can do 50 push ups and about 13 pull ups (undergrasp, hands width of shoulders)
Can you do
50 full rom push ups
10 full hang pull ups
50 ass to the grass body squats
Not all at once, but can you do any of them? ie: 50 full push ups?
I know a lot of you cycle / run and are probably fit but can you do any of the above?
How fit are you and what in your opinion is a good test of fitness / strength?
What is your favourite way to exercise?
can do 50 push ups and about 13 pull ups (undergrasp, hands width of shoulders)
Shouldn't you be focusing on your GCSE exams rather than asking strangers silly questions?
Just wait for the "when I was in the SAS I could do X, Y & Z" replies...
What a horribly macho thread!!
And as you allude in your OP - how do you measure fitness / strength? What about endurance? Mental fortitude? - the mind usually cracks before the body does.
I work out and have done for a long time,I do 40kg dumbbell presses only because that's the max the gym I go to now has,I have done 55kg at my last gym.
50 press ups would be doable but why 50!,you don't need to do 50 of anything tbh,if your working out 15/20 reps would be certainly ok x 3/4 sets,and definitely when doing your legs.
As to pull ups,I'm just over 15st and doing anything that means lifting your own body weight is never easy but is a good way of doing some exercises and getting strong and definition.
Lat pull ups unless you are very strong at this exercise will always be an hard one to do,even less than 10.An easy way to see that is to use the lat " pull down" you will find doing that a whole lot less difficult yet working the same muscles,theirs a lot more going on when your hanging on a bar trying to resist gravity than when seated pulling down,hence what I said exercising using your own body weight being harder and tiring too.
Their are so many ways of exercising all acceptable but all different,very rarely would you find 2 people working out the same way,but if you do it right you will see the benefits,do it wrong and you will look like most of the members of any gym you walked into!.
Legs for me at 08:45.
I'm. fairly strong, but couldn't do 50 press ups
Good test would be doing some of the crossfit chalenges, Linda WOD for example (10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 reps of the triplet: Deadlift: 1 1/2 body weight.
Bench press: body weight. Clean: 3/4 body weight).
For doing this you need endurance along with the strength and the good thing is you're doing it with your body weight percentage and the only thing you have to beat is yourself and the stopwatch ;)
^^^^^^^
Nailed it.
(and "Studly"? What kind of handle is that? I think the OP has a certain self-image going on here...)
Last time I looked this was "The George and Dragon" not "The Cottage".
Last edited by TheFlyingBanana; 11th June 2014 at 08:27.
So clever my foot fell off.
I'm so aroused after reading his thread, I reckon I could do all the suggested exercises, simultaneously, at twice my own bodyweight.
I could crush a grape.
That might be more related to my excitement than strength, however.
I don't know. And to find out I'd have to try. Which I can't be bothered doing. So can I just say no and leave it at that?
I once won the Tour de France, on foot. I can also lift Chuck Norris with one hand.
I can walk up the stairs at Angel tube station without changing my breathing. That make me fitter than most of the mouth-breathers that inhabit London.
My RHR is around 50bpm. My BP is 115/76.
I am a couple of stones overweight though.
Can't do press-ups or squats for toffee, but I manhandled an 80kg BBQ through my house onto my patio this morning, so am plenty strong enough.
So am I fit or strong? Not at any high level. I used to be 25 stones or so and my party trick was to lift four guys at the same time. I can't do that any more. But I couldn't cycle up Alpine mountains then, and I can now.
I used to bend bananas, until they discovered how to make them grow with a curve.
Now I have to make do with 30 minutes on an elliptical trainer.
More seriously since when has fitness been associated with strength, or strength with fitness?
I used to be able to bend a steel bar over my erection. Can't do it nowadays though, me wrists have gone...........
F.T.F.A.
I get up in the morning, what more do you want at my age ........
I do 5 sit-ups every morning.
May not sound like much, but there’s only so many times you can hit the snooze button
Sounds like there'll be arm wrestling at the next GTG.
I'm so fit, sometimes I can even get out of an armchair without going "oooooooaaaaaahhhhhh"
Very unfit as I sit on my arriss all day but I do have two small children, getting both of them bathed and dressed is a proper work out.
I compensate for the obvious lack of manly weightlifting by bashing metal with big hammers and using the angle grinder, brings the macho points right back up...
Crossfit is some horrible invention, but hopefully just a fad that will go away soon.
Here's a video showing how a complete disregard of proper technique and safety can sever your spine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dATRcRh5YWQ (its not very graphic, in fact looks like "that wasnt so bad?" but it was...)
Crossfit is certainly trying to muddy the waters when it comes to the definition of "fitness". Probably so that they can claim that they are the "fittest" people in the world (often quoted by the CF community).
It's not really a new thing, it's just been marketed well; I visit a "box" every now and again (along with some heavy stuff, KBs, HIIT), and whilst I'm no defender of CF, I've not witnessed any encouragement of poor form. Individuals are equally responsible for what they do; I point blank refuse to do any kind of kipping or overhead KB swings, and if the "RX" is too much, I'll scale it down. It has raised some eyebrows and I believe I've been labelled as "difficult"...
I also ensure that all of my form is bang on, I'd sooner get a low score than an injury. F*** ego. It's a shame that some others obviously don't see it this way. I've seen just as poor form performed by bodybuilders, fighters and others in gyms, we shouldn't be surprised that people cheat or are just a bit crap.
I've done a lot of different training, and the actual premise of CF is pretty effective. It's a shame that they are so hell bent to promote a "macho" image. And that the senior management (see Dave Castro) are asshats.
Some of the variants are really good; crossfit football, MEBB both good.
I have plenty of literature (ebooks, PDFs etc) relating to training. If anyone wants copies, drop me a mail with email address and I'll try to forward it on.
Last edited by wrecker; 11th June 2014 at 11:18.
How fit? Well, I'm on par with the one with the cup, not the can.
Menno
Got to 100 burpees (with pushup and jump) in 8:30 minutes. Aiming for 7-8 min range in the future.
Got to 10 pull ups, goal is 20+. Still some work to do :-)
What constitutes fitness really depends on what you want to use it for. For a lot of people that would be a series of body weight exercises.
I'm not very fit, or healthy, and I can comfortably carry out your stated exercises - but why? I wouldn't have been able to do them without training to do them, and then it's just a matter of time before being able to do them and improve on the numbers.
Fit to me might be running a mile or 5k in under a certain time - for other people it might mean something all together different (body fat, or swimming/cycling times). For most people on the street it is how someone looks - i.e. if they look healthy, people believe they are - which in most cases is far from the truth!
It's just a matter of time...
I can lift Mr Tetley whilst he's lifting Chuck Norris whilst doing the TdF on a unicycle.
(Btw, is there any need for veracity in the claims one makes on this thread?)
Can do all of the above with a fair bit to spare, and I'm very old now, but would consider myself no better than average on strength or fitness. Maybe it's the company I keep?
I can do all of those, but I wouldn't describe my self as strong / fit solely based on the ability to achieve those goals.
As mentioned above, there is a huge difference between fitness and strength, playing lacrosse / water polo was probably the fittest I have ever been.... lifting wise, probably in the last 2 years or so.
Chris
No but I have a huge willy
A nice post. Not much point being the 'fittest' guy in rehab!
At the OP, you have to be careful when trying to directly equate a certain no of reps with strength or fitness per se. When the rep nos climb in certain exercises you are heading more into muscular endurance rather than raw strength. Press ups and bw squats can be trained for high reps quite easily by most people. Pull ups (dead hang, no kipping) however, are a different kettle of fish and most people will struggle to get much past 10-15 reps with good form without significantly increasing their raw strength.
As for what constitutes strength and fitness, it very much depends IMO. People that lean towards a particular activity will show greater results in tests that are biased to those or related activities. This makes formulating a meaningful 'benchmark' of any sort very difficult.
For example, I have a few long standing injuries that I'm able to manage with appropriate exercise and sensible application. However, this means that I would likely score quite poorly on certain 'benchmarks' which included movement/exercises that would directly aggravate those sites.
On the other hand, the benchmark figures you reference in the OP are pretty comfortable simply because those exercises have formed a part of my regular cycle for many years (and I haven't broken the body parts needed to do them yet! )
The devil, as always, is in the detail.
jeff
Funny thread! And I'd be dissappointed if it hadn't degenerated the way it has!
Reminds me of my student days where we drunkenly got involve in a "sit-up competition" in our flat.
Needless to say, the next morning, none of us could even get out of bed!
I cannot over emphasise the effectiveness of kettlebells. They are inexpensive, take little space, are portable and so versatile that you can train effectively for a variety of goals. Coupled with a pull up bar (perhaps some gymnastic rings), some knowledge and a skipping rope, they are all that would be required for the average person to get and stay in very good shape indeed.
Here's a nice little finisher (after your main strength workout) for anyone to try if they are so inclined;
100 x Swings
100 x Snatch (50 each arm)
100 x burpees
Record your time, and monitor progress. Beginners start at 20 or 30 reps per movement and build up.
Loads of info on form on youtube (ignore the CF way), form is everything; it's like binary, you either do the exercise (properly) or it doesn't count (1 or 0).
If you can't keep form IT'S TOO HEAVY, if it's too easy IT'S TOO LIGHT!!!!