Howdy,

My brother advised me to be able to do at least 50 push-ups and 80 sit-ups in 2 minutes (independently of course, not both in 2 minutes. ;) before I start free weights.

I consider this advice plausible because he was in 10th Mountain division and then went into SF, and was quite literally the soldier of soldiers while in the service.

Is this a good idea before starting free weights? Are push-ups and sit-ups a great way to build a base-level of muscle before working on bulking it.. (I never intend to "Arnie" bulk, just trim out nicely)

Zuh? Just hit the weights. Now. Do pullups if you insist on "testing" yourself before beginning to pump the iron.

I personally always do pushups before starting an upper body workout. I just feel like it warms my muscles up well because I can go high reps with it. I would throw the sit-ups in there too but I HATE situps. It sounds like sound advice to me. I also feel like every workout should have some sort of "body weight supported" exercise. It just seems common sense that if you have a bunch of muscle, you should be able to throw yourself around with it, literally.

I would say, to expand on what Rubberbandman says, and use body weight excersizes as a warmup. The problem with just training using only situps and pushups, is that it doesnt target all muscle groups. A pushup does utilise nearly all the upper body, but is mainly chest and triceps. What about something that focuses on your back ? Well, the equivilant body weight excersize would be a pullup, but most people actually have to do the reverse of what your bro is saying and use weights to build up to pullups !!! And what about your legs ? See what i mean ?

I would attempt a set of press ups before embarking on a chest session, as a good solid warmup of the muscle. Situps should be a part of your weights program anyways, adding weights only when you can manage them "unweighted". Try and build up to chinups, and for legs, try "charlie chaplins" (Cross your arms over your chest and squat down so your legs are at a right angle. Basically an unweighted squat with no bar, a Body Weight Squat if you will). All make good warmups.

Good luck. :tu:

Thanks fellas.

About my legs.. I'm a cyclist..

My legs are about as strong as 2 oxen, and I don't worry about muscle training them. Climbing mountains almost daily has made them powerhouses..

But my upperbody and torso (abs) is mainly what I want to focus on.

Situps? I think it's safe to say that situps are passe. Seems to me this exercise has been thrown on the trash heap of history -- there's a lot of good literature out there about how situps work your hip flexors more than your abs. So I'd look to a more effective ab exercise like crunches, leg lifts, roman chair lifts, whatever.

Also, if I had to do that 50/80 thing in two minutes -- I'd probably never have starated hitting the weights in the first place. (I'd have given up out of boredom.) It also seems to me if you're knocking off 50 reps of pushups in 2 minutes, that's probably turning into an anaerobic exercise, more than a resistance exercise. (Who out there does 50 reps of bench presses?)

The beauty of the free weights is that they're adjustable, there's a proper weight for anyone and everyone. By all means, get ye to the weights.

Your brother is tellig you to do 2 of the 3 elements of the Army Physical Fitness test; the other being the 2 mile run. I took plenty of PT tests when I was in the Army. Each event is scored on a 100 point basis. I find it curious that he is telling you to hit almost the max on situps (87 is max, 52 is minimum) and then almost the minimum on pushups (42 is minimum, 82 is max).

I can tell you that from my experience depending on your level of training doing pushups, you are not going to want to hit the weights after doing these two exercises. Trying to do 80 situps in two minutes is very difficult. Before some people respond saying that they can, try it, and do it the Army way. You have to bring the base of your spine past vertical, your ass cannot come off the ground, your hands must stay interlaced behind your head, and lastly the only resting position is at the top (head at your knees and hands still interlaced behind your head). As for pushups, 50 reps might be a decent warm up if you have trained for them. Generally, I would shoot for around 65 reps before I took a rest. It took me the remaining 75 seconds to try to push out the last 17 reps. I can tell you that my chest was screaming when I was done. Again, the Army had standards for rest positions and also you cannot raise your hands up during the two minutes to shake out your muscles.

As far as building muscles, the Army PT test is not the way to go. It is meant to test your endurance, not build your strength (or muscles). Testing endurance is rather independent of your body type. Skinny guys and strongmen can perform pushups and situps equally well. The two mile run is another matter. I consistently maxed out pushups and almost maxed situps, but that damn run sucked!

That advice is simply useless, IMO. There is no reason why you'd have to increase your strength with pushups/situps before starting weights. Did he give you a reason why he claims this is the right thing to do?

Also be weary of taking on any of these programs tailored to military personel. They are not programs that aim to maximize muscle size, if you're into bodybuilding. They have to operate within certain limits that civilians do not, such as access to weights. It makes sense to incorporate pushups or other calisthenics in an excercise program when you won't have access to a squat rack in the middle of nowhere.