Simplest home workout

[Cornfed]

The simplest possible whole body home workout I can think of that I am doing right now consists of three exercises.
1. Some form of handstand pushup.
2. Some form of pullup.
3. Some form of burpee.

This probably wouldn't be ideal for an out of shape person to get in shape (although it might work) but once you were in shape you could do this to stay fit and strong indefinitely. If you were pushed for time you could get through a couple of sets of each going to form failure in about 15 minutes, so if you did it four times a week that is just one hour a week to stay fit and lean and strong. You can't get more efficient than that.

[gsjackson]

I like the way you're presenting the diet and fitness books. I see that you've lowered the price considerably, which means you have to edit the sentence that says "for the cost of an unhealthy fast-food combo..." At current prices that would be less than half the cost. A Big Mac meal is now over $9 throughout the U.S.

Keep getting it out there. It's a saleable concept. The exercise program needs a similarly identifiable value proposition, be it low cost, simplicity, reinvigorating the concept of progression through ever-harder variations of the exercise, whatever. Make it clear.

[galii]

The simplest possible whole body home workout I can think of that I am doing right now consists of three exercises.
1. Some form of handstand pushup.
2. Some form of pullup.
3. Some form of burpee.

This probably wouldn't be ideal for an out of shape person to get in shape (although it might work) but once you were in shape you could do this to stay fit and strong indefinitely. If you were pushed for time you could get through a couple of sets of each going to form failure in about 15 minutes, so if you did it four times a week that is just one hour a week to stay fit and lean and strong. You can't get more efficient than that.

I use a even a more minimalistic approach. I try to be less ego driven and reduce injury risk as well. That is why I love isometric exercises. They are the most sustainable one. With pushups for example I make the women pushups because it is better for my joints. At a certain age it does not make sense to force your body too much as injuries will most likely come.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQjjc3UlKCY
Shoulder Isometric Exercises - Ask Doctor Jo

[Cornfed]

I use a even a more minimalistic approach. I try to be less ego driven and reduce injury risk as well. That is why I love isometric exercises. They are the most sustainable one. With pushups for example I make the women pushups because it is better for my joints. At a certain age it does not make sense to force your body too much as injuries will most likely come.

Something like this you mean?

[galii]

I use a even a more minimalistic approach. I try to be less ego driven and reduce injury risk as well. That is why I love isometric exercises. They are the most sustainable one. With pushups for example I make the women pushups because it is better for my joints. At a certain age it does not make sense to force your body too much as injuries will most likely come.

Something like this you mean?

That's weird. Family guy cartoon is so shit.

[Cornfed]

Can anyone see any flaw in this simple workout as something to do forever once you are reasonably fit? You would have to be able to do enough burpees to stimulate the legs and chest fully. I'm currently doing 25 at a stretch. Once might say that is fairly lame, but keep in mind that I'm pushing 50 and living in thin mountain air. I should be able to push that to, say, 50 over the next month.

[gsjackson]

Can anyone see any flaw in this simple workout as something to do forever once you are reasonably fit? You would have to be able to do enough burpees to stimulate the legs and chest fully. I'm currently doing 25 at a stretch. Once might say that is fairly lame, but keep in mind that I'm pushing 50 and living in thin mountain air. I should be able to push that to, say, 50 over the next month.

I don't think that particular combination of exercises ages all that well. You wouldn't believe all the different kinds of injuries and infirmities that can come along. I used to do handstand push-ups (feet against the wall) in my 20s. Now I won't do any exercises where my head is below my heart, because I had a retinal vein occlusion that I believe was caused by doing push-ups. The last time I tried to do pull-ups it left my right elbow inflamed for a year, and now that elbow is acting up again. Burpees are very high-intensity and tax the central nervous system. I did a million of them in the Marine Corps where they were known as bends and thrusts (aka bends and motherf*ckers), but at 72 I have absolutely no desire to do them at all.

Yes it's a time-efficient workout because it's high intensity. Maybe it continues to work if you can avoid injuries. But I think, as far as strength training goes, Galii is more on the right path for the senior set with isometrics, dynamic tension and other approaches that can take injuries into account and don't tax the central nervous system so much.

[Cornfed]

I don't think that particular combination of exercises ages all that well. You wouldn't believe all the different kinds of injuries and infirmities that can come along. I used to do handstand push-ups (feet against the wall) in my 20s. Now I won't do any exercises where my head is below my heart, because I had a retinal vein occlusion that I believe was caused by doing push-ups. The last time I tried to do pull-ups it left my right elbow inflamed for a year, and now that elbow is acting up again. Burpees are very high-intensity and tax the central nervous system. I did a million of them in the Marine Corps where they were known as bends and thrusts (aka bends and motherf*ckers), but at 72 I have absolutely no desire to do them at all.

Yes it's a time-efficient workout because it's high intensity. Maybe it continues to work if you can avoid injuries. But I think, as far as strength training goes, Galii is more on the right path for the senior set with isometrics, dynamic tension and other approaches that can take injuries into account and don't tax the central nervous system so much.

I'm not sure there is a set of exercises for infirm people that is going to achieve the level of strength and fitness I'm aiming for. Kind of a different issue.

[gsjackson]

I don't think that particular combination of exercises ages all that well. You wouldn't believe all the different kinds of injuries and infirmities that can come along. I used to do handstand push-ups (feet against the wall) in my 20s. Now I won't do any exercises where my head is below my heart, because I had a retinal vein occlusion that I believe was caused by doing push-ups. The last time I tried to do pull-ups it left my right elbow inflamed for a year, and now that elbow is acting up again. Burpees are very high-intensity and tax the central nervous system. I did a million of them in the Marine Corps where they were known as bends and thrusts (aka bends and motherf*ckers), but at 72 I have absolutely no desire to do them at all.

Yes it's a time-efficient workout because it's high intensity. Maybe it continues to work if you can avoid injuries. But I think, as far as strength training goes, Galii is more on the right path for the senior set with isometrics, dynamic tension and other approaches that can take injuries into account and don't tax the central nervous system so much.

I'm not sure there is a set of exercises for infirm people that is going to achieve the level of strength and fitness I'm aiming for. Kind of a different issue.

Your words: "something to do forever." It's not.

[Cornfed]

I use a even a more minimalistic approach. I try to be less ego driven and reduce injury risk as well. That is why I love isometric exercises. They are the most sustainable one. With pushups for example I make the women pushups because it is better for my joints. At a certain age it does not make sense to force your body too much as injuries will most likely come.

Does this actually work for making you fit and strong? It sounds more like something you might do to keep yourself out of a nursing home, which is fine but I'm not quite there yet.

[Cornfed]

Your words: "something to do forever." It's not.

What I mean is you don't need to keep changing your workout to achieve a progression like you normally do.

[galii]

I use a even a more minimalistic approach. I try to be less ego driven and reduce injury risk as well. That is why I love isometric exercises. They are the most sustainable one. With pushups for example I make the women pushups because it is better for my joints. At a certain age it does not make sense to force your body too much as injuries will most likely come.

Does this actually work for making you fit and strong? It sounds more like something you might do to keep yourself out of a nursing home, which is fine but I'm not quite there yet.

Good thing you asked. First of all I was wrong I do not make isometric exercises. The name is dynamic exercises. I learned the name now. Dynamic exercises are exercises where you move your body through a full range of motion against resistance. I use for example my other hand as resistance.

Isometric exercises are when you are static.

Anyway regarding staying fit I do the classic bodyweight exercises too. Only with the squat I stay static because I don't want to hurt my knee joints. I am around 50 so health is more important. Specially my lower back. So the priority is there. I feel like in the gym I would go overboard with training and hurt my back and other parts. Btw I do women push ups because I have a little pain in my shoulder. It is nice to put that evergy in other parts of the body anyway. In the past I was the push up guy. Now I am more the lower back training guy I guess.

If I had no back problems I might do lifting every 2 years for 6 months or so. I feel like going into bodybuilding mode goes with other sacrifices.

I feel like one should get rid of the bottle necks of the body so one has the chance to do other sports as well.

I love lifting and the 'honesty of the iron' but well one should not be too addicted to it. You might have to give it up. I heard once Joe Rogan reporting that every day he is sore from training because of his age. With ice bath it is a bit better he said. So I don't want to kill myself like him in training. I think he had surgical operations and so on.

The definition of fitness is different from person to person. I feel I am more fit than when I lifted because I can do more now because I am more healthy.

[Cornfed]

Your words: "something to do forever." It's not.

BTW, is there any way of doing the non-intense exercises you are talking about and them preparing you for intense exercise IRL? Like yesterday I attended the first BJJ class of my life and did sort of OK rolling with guys way bigger than me in their teens and 20s. Would I expect to be able to do that having done the workout you described for any length of time?

[Cornfed]

If you were pushed for time, doing just one set of each exercise would only take you about three minutes and assuming you could do the exercises properly would be vastly better than not exercising. Doing a workout like this say for three sets of each exercise 4 times a week would take less than an hour a week and likely mean the difference between being ripped and a fatass over time.

[Cornfed]

Here is the extended version. If you do the workout as giant sets (all the exercises, rest then repeat a few times) it is a real shock to the central nervous system and very time efficient.