 3-4 x weekly) will get you some good results.

Once you have developed a foundation of strength you can then think about load progression over a cycle to help you to continue to make progress.

All the best.
 
3 - 4 times a week You say?

and what If I picked 3-4 exercises from the list you've posted i.e. made a training program out of them - and did that training/program twice a day - in the morning before breakfast and later in a day ?
would that give me a better result's ? I recall that in the HST there was something about training twice a day AM/PM
what do You think ? would that help me or hurt me ?
 
Initially, you'll be fine doing twice a day as it won't be much of a drain on your CNS. As you get stronger you'll start to find that there's a fatigue 'carryover' from workout to workout but you should make some good progress before that becomes an issue. If you train twice a day, a 3 x weekly schedule should give you plenty of time for recovery.

Obviously, training twice a day will use up extra calories so you'll need to consume extra cals to compensate.
 
You know, to be perfectly, 100 % percent, honest with You I have to say that my main goal is to build strength and endurance. Muscle mass is a bit secondary to me. I'm not that concerned with my low weight. As long as there is a chance to get strong with maintaining that weight I'm fine with that. After thinking it through - I don't have to be big and muscular as long as I'm strong. I would actually prefer if my weight stayed quite low so that I can get a better strength to bodyweight ratio.

The reason I'm asking and pushing for the HST is because I've heard and read it has also a great influence on gaining strength - so I was hoping that this will be the best way to build me some strength - especially the scientific background got my attention
But after what you've told me I'm starting to think that I've made the wrong choice

Maybe there's a better way to build me a solid strength and endurance (with the equipment that I have) ?
Of course I'm not saying that HST is (pardon me for the word) crap or anything like that but maybe for my goal I should set my mind on a different system-approach to the training ?
Maybe GVT, Steve Justa's singles training or Pavel Tsatsouline's Greasing The Groove method - or something like that ?
I have no idea. I'm confused with all the possible choices and all the methods. I'm desperate and I feel hopeless with my situation :-(

Please. I would be VERY VERY GRATEFUL if You at least pointed me in the right direction.

Thank You and I Apologize For Any Confusion I Might Have Caused
 
Right now pretty much anything you do to train your body is going to help you because your baseline strength is low (no offence meant).

Here's the thing, you will get some rapid strength increases if you push yourself in the exercises already mentioned. These strength increases will be mainly neural in nature. Once that stops, and if you don't want to increase your body weight, your only option will be to try to achieve some body recomposition (ie. reduce fat level and increase lean muscle mass equally). If you manage that you will see some further strength increases because you will have some extra muscle tissue. There's quite a lot you can do with your body weight to get stronger but you will never achieve high levels of strength unless you train for it. So, for example, if you want a really strong back you had better lift heavy stuff and chin with heavy weights.

HST is specifically focussed on training for hypertrophy. Diet is an important aspect of that. Strength training might focus on maximising your 1RM lifts without altering body mass through CNS activation. However, following the initial stages of training, most folks need to put on some muscle if they want to achieve respectable levels of strength. HST works very well for what it is designed to do.

Weighing 130lb at a height of 173cm (5' 8") would suggest that you need to add a good 20lb of muscle to your frame (not just weight, muscle) if you want to attain a decent level of strength. Eg. the little guy in this vid weighs around 140lb but he is a fair bit shorter than you:

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_SnBalSpealvsOconnor.wmv

Snatch balancing 105lb over bodyweight shows a high level of strength and skill. Okay, that's a bit of an extreme example, but if you hope to get anywhere close to this guys strength level you would need to add some mass.

There's a lot of info here that can help you with your body weight exercises:

http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode2/Workouts/

All the best.
 
This link is useful too.

http://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

Check out the strength standards for some of the common gym lifts for someone of your body weight and see what you might achieve, strength wise, through some dedicated training. Of course, the chart doesn't list height as a criteria so it's quite likely that someone who comes under the advanced category at your body weight might be shorter and carry more muscle mass. Still, it serves as a useful measure of progress.
 
Thank You for your help, I really appreciate it

but still I have to clear up one thing - namely - when I'm talking about strength and endurance I mean strength build just with what I have i.e. bodyweight --- I'm not talking about building strength with barbells

that said - I'm looking for some training program - training system - that could help me build a strength and endurance based on my bodyweight - eventually some day /hopefully/ I will attach a piece of metal to a belt and do some pull-ups - but that's it --- I'm not interested with powerlifting

If building strength is mainly based on activating and stimulating CNS - is there some kind of training program / system / that could help me to do that ? I mean train my CNS in a smart way - build strength without hurting myself - getting enough of recovery time
where can I learn more about training focusing on CNS - and the dependence of state of the CNS from a form of training - the CNS itself etc.

could You at least point me in a right direction with that subcjet ?
 
kapral_rudy_jacek said:
If building strength is mainly based on activating and stimulating CNS - is there some kind of training program / system / that could help me to do that ? I mean train my CNS in a smart way - build strength without hurting myself - getting enough of recovery time
where can I learn more about training focusing on CNS - and the dependence of state of the CNS from a form of training - the CNS itself etc.
Click to expand...
The point is: strength is not mainly based on activating CNS. Strength is produced by muscles. The nervous system is the mean through which your brain tells your muscles to lift something (or yourself). If the muscles fibers are not able to do that, they won't do that. There is some wiggle room in the sense that usually you are not using your muscle fibers 100% due to not having a perfect fiber activation and that can be trained/improved stimulating your CNS without muscle growth. Once you acheive that limit you just can out-brain your muscle fibers. They have to grow. So strength is a combination of both able CNS and enough muscle fibers for the job.
I don't know exactly what is the reluctance about getting some more muscle but if you are worried to someday wake up looking like those huge hulks from muscle magazines, DO NOT WORRY, you won't! Really! They work to extremes and usually (always) use anabolic steroids to acheive those bodies.
If you look at gymnasts, people whose profession is to lift their bodyweight (and not some barbells) they have large muscular upper bodies. To be efficient, they usually have small weak (in comparison) legs, but they can't be good at pulling their body weights if they don't have muscles on their upper body.
If you are willing to point out the reason why you don't want to put on any weight at all we might be able to try to figure a way to work around it but as it stands you have to accept the fact that to increase your strength (be it to lift yourself or a barbell) you'll probably have to gain some muscle.
 
You're right - there is a reason why I'm not to keen on putting any weight - and that's because once I was FAT - I reached almost 210 pounds but with a lot of cardio workouts (i.e. I've trained twice a day - and hour before breakfast and an hour later in a day) and a ketogenic diet (SKD) - which by the way I'm still maintaining - I've managed to get to the point I'm right now - 130 pounds with ~6% BF - and to be honest with You now I'm a bit obsessed with keeping my weight at that point
that is why I'm still doing cardio twice a day /every day/ - and still keeping my diet

but lately I've decided that - as I've reached my goal of losing fat - it is time to realize another one - and that is to get strong - as strong as I can possibly be at the bodyweight I've managed to reach --- but like I've said not in powerlifting
I would really like to be more like the gymnasts you've described

If you look at gymnasts, people whose profession is to lift their bodyweight (and not some barbells) they have large muscular upper bodies. To be efficient, they usually have small weak (in comparison) legs, but they can't be good at pulling their body weights if they don't have muscles on their upper body.
Click to expand...

So, what do you say ? Is it a reasonable goal ? Is it possible ?

Thank You for Your Help
 
kapral_rudy_jacek said:
I would really like to be more like the gymnasts you've described
So, what do you say ? Is it a reasonable goal ? Is it possible ?
Thank You for Your Help
Click to expand...
Yes it is reasonable. But the point that I was trying to go for with the gymnast example is that although they are not powerlifters they have big upper body with large arms, back and pecs. The increase in muscle required to get there will result in an increase in body weight. To gain muscle you can be as conservative as possible and get very little fat along but you will gain fat while increasing muscle. You can always diet after gaining muscle to lose some of the fat you gained in the process. This is called bulking (gaining weight with emphasis is increasing muscle mass) and cutting (losing weight while minimizing muscle loss).
The exercises Lol listed will work well and there are several ways of progressing on them. Like Lol said for chin-ups/pull-ups you can use a chair to raise yourself until the bar is touching your chest and then remove the chair and try to hold yourself to lower as slow as possible. Repeat that every other day once a week and you should start experiencing strength gains. You can do the same kind of progression with dips. with pushups you can start by supporting with your knees instead of feet or do inclined pushups, i.e., instead of doing pushups on the floor you do them on a bench or wall and progressively reduce the "inclination" used.

I know it is hard for someone who has fought to reduce the body weight to consider getting heavier but it is important to understand the difference between fat weight and muscle or lean weight. If you increase your body weight 5 kilos and it is all from lean tissue (muscles) that is good for your health and not only your strength. Furthermore, increased body weight due to more muscles represent and increased metabolic rate, therefore you will burn more calories simply to maintain the additional muscles. Try to understand that not all weight gain is bad and you'll be able to grow some muscles, improve your health and your strength.
 
ok, let's say I do accept gaining some weight - i.e. muscles
but the question is will I'll be able to do that with a ketogenic diet and training twice a day /7 days a week/ - as I'm doing right now?
because I can tell you right now - these are 2 things I'm most comfortable with and most definitely not willing to change
 
kapral_rudy_jacek said:
ok, let's say I do accept gaining some weight - i.e. muscles
but the question is will I'll be able to do that with a ketogenic diet and training twice a day /7 days a week/ - as I'm doing right now?
because I can tell you right now - these are 2 things I'm most comfortable with and most definitely not willing to change
Click to expand...
It might not be the ideal hypertrophy routine but it can work. Keep the keto diet and the cardio you are doing now if you really want to stick to that and add your resistance exercise routine (chinups, pushups, dips...) 3 times per week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday). Remember that to build muscles (and consequently strength) you'll need surplus calories. You can use a very small surplus and increase it over time after you are more confident with the results. If you keep your calories at or bellow maintenance you will not gain muscles and therefore will be able to increase your strength very little. You don't have to eat twice as much as you eat today or anything, just get some surplus. Maybe start with something like 100 calories above maintenance and adjust that acording to your results.
 
Yeah :-) I was afraid that with the Keto diet it won't be possible because I've read somewhere that to gain muscles you need a lot of carbs and I'm not going with them over 30 grams a day, but if you say it all depends on even a small surplus of calories, I will most definitely stick to the Keto and just start adding some more proteins and fats to my diet.

As for the training twice a day /7 days a week/ - It doesn't have to be a cardio - I was actually thinking about changing it
I mean - I was thinking of doing a resistance exercise routine (chinups, pushups, dips... etc.) instead of my cardio - also twice a day /7 days a weak/
But I was thinking of couple of different options for that, like - for instance:
A - push and pull routine i.e. ale exercises
B - just pull exercises
C - just push exercises

option 1 :
AM/PM and 7 days a week - A

option 2
AM - B / PM - C 7 days a week

option 3
AM/PM - B first day
AM/PM - C second day
AM/PM - B third day
AM/PM - C fourth day
etc.


and maybe the are some other combinations I didn't thought about that you can describe

what do you think of doing something like that ? would it work ?

Thank You again for Your help
 
The more you exercise, the more cals you burn; so unless you can definitely eat over maintenance, your high-frequency training will just end in frustration and little in the way of progress - which is where you said you were before coming here.

A few years back I’ve tried to start lifting some weights ...
Unfortunately I haven’t made any significant progress with that
Click to expand...
 
Lol - I'm aware of that, and I don't have any problems with eating more than now - and go over the maintenance level
I was just concerned that I would have to eat more carbs to progress with my strength and endurance - but If it is really all about the amount of calories then I'm even more than glad - because I think that with Keto diet it's even easier to go over the maintenance level - just by adding more fats

as for the training I was concerned that with the high frequency of my trainings - there won't be enough time for recovery and therefore for strength gains

<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: memberaction_dropdown -->but if it's like electric have said - that though it's not an ideal hypertrophy routine but it can work - I'm more than willing to keep training twice a day/7 days a week/

All I have to do now is to figure out how can/should/ I train to get the best results I possibly can /i.e. strength and endurance gains/ by training twice a day/7 days a week/ with-using: pull-up bar, my bodyweight /maybe with time, eventually attaching some pieces of metal to my belt in order to get heavier/ and a PowerPushup2 ------- With that I'm afraid I will need the biggest HELP of all times :-(


That is why I always end my message with words --- Thank You for Your Help
Because I'm really really grateful for Your time, patience and knowledge
 
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I would suggest that you only do resistance exercises three times a week. The other days you do cardio if you must.
So try something like: Monday/Wednesday/Friday - body weight resistance training, Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday/Sunday - Cardio. I wouldn't really suggest that you workout every single day of the week but it seems that you will anyway so try at least to keep resistance training to 3 or 4 times per week.
For the how to train on the resistance training days, just do what Lol said (using chair to help the pullup/chinup and knees or inclination for pushups) do two sets of 15 each. If you feel energetic and want to do an additional set, ok. If you feel tired and don't want to do all of the reps, don't. Let your body be your gauge.
Diet-wise although not ideal you can probably gain some muscle with a keto diet. Try to get the majority of your carbs after the resistance workouts along with some protein powder.
 
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