Tips on how to increase situps?

[GumbyJarvis]

So I leave for army BCT in fall, Yay for me! Needless to say, technically Im currently a unpaid "Army Reservest" awaiting swearing in to active duty right before basic.
Anyway, tons of fun PT with the recruiters, I can do okay on the 1-1-1, which is the minimum to ship to BCT. Anyway, I can do 20 some pushups, well over the minimum which is 13 or something, and in 2 weeks my 1 mile run went from 10:30 to 9:30, which isnt great when 8:30 is passing, but its a good improvement.
The problem is situps, lol, I have to do 18, I can do 9. What do you guys think is the faster way to increase this? crunches? or just more get down and do situps?

 

[joaks]

Once you can't do anymore situps you can continue with a similar but easier movement to get more out of your muscles. More situps is your best bet, however. Your body adapts very specially. Maybe add some creatine or improve your diet also.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Just bumped my Vitamins from GNC Mega Men Sport Vitapak to GNC Mega Men Sport Strength, it has Amplified Creatine 189 in it...

 

[BrianWC]

I'd keep trying. Like joaks said, you can also look for other core exercises that might help build up the area and aid in the situps without tiring those same exact muscles as quickly. Heck you may try looking into something like P90X...

Regarding the run, keep at it. It's pretty easy to whittle away seconds on those short distance runs if you are just starting to get into distance running. I'd look into speed workouts like intervals oriented toward mile time improvements.

 

[Bgallagher]

try intergrating variations. Planks, reverse/regular crunches. Also try working on diamond and wide arm pushups and interval runs (I used telephone poles, sprint one then slow jog the other.) Try mixing it up and keep up the good work

 

[bepperb]

Once you get up to running 3 miles every other day or so your mile time and the situps will take care of themselves. But if you want to do more just do 30 or whatever situps every day, or every time you exercise no matter how long that takes (from the sound of it probably 3 sets of 10). Same strategy works for pullups.

I doubt you need any supplements at this point, the average American eats way, way, way, way more protein than their bodies can even process. Unless you're a vegetarian I wouldn't worry about that. Take whatever time you were going to use to purchase/eat that and run.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: GumbyJarvis
The problem is situps, lol, I have to do 18, I can do 9. What do you guys think is the faster way to increase this?


Situps. More and more situps. Even if you can only do one at a time, do one every 15 minutes all day long. Build endurance by doing as many as you can do, then more. Try doing them very slowly and focus on correct form. That way when you have to do 18 fairly quickly it will seem easier.

An Army buddy of mine always recommended the insomnia workout - stay up all night watching TV (preferably sitcom reruns). Every commercial break, do 10 pushups and 10 situps. At the end of each half hour program, do 20 of each. Repeat all night long until you fall asleep.

 

[JHZR2]

dont worry about junk like creatine. You are in fairly poor shape and need to work on it. Only time is going to fix it. You are likely not strong enough to do a lot of exercises using your own weight. Id hit a gym and use lighter freeweights, and even a crunch/situp machine to help work the muscles. But definitely work on the movements you have to do on a routine basis.

Youll get there. Forget the hype, just eat well, drink a ton of warter, stretch, and keep working at it!

 

[Barbell7]

Try holding a weight on your chest or behind your head, and crank 'em out. Don't use a weight that's too heavy.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
dont worry about junk like creatine. You are in fairly poor shape and need to work on it. Only time is going to fix it. You are likely not strong enough to do a lot of exercises using your own weight. Id hit a gym and use lighter freeweights, and even a crunch/situp machine to help work the muscles. But definitely work on the movements you have to do on a routine basis.

Youll get there. Forget the hype, just eat well, drink a ton of warter, stretch, and keep working at it!



Good Stuff man, Poor Shape not as much, just not used to using these muscle groups, Im 20, December 2010 I weighed in at a whopping 310, Now I stand at 195-200, I got to 200 about 10 months after starting at 310. So yeah. LOL I have pics to prove this.

 

[gomes512]

Hey try twohundredsitups.com. They have a easy to follow daily schedule that'll get your reps up in no time.

I did their 100 hundred pushups schedule and it worked extremely well for me. Couldn't believe how far 15 minutes per day got me.

 

[Smoky14]

The service may help you, when I came out of SF training I could do 500 sit ups with no problem..make or break.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: GumbyJarvis
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
dont worry about junk like creatine. You are in fairly poor shape and need to work on it. Only time is going to fix it. You are likely not strong enough to do a lot of exercises using your own weight. Id hit a gym and use lighter freeweights, and even a crunch/situp machine to help work the muscles. But definitely work on the movements you have to do on a routine basis.

Youll get there. Forget the hype, just eat well, drink a ton of warter, stretch, and keep working at it!



Good Stuff man, Poor Shape not as much, just not used to using these muscle groups, Im 20, December 2010 I weighed in at a whopping 310, Now I stand at 195-200, I got to 200 about 10 months after starting at 310. So yeah. LOL I have pics to prove this.


Sorry, it was a typo - you were in poor shape (just per my rule of thumb, based upon your old mile time). Happens to everyone. I had to quit working out for a few years just becauseof time, job, PhD research, etc. It happens, the body goes out of shape, but it is an amazingly resilient thing. Im amazed being back and hittng the gym a lot again, my grip and my front deltoids are my worst enemy, tons of strength came back fast and easy in most every other muscle group... It is what it is, and you just work it. Wow, you lost a lot, so are doing even better - that's really great.

IMO the biggest thing is to set a goal that you really want. Something like 20 pullups, a 7:30 mile and 50 pushups nonstop would be good.

I'd look at the presidential physical fitness metrics for high schoolers and maybe try those with the PT test requirements overlaid.

Good luck!

 

[GumbyJarvis]

wheni was 310 my mile was 19:56

 

[joaks]

for creatine to work you will need at least 5g per day.

Don't forget rest. Both sleep and taking a day off from sit ups. You muscles will need time to recover.

I don't know what your diet looks like but a small increase in lean protein may help with recovery.

My [censored] is in nutrition so if you need more specifics just let me know.

EDIT: my...haha...4 year degree is in nutrition..haha...

 

[Astro14]

If you can only do 20 sit-ups, you're in trouble, young man...but you already knew that...you should be able to do 75 sit-ups, you also need to be able to do 50 push-ups, minimum....and get that mile down to below 7:00 or so...if you meet barely the minimum, you will stand out like a sore thumb in BCT - and you will come to realize that you don't want that...

There is nothing like the movement itself to build the muscles required for the exercise...I would start by doing at least 5 sets of sit-ups/push-ups each workout. work out 3x per week. Keep the weight down. Find out how the Army expects you to do them (USN has particular standards on its fitness test, what counts as a good rep, etc.)...and run about 4-5x per week.

Be intense, push yourself until you cannot do another rep. Rest for 2 minutes (you could be doing an alternate exercise), then repeat...keep moving, keep your heart rate up.

Once you've done the multiple sets, continue to work that set of muscles by some form of resistance training (bench press for push-ups, crunches/ab machine for sit-ups).

You've got 3 months - you can make tremendous progress in that time if you push yourself on each set, and stick to working out 3x per week...skip all the supplements and other "diet miracles", eat well (lean protein, fiber, some carbs) and rest...

Finally, no matter how strong you are, they will push you until you're exhausted. Expect that. Stay mentally focused and don't quit.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

i got 5 months to ship!

 

[Mr Nice]

Every day work out and you will easily hit the target goal.

What will be your MOS in the Army ?

 

[GumbyJarvis]

19K M1 Abrams Crew

 

[wkcars]

My suggestion is doing what sometimes is referred to as the "pyramid" method to build strength and endurance. Since you are starting low, start with lower increments and work on increasing the number. So start doing like 5, rest 30sec-1 min take a drink if needed, then 10, rest, 15, rest...and work your way up to your top of the pyramid goal and go back down. So it would look something like 5-10-15-10-5. You can add in other exercises into the rotation like the pushups, like 5situps, 5 pushups, then 10, 10, 15, 15, 10, 10, 5, 5. As you progress increase the top of the pyramid/peak to 20, then 25, then 30 etc...Same thing for running, work on strength and endurance, run 1 lap at a time as fast as you can and also train running longer distances than your test requires.