“Always start beginners with body weight exercises”
Sounds good in theory…However something just dawned on me…
More precisely, something nearly crushed me.
I was just in my basement doing a workout consisting mostly of weighted pushups.
I had about 100 pounds of chain wrapped around me and I was struggling to get ten good solid reps.
Then it dawned on me – I weight 175 pounds, with the chain I weigh 275 pounds.
So this crushing feeling I have of BARELY making it to ten reps on my third set..this would be what simple BODY WEIGHT push-ups would feel like to a man or women who weighs 275 pounds.
SO WHY WOULD YOU EVER START AN OBESE PERSON ON BODY WEIGHT EXERCISES?
Just doesn’t make sense to me.
A good guideline but NOT a rule
I’m OK with average weight or slightly heavy people starting with body weight work, but use some common sense.
If you are more than 50 or so pounds over your ideal weight and just starting into wieght training…maybe start with dumbbells.
BP
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Good Stuff, Brad.
I think the “rule” should simply be that people should never add external load to any movement where they have poor motor control without that load/with less load (regardless of the manner in which that load is imparted). Okay, maybe that wasn’t so succinct!
The example you gave is a fine one. Even when trying to regress a push-up, you may still find that certain people have issues for one reason or another. Even isometric holds in various positions may prove too challenging at first. So it makes no sense to toss aside things like dumbbells simply because “the rule” says always start with bodyweight exercises.
In any event, thanks for some solid insight (as usual).
Very good point. I’ve been training off and on for the last few years, but I have had to stop on a regular basis because of nagging aches and pains, typically my shoulders. A couple of times were due to ballistic kettlebell exercises… never doing that again. The last time around, I took three months off of training completely, and then I started off really slowly. I was around 255 pounds, so instead of risking my shoulders with push ups and body rows, I chose very light rows and chest presses using resistance bands. I’m talking very, very light! I also did a small number of bodyweight squats, maybe 10-15 per workout. That’s it. I took a couple of months of very light training to prepare my joints. Now I’m using a lot more resistance on the presses and rows, but I’m still not doing push ups and body rows (I will eventually.) I am doing bodyweight exercises for my lower body: squats, stationary lunges, and one leg hip bridges, just a couple of sets each. Knees are fine. I’m also doing a few plank variations. I’ve been training this way since August, no shoulder problems. Sweet.
Start light, go slow, that’s my motto.
yah, this is one of those things that makes me nuts too. Why recommend DOUBLE (or more) the weight for a client that’s just starting out than you’d recommend for someone who’s experienced?
thanks for making a very valid point.
J
Very true, when I weighed 18 stone I couldn’t do a single press-up, I got down to 17 and could about ten with difficulty but it didn’t take long to get some strength gains from doing them, it became a game where I would compete against myself. I got up to about fifty in only a few weeks.
Although I was still losing weight at this time do you think the fast “strength” gains were actually psychological as muscle gains are so slow?
Dude!! That makes a lot of sense!! I was training my friends to lose weight and I gave up on trying to start them with bodyweight exercises… stuck with compound moves like military press, squats, db rows etc… and wat u mentioned fills my logic gap! nice!!
I’m a 5′5″ inch, 39yo female. I’m currently 190lbs, which is about 50lbs more than where I’d like to be, and I’m working those last 50 off with a vengeance.
A year ago I was 150lbs overweight – almost 300lbs. When I finally decided to return to a healthy weight (i didn’t start gaining weight till my mid-20’s and then proceeded to basically gain 10lbs a year for 15 years thanks to eating crappy food and way too much off it, along with deciding that the only exercise I needed was walking to and from the couch and the kitchen). The thought of working out when I began this journey back to health was so daunting, but I did it anyway. I wasn’t going to give myself the excuse “I’m too fat to exercise” get the best of me. So I started slowly with cardio on the bike (15-20 grueling minutes) and the elliptical machine. Day 1 on the elliptical I broke down in tears after 3 minutes because I couldn’t breathe and I felt like I was going to pass out. I was determined to keep going so I pushed myself to add 30 seconds each day and before I knew it I was cranking out 45 minutes at a good speed with fairly high resistance settings. Now I do HIIT on the elliptical and treadmill 3-4 days/wk. It made me feel powerful and that motivated me to try more new things – like body weight exercises. Everyone had always told me that push-ups were one of the best things I could do, but I couldn’t even do a single one. Yes, it’s awfully hard to lift your own body up off the ground when your body is almost 300lbs. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. So every day I would try and then one day I was able to do it – one full push-up. And not a girly knee push-up
A real push-up, with proper form. Only one, but it was the most amazing feeling in the world to me at the time. Today I can knock out 15 real push-ups before I really start to feel the burn. Every time I add one more push-up, I feel this tremendous sense of accomplishment. The day I can do 50 will be a real milestone and with my weight loss accomplishments and the other strength training I do (involving not just body weight exercises, but now also dumbbells and cable pulls and swiss balls and bosus, etc), I know it won’t be long before 50 push-ups is my new baseline.
Point is – it was the bodyweight exercises that actually motivated me to try other things. Lifting a 5lb dumbbell over my head for 3 sets of 15 reps was pretty much impossible for me when I started, but doing a single push-up inspired me to try more. Now lifting 25lb dumbells over my head barely makes me blink. But I don’t get the same rush and the same motivation from lifting heavier dumbbells that I get from doing more push-ups or more squats or holding my planks a few extra seconds (Day 1 was 5 seconds – today it’s 1min 15 seconds and now I try to add 5 seconds a week and do 3 sets with those extra 5 secs over the course of a 60 minute workout – when I can consistently hold those extra 5 secs for all 3 sets for 3 days in a row, I then add 5 more seconds).
A very overweight person will struggle with bodyweight exercises, for sure, but they will feel a much greater sense of accomplishment when they can actually do them, if they keep trying. And as we both know, the results they will see will be amazing if they keep at it.
Great post. Brad you write great posts. Fortunately for many bodyweight exercises there are progressive stages to increased loading. Wall push-ups, off an adjustable bar, kneeling, to plank, to inclined etc. The key is to start at a level that challenges but does not overload a person but you know that.
LDNY,
Awesome post and an amazing story. I guess my only comment would be that perhaps you were fortunate that you didn’t injure yourself while attempting to do these bodyweight exercises while at your heavier weight. Perhaps that is what Brad was trying to impress on those people that are substantially overweight and who are attempting to transform themselves as you have. Again, awesome story and best of luck with the next 50lbs!!
Hey Brad, I couldn’t find an e-mail for you on the site, so I apologize for posing in the comment. But you’d love this story in the NY Times Style section today — talks about fasting.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/fashion/10caveman.html?ref=style
At the other end of the spectrum, how many people do you come across, who consider themselves ‘advanced’ trainees, who can’t do a handful of dips and chins?
Hey Brad,
Man I totaly agree, made me laugh to myself as , I was picturing myself 50lbs over my diet weight and just joining the gym for the first time and trying to do some chin ups or pull ups lol… i don’t think my biceps would be happy with me.
I disagree. Bodyweight exercises are good because they can be done anywhere with no equipment. If you are very overweight, you might be too self-conscious to even set foot in a gym.
As the above poster mentioned, anybody can do some form of push up or row/chin. Too heavy for chin ups? Stand inside a doorway, grab the molding and do standing rows.
I think there’s a difference between lifting your own weight or lifting weights.
For example I’m 150 pounds and can do up to 30 incline and pike pushups, but I can’t make flies or shoulder pressed with 150 pounds.
That’s because in pushups you are only lifting a percentage of your weight.
Go into a pushup position with your hands on a scale…you’ll notice that at 150 pounds you are probably only ‘lifting’ about 110-115 pounds.
B