Which gets you stronger faster?
 

Out of these which do you think would make you stronger faster-

Doing 30 press-ups or doing as many press ups in 30 seconds as you can?

Obviously i know just doing 30 press ups aint going to make you strong but in relation to doing any sort of exercise whats better a set number of repetitions or as many you can in a set amount of time so that fitter you get etc more repetitions you can do in that amount of time.

work until failure as long as you give correct rest periods i would say

to be stronger i would say do 30 but take as long as you can to do them which will expose the muscles to activity for alot longer and hence make you 'stronger'
dont forget to exercise back muscles also so you dont get pidgeon chested:lol1:
every muscle has an opposing muscle, exercise them both!!
neil

Go down the gym and lift some weights will get you stronger even quicker.

i'd rather do a bit of exercise at home-dont want just anyone seeing my manly body :lol1:

I think that the question relates to reps; rather than to location!

I know what you are trying to ask but it's a difficult comparison.

I would say personally that the 30 situps done as fast as you can will increase the intensity and hence get you stronger but conversly if you did the pressups really slowly and concentrated on the up & down movement this would also benefit.

If you want to get stronger forget the situps and get down to the gym and bench you lazy arse

Haul some ass to the gym and bench press 120kg of solid iron until your veins explode

You have two types of muscle fibre. Slow twitch and fast twitch. The slow twitch are the muscles you use for doing light work over prolonged periods i.e light weight and lots of reps. The fast twitch are the bigger fibres responsible for explosive and strong movements. If you want size and strength exercise the fast twitch muscle fibres, heavy resistance low reps. In direct answer to your question it has to be as many reps in thirty seconds. for an extreme illustration of the difference in slow twitch and fast twitch developement look at the physical difference between a sprinter and long distance runner.

what are you too weak to do?

Also remember that size shape and tone are NOT always the same as strength. Look at all those 'worlds strongest man' things, there are NO arnie type figures there at all.

Basically, are you after size & tone etc (i.e. what you look like) or after being really strong? This will affect what sort of reigime you will need to go on.

Pull his plonker i presume ?? :wonder:

was that "magnus" bloke not prime candidate for total recall 2 ?

Doing them ultra fast will result in 2 things - poor form, so you will work the surrounding muscles & muscles you had no intention of working, therefore the muscles you do want to work get a lesser workout.
Secondly, doing them at break-neck speed also increases the chances of injury.

Doing 30 press-ups with exact form, slowly & isolating the muscle is ALWAYS better than doing 60 sit-ups rushed with bad form.

Bad form is probably number 1 in the "most common mistakes made" when training, along with too much weight, bad diet & not resting enough between workouts.

I used to be a body builder.

R.

except Marius Pudjenowski (spelling) the current world strongest man!!

Training for strength and bodybuilding are the same, this is common misconception. What differs is that people who train for strength (like myself) tend to concentrate on what are called compound movement ie they involve several muscles at the same time eg squat. Bodybuilders also focus on these but can and do inlclude movements that isolate specific muscles group, eg bicep curl.

If you were to get a strongman on a fat loss diet you would see a very different structure underneath.

Amen

Do you still train?

I have just put a chin up (pick a chin, either of them) bar in the garage, oh my god I am such a weed, its amazing how your strength dwindles when you dont train, used to be able to 15 /20 reps, now I can do 2 (twice as many as last week, so a 100% improvement), a combination of weighing 2 stone more than I did and not going to the gym any more, oh and being older.

Trouble is I am geting obsessed with it, like Hamster that cant pass up a go on its wheel. Just hope the garage roof can hold out.

hi mate how the hangover?

Easy to get obsessed with exercise,back when I was 21 used to go to the gym every day. Trouble is when you stop you turn into lardboy. Started back at the gym few weeks ago, was bench pressing 110kgs when i was 21 I am struggling to do 70 at the minute.

I already do a fair bit of swimming-so im ok i guess for stamina from that angle so what i want is exercise to give a more defined shape-i.e 6 pack etc- not that im a fat git as im only a 30 " waist now

low weight high reps

thought it was low weight loads of reps to build stamina and endurance but low reps and high weight to build big muscles?

low weights high reps tone you, low reps high weights bulk you up

Should see my arm's three w@nks a day can't beat it :D

Wrong

Bang on.

3 x sets of 8 pushups (min or so rest between each set) with a bag on your back and some decent weight in it. Put just enough weight in so that you can press 8 on the first set of reps, then try to push 8 on the next two. When you get to a stage where you can press 3 sets of eight then up the weight and start over. Bodyweight workouts are superb, lots of info on the web.

Get a bar setup like Jacko, again thats a very good exercise, will work your back/traps well, esp if you can extend the bar for overhand wide pullups.

Enjoy

My bar is actually the bottom of a kids Early Learning Centre trampoline bolted on to the gargage rafters, its perfect, theres 2 more if anyone wants one !

Totally agree,its a shame so many so called "bodybuilder" types you see down the gym, trying to heave out the heaviest weight they can ,cant be arsed to carry out such workouts.I sacked big heavy weights about 4 months ago for a more complete bodyweight type workout which i change every month or when i feel its getting too repetitive and its worked wonders.I still do the odd heavy session to shock the body but nowhere near as often as i was doing,but i can still crack out about 3 sets of 10 pull ups with a 20kg disc round my waist so i dont feel ive lost too much strength but ive lost about a stone of excess lard.
Have you got any links POC as i feel a change coming on?

I've got an old rucksack up in loft i can use to increase weight on press-ups-now just need something suitable to put in it. :wonder:

To get good strength.

Dont count them - time them as a rule.

Do as many pressups as you can for 1minute.
(Sometimes 30 seconds fast -30 seconds slow is a good alternative)
Recovery
Do three sets of chin ups to total exhaustion (Arms straight - chin clean over the bar)
Recovery
Do ten press ups hold for ten seconds in up position
Do nine press ups hold for ten seconds in the up position
Repeat all the way down to one press up. This press up exercise should last about 2min 40 secondish

If you do this everyday. You WILL probably end up with a better strenghth to weight ratio than anyone you know. You wont end up looking like rambo. But you will be strong - unlike strong looking - which is a what a high percentage of people that shift too much iron about look like. Weights are good sometimes ... and I am not totaly knocking them. e.g. Flys are a great exercise I feel.

My life has depended on my fitness in the past and I would not be here now writing this now.

Summary Press Ups - Chin Ups and Timing is often better than counting

Steve

Ah, been caught by a husband arriving home them.