Ralph's Workout Routine

[Ralph Wiggum]

Just discovered this forum, and here's my workout tip. My rules are that it requires no equipment & is time efficient. It's a two day rotation you can do once, twice or three times a week.

Day One:
No need to do all four of these, I only do the first two. Also, I recommend watching a good TV show while doing this.
1) 5 pushups on the minute every minute for 8 minutes. Add 1 whenever I feel like it.
2) 10 situps on the minute every minute for 8 minutes. Add 1 whenever I feel like it. (I have an incline bench, but putting your legs up on a bed or chair is better than doing situps w/ your feet on the floor IMO)
3) 10 jumps on the minute every minute for 8 minutes. Add 1 whenever I feel like it.
4) 3 pull ups on the minute every minute for 8 minutes. Add 1 whenever I feel like it. (You can use a door with a towel on the door if you don't have a pull up bar)

Day Two:
Jog in place for 30 minutes. Watch your favorite show. If you're fat &/or tired, take breaks standing up. Lift your knees up high while you jog if you're feeling ambitious.

Additional tip: have water next to you. Have TV too. Have a watch, and try not to miss the minute time, but if you do, don't sweat it.

I think the key to my routine is that it's realistic. You don't need a gym membership and can do it in the comfort of your home.

I would stress constitency is key. Don't skip days, and try to do it for a month. Then add more if you feel inclined.

[mattnxtc]

I just have to ask....why?

[DirtyDiggs]

You fail Fitness? Thats un-possible.

[FollowTheMusic]

I'm guessing a lot of people will hate this routine. But it's easy to forget just how out of shape your average sedentary, chubby-but-not-huge person can be. Even doing 5 pushups can be a problem on day 1. And everyone (rightly) dumps on steady cardio addicts, but many people cannot engage in any physical activity for 30 minutes straight! (Think about that). So for someone looking to get started, this could be a nice first goal.

The problem comes when it's time to progress. There are good ways to progress (harder bodyweight movements, weight vests, or switching to a different approach entirely). But my guess is that people will naturally turn 30min runs into 45min runs, and 8 sets of pushups into 15, etc. Which is not so useful.

Anyway, my 2c.

[mattnxtc]

the problem is that it is an extremely inefficient workout

[Ralph Wiggum]

Seems to work for out of shape people I know, who don't want to spend much time working out. If it's not for you, sorry.

[Rearden]

Ralph,

I dont think matt meant it in an offensive way. I mean...anything works to a degree.... adding a short walk every now and then, playing random games of basketball, anything to get someone more active or improve their diet will help. The point he was trying to make (I think) refers to maximum benefit and efficiency. It's great that you want to work out and improve but there are better ways to do this to both save you wasted time and effort and improve potential gains; thats all.

As such I agree with that... its a good start but there are certainly improvements that can be made

[Thremp]

[ QUOTE ]
Seems to work for out of shape people I know, who don't want to spend much time working out. If it's not for you, sorry.

[/ QUOTE ]

The program you outlined takes just as much time as a routine in a gym would and is much less effective. As for the anecdotal evidence about out of shape people: anything works for them.