Very out of shape, looking for advice

[Chris]

I can probably finish 1 set with enough (and long enough) pauses but I'm a little concerned I'll hurt myself if I exceed my shoulders weak link. I can give it a try and see how it goes.

Maybe pushups aren't the best choice for me for this type of workout right now. I do want to get better at them. I could also adjust the rows to make them easier or harder. Right now they're similar to the push ups in difficulty.

[Ten8]

When you say you're not ready for it what do you mean? That you don't think you'll be able to hit 30 reps in one go?

I can probably finish 1 set with enough (and long enough) pauses but I'm a little concerned I'll hurt myself if I exceed my shoulders weak link. I can give it a try and see how it goes.

If you have an injury that hasn't fully healed, you should probably wait until that's dealt with. No sense aggravating it, it'll end up setting you back even further in the long run.

[Chris]

If you have an injury that hasn't fully healed, you should probably wait until that's dealt with. No sense aggravating it, it'll end up setting you back even further in the long run.

Not so much an injury, more of a weak/sleepy shoulder stabilizer. The shoulder blade would come up and cause impingement. And the levator scapula muscle tries to compensate and gets really tight. You'd be surprised how long it took to find a health professional who could not only correctly diagnose it but also help fix it. Anyway, it's looking much better now and I'm trying to build up my pushup strength. In December I was pushing off a counter. In early January I was maxing out at about 6 reps. A couple of days ago I managed 16 reps before having to stop, the most I've done in ten years, so I'm pretty happy with the progress so far. And a lot of that is because the people here encouraged me to push harder than I otherwise would have.

Similar situation with the lower body. I've had back pain and foot pain for several years. Last year at this time I could barely walk and I haven't been able to deadlift without hurting myself for over 20 years. It still seems weird to do a few sets and not hurt the next day. But that's why I'm as out of shape as I am.

I think if I spend some time with a remedial program to build up my pushup strength and hip hinge, I should be able to come back and do a proper SE workout and hopefully follow the TB program as written.

Endurance workouts have been going well, as far as I can tell. I've been doing the run/walk thing on an indoor track, trying to keep at a level where I can breath through my nose. After about 20 minutes my hip muscles get pretty tired so I do another 15 minutes on the exercise bike. I plan to slowly increase the time on those. My goals for that are modest - There's a 5k in June I would like to be able to complete in under 30 minutes.

[DocOctagon]

If you have an injury that hasn't fully healed, you should probably wait until that's dealt with. No sense aggravating it, it'll end up setting you back even further in the long run.

Not so much an injury, more of a weak/sleepy shoulder stabilizer. The shoulder blade would come up and cause impingement. And the levator scapula muscle tries to compensate and gets really tight. You'd be surprised how long it took to find a health professional who could not only correctly diagnose it but also help fix it. Anyway, it's looking much better now and I'm trying to build up my pushup strength. In December I was pushing off a counter. In early January I was maxing out at about 6 reps. A couple of days ago I managed 16 reps before having to stop, the most I've done in ten years, so I'm pretty happy with the progress so far. And a lot of that is because the people here encouraged me to push harder than I otherwise would have.

Similar situation with the lower body. I've had back pain and foot pain for several years. Last year at this time I could barely walk and I haven't been able to deadlift without hurting myself for over 20 years. It still seems weird to do a few sets and not hurt the next day. But that's why I'm as out of shape as I am.

I think if I spend some time with a remedial program to build up my pushup strength and hip hinge, I should be able to come back and do a proper SE workout and hopefully follow the TB program as written.

Endurance workouts have been going well, as far as I can tell. I've been doing the run/walk thing on an indoor track, trying to keep at a level where I can breath through my nose. After about 20 minutes my hip muscles get pretty tired so I do another 15 minutes on the exercise bike. I plan to slowly increase the time on those. My goals for that are modest - There's a 5k in June I would like to be able to complete in under 30 minutes.

You may want to give this a try; increase the circuits week-to-week, not the reps.

Week 1: 1 x 10
Week 2: 2 x 10
Week 3: 3 x 10
Week 4: 3 x 10
Week 5: 2 x 10
Week 6: 1 x 10

*3 sessions a week

[Chris]

You may want to give this a try; increase the circuits week-to-week, not the reps.

Week 1: 1 x 10
Week 2: 2 x 10
Week 3: 3 x 10
Week 4: 3 x 10
Week 5: 2 x 10
Week 6: 1 x 10

*3 sessions a week

I think I'll try something like that, thanks. I see the number of sets is decreasing after week 4, is that deliberate?

I read a study showing that sets of up to 30 reps still build strength, as long as it's a max effort. So I suppose this can still be strength training for me.

[Ten8]

If you have an injury that hasn't fully healed, you should probably wait until that's dealt with. No sense aggravating it, it'll end up setting you back even further in the long run.

Not so much an injury, more of a weak/sleepy shoulder stabilizer. The shoulder blade would come up and cause impingement. And the levator scapula muscle tries to compensate and gets really tight. You'd be surprised how long it took to find a health professional who could not only correctly diagnose it but also help fix it. Anyway, it's looking much better now and I'm trying to build up my pushup strength. In December I was pushing off a counter. In early January I was maxing out at about 6 reps. A couple of days ago I managed 16 reps before having to stop, the most I've done in ten years, so I'm pretty happy with the progress so far. And a lot of that is because the people here encouraged me to push harder than I otherwise would have.

Similar situation with the lower body. I've had back pain and foot pain for several years. Last year at this time I could barely walk and I haven't been able to deadlift without hurting myself for over 20 years. It still seems weird to do a few sets and not hurt the next day. But that's why I'm as out of shape as I am.

I think if I spend some time with a remedial program to build up my pushup strength and hip hinge, I should be able to come back and do a proper SE workout and hopefully follow the TB program as written.

Endurance workouts have been going well, as far as I can tell. I've been doing the run/walk thing on an indoor track, trying to keep at a level where I can breath through my nose. After about 20 minutes my hip muscles get pretty tired so I do another 15 minutes on the exercise bike. I plan to slowly increase the time on those. My goals for that are modest - There's a 5k in June I would like to be able to complete in under 30 minutes.

Gotcha. I think something like what Doc outlined would be best then...no need to rush things.