Overweight and struggling with the BW excersises

[Marius]

Hello. I just had my first day on StrongLifts 5x5 today, and I need some help with my issues so far. I'm carrying a bit of extra weight. My body weight is 120kg/265lbs and I'm 191cm/6ft3" tall. I'm unable to do 1 knee push-up, not with a straight body anyway, 1 inverted row or 1 rubber band assisted pull-up/chin-up. Quite a sad story. Would it be okay to drop these excersises, build muscle and lose fat using the rest of the program until I'm strong enough to do them? Any suggestions?

Marius

[Rokku]

I'm in the same boat (but slightly heavier and slightly shorter than you @ 121kg & 6' tall). I can manage a few pushups but it's a sad sight

I'd recommend trying a pushup each time you're scheduled to, even if it's only half. As you lose fat and build strength you'll be able to squeeze out one - that's what I'm going to do anyway!

[ricepower]

I went from being able to do 5 poor trembling push ups to being able to do 20 very very quickly, soon after that I was on 30. After that I stopped trying and moved onto dips. When I began I could do no chin ups/pull ups. But I quickly got to 6-7 chins, and with a lot of practice 5 pull ups too.

With bodyweight stuff, it may seem extremely hard but mostly importantly keep doing the exercise on schedule.No matter how bad you are, you will improve. Are doing inverted rows with properly bent legs? If you cannot do it, lean back from a post and pull yourself up with your arms holding a towel.

With push ups, to begin with the core stabilty things is way harder than arms. (was for me) Try doing a static hold in the start position like a prone bridge, either with straight arms and leaning on elbows. When you can do it for a long while without trembling, you shoudl be able to do push ups.

[mjh]

yeah, don't ditch the bodyweight stuff. It is a humbling experience for most of us here, but they are important exercises. Not everyone improves as fast as ricepower, but you should very quickly notice some improvement. As you get stronger and your bodyweight drops, you'll be getting reps in no time.

Use the bands, use slow negatives. "Cheat" as much as it takes, but give it all you've got and commit to seeing those numbers go up.

[ricepower]

My brother is 90+kg of almost pure fat at only 5'7"

I got him to do some push ups, and he was more or less the same as me when I started. It just takes regularity and commitment, youll get there. I have a dodgy shoulder that pop's, jams & cracks but I do dips/pushups/bench press/ohp without fail, it hurts everytime but you get out what your put in.

[Marius]

Trying everytime the excersises are scheduled is one thing, but do i really get any benefit when I'm unable to squeeze out even half a rep in any of them? Going to the gym and attempting knee push-ups and not complete a single rep is'nt my favorite thing to do. Lucky I often work in the evening so I can do my workout in the morning with little people in the gym

[arehb]

When I started doing pullups earlier this year I started with negative reps only - I climbed up, and lowered myself slowly.

Doing negative pushup reps should be very easy.

I think it's best to train with negative sets only on exercises like this until you can do maybe 10x3 with negative sets, then try the full exercises.

In an exercise where you can do only a few reps, it's my experience that warming up properly is very important. Negative sets can be used to warm up, or you can use some light free weights that use the same muscles.

[Marius]

Negative push-up reps it is! Tried it just now and I can manage them just fine. About the pull-ups I just had an idea walking past the stairs. If I stand underneath the stairs and pull my self up to one of the steps, cheating with the legs a little bit. Must be better than not doing pull-ups at all I guess.

[Sylvor]

Marius,

First off, and most importantly you are doing these things for yourself. Who gives a F if someone thinks less of you for not getting things done. Sorry to be harsh there, but one of the main things to remember is that you don't have to care about what other ppl are lifting ect, you'll be there eventually with enough blood sweat and tears.

On the push ups, keep trying them. As mjh said the only way to get better at them is to do them even if you are cheating at them.

Stay away from the pull ups work on the chin ups. Don't be afraid to jump into them. As mentioned use bands if you have them, or stack something below you that you can help yourself out with on the way up.

I also think instead of focusing on how much it sucks to not do one, think of how awesome it will be when you can do one, then two, then five, then ten.

Keep on it and you'll be improving in no time

[Dogen]

Marius - I approach my training as a pathway and a methodology to force myself to struggle and therefore adapt. If I don't reach that stage of truly being uncomfortable and straining -- pushing my limits -- then I don't feel that I've "trained"; I've just exercised.

In the end it really doesn't matter how much weight or how many reps it takes to get to that point (forgetting for the sake of argument all the concepts regarding the varying benefits of different reps/sets). Right now one pushup is all it takes. For someone else it might be 10 or 20. At this point in your training, your body really doesn't care how many reps it takes. All it cares about is that you are pushing your limits. That is the path to two, three, four, etc. pushups, chinups, reverse crunches, etc. Your body will only adapt to a movement if it's forced to adapt. And it will only adapt in a beneficial way if you stress it beyond what it's used to.

The wonderful thing about our bodies is that they are, in fact, very good at adapting. It's the mental portion of it that takes work Don't give up. Keep plugging away and you will eventually see it paying off.

[Tixi]

when I first started I weighted 170 kg height 190 cm and it took me a almost two months to squees out one full and proper push - . Good thing about push ups is that you don`t have to go to gym to make them. I tried every night before bed and now 70 kg later I do 25 every night before sleep. Keep at it and you will be suprised to see what you can do when you but your mind to it.

[MidLifter]

Negatives for the pushup and pullups. Resistance pullup machines are good too.

My wife has had trouble with pullups. She's made a lot of progress with them by cheating and negatives. She started at 3x3 70lb resistance on the machine and is now on 3x5 30lbs resistance. Once she gets to 3x8 on a level of resistance she reduces the amount of weight resistance and starts at 3xfailure then adds one extra repetition per workout. I'd say she is weeks away from doing 3x1. If a girl can do it, you can do it.

[nicklus]

It took me about 3 months but just recently I did my first full chin up in my entire life. I didn't think I'd ever be able to to do a chin up unless I lost 50 pounds heh.

[danmarmu]

With your push ups, start on a higher surface like a counter. Keep your back straight and do 10. Once you can do that, find a lower surface and work up to 10. Keep going down until you are on the floor, start on your knees and do 10, once you can do 10 knee push ups, start with 1 regular push up. Do that 1 push up as often as you can. You will then start working up.

With regards to pull ups, if you have a Gravitron machine available (stand up type), use it and get to 10 reps, lower the assistance weight. Add in some negatives as well. A better option is to purchase an Iron Woody band and use that. Lots of videos on the Internet.

Good luck.

[Marius]

Thx for the advice guys.

danmarmu:

I've got the Iron Woody assisted pull-up package, but my combination of low strength and high bodyfat makes me unable to complete even one chin-up assisted with the largest band. I've experimented a little and found that band assisted negatives feels good. Still a long way from unassisted negatives though. Tried once but it's no use at the moment. I can't hold myself up at all and fall down into a head hang immediately. With my bodyweight that will probably get me a shoulder/elbow/wrist injury or something.