Exercises

[AngelaG]

Can anyone tell me specifically what muscles the following exercises work on, and whether they are mainly working on fat burning or muscle building?

- Sit ups
- Stomach crunches
- Press ups (In what way does altering the press up alter the affects on the muscle groups?)
- Star Jumps (jumping jacks)
- Sprint thrusts (Mountain climbs)
- Squat thrusts
- Dorsal raises
- Leg lifts

[AngelaG]

Anyone?

Also anyone got any recommendations for stamina/strength exerices that are easy to do at home (i.e. not requiring membership to the gym, or fancy equipment)? I have an exercise bike and rowing machine if that helps. And I want to tone up, rather than turn into a muscleman.

[andym]

I never was any good at anatomy, sorry!

All I do at home are simple stretches, press ups and sit ups. But then I have membership to a gym so I go there too...

[Andy]

angelag said:

Can anyone tell me specifically what muscles the following exercises work on, and whether they are mainly working on fat burning or muscle building?

- Sit ups
- Stomach crunches
- Press ups (In what way does altering the press up alter the affects on the muscle groups?)
- Star Jumps (jumping jacks)
- Sprint thrusts (Mountain climbs)
- Squat thrusts
- Dorsal raises
- Leg lifts

Maybe take a different approach to it?
They're all body weight exercises, and to be honest, from your list, the only ones I'd use would be crunches and pressups.
Look into Hindu squats, boot strappers and Hindu pushups.
These will tone and strengthen, but there is no such thing as an isolated body fat reducing exercise. You need to work cardio fitness and eat appropriately for your energy requirements to get a result there.

Cycling can actually shorten your leg muscles, so running or an eliptical machine are good.
Rowing is a good overall exercise, provided you keep good form.

[AngelaG]

I think I'm mainly looking for stamina building exercises.

[Andy]

angelag said:

I think I'm mainly looking for stamina building exercises.

Stamina for what though?
I'll never forget a guy who regularly ran half and full marathons coughing his guts up, after 30 mins indoor football.

Run and spar.

[AngelaG]

Bleurgh! I knew someone would mention running.

[Andy]

angelag said:

Bleurgh! I knew someone would mention running.

Then spar more.
Bagwork is great too.
Get a bag and see how many two minute rounds you can do.

Anyone do Pyramid pushups here?

Here's a routine-

Do one pushup, then rest 20 seconds.
Do two pushups, then rest 20 seconds.
Do three pushups, then rest twenty seconds.
Keep adding one pushup per rep, always resting for a count of 20 in between.

First time round, see if you can get up to ten, then reverse the routine, so you go 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 and back to one again.

If you can pyramid up to 14 and back down again, then 100 pushups in one sitting should be easy.

Proper pushups though please.
Chest to ground to arms straight.

[malcolmtent]

Hindhu press ups/cat dips are very good. Very hard to explain though, they make us do them at my judo dojo!

They give you a wicked set of pecks ;D

[Aefibird]

Yeah, very good but very knackering!! My Wing Chun Sifu makes us do those, along with the usual press ups, sit ups, squats, star jumps, etc etc etc.
Yes, they are a good excercise to do, though.

[malcolmtent]

Hindhu press ups make you more attractive to the opposite sex

Yeah we also do ordinary press ups and such, and some weird...partner exercises with two people for the purpose of strength building I suppose. Is this common at many judo dojos?

My sensei is very keen on us doing our own exercise in our free time.

I don't think i'm quite up to board breaking with my pecks yet

[Aefibird]

malcolmtent said:

I don't think i'm quite up to board breaking with my pecks yet

lol, save that for next week, eh? ;D

[malcolmtent]

Yeah, i'm breaking boards with my "buns" this week ;D

[andym]

Granery or white?

[AngelaG]

I'll only break a board if they strike first!