[grvdrm]

I see this particular problem everywhere: “I spend all day at my desk.”

Well, don’t.

Block off an hour and a half in your day. Every day during the work week. Start by going for a 45 min brisk walk outside if possible or on a treadmill if that’s the better solution. Then do some basic measuring after a couple of weeks: do you feel more alert during the day, less stressed, more emotionally and mentally balanced? Do you sleep better at night?

If that’s working, speed up your walk or turn it into a slow jog. Spend a couple weeks on it. Measure again.

If that’s working, try some basic strength and conditioning exercises at home in the morning. 50 push ups. 20 pull ups. 50 sit ups. Something achievable. Spend a couple weeks on it. Measure again. And this time also measure your exertion. Are those push ups getting easier? Good. Do more. Or do them slower. Same with pull ups.

So much of this “how do I do [X] to be more fit” is about understanding that fitness requires time and patience over the long term. Yes you can do short burst exercises and get some of the same benefits, but those exercises tend to be more strenuous and can turn you away if you lose your motivation.

Schedule the time. No excuses. Do simple exercises and measure every couple of weeks. You’ll soon get over the urge to avoid putting in the work.

[sn9]

Instead of blocking off an hour, sprinkle it in throughout the day. It's called grease-the-groove style training and it's really effective at building strength, especially for bodyweight exercises.

The trick is to use a really sub-maximal amount of work per set and use really long rest periods. If you can do 10 push-ups, start off with 5 per set. Take 10-15+ minutes of rest between sets so you're completely fresh.

You can use the Fighter Pull-up Program [0] as an example of how to progress, and you can use it for any bodyweight movement.

This style of training can rapidly increase one's strength in a short period of time. It's not very good for hypertrophy, though you will still experience some if you are able to sustain progress for months on end. But it will take you from low single-digit reps (basically untrained) to an impressive level of double-digit reps that will serve as a sound foundation of basic strength.

[0] https://www.strongfirst.com/the-fighter-pullup-program-revis...

[grvdrm]

Very interesting, never heard of this - taking a look, and thanks!

[muffinman26]

Small nit, 50 push-ups, 20 pull-ups, 50 sit-ups is a fairly punishing place to start, especially for women. It's easy to injure yourself doing sit-ups if you're pushing yourself too hard, and for some reason most women take a while longer than men to figure out the correct form for pull-ups. (Although once they have the correct form, women tend to outperform men due to lower bodyweight.)

[dpark]

> for some reason most women take a while longer than men to figure out the correct form for pull-ups.

Most women lack the upper body strength to do even a single pull up. Even fairly fit women often can’t do a single strict pull up.

> Although once they have the correct form, women tend to outperform men due to lower bodyweight.

Nope. Pull ups are largely limited by strength and not form. And men are stronger per pound than women. Especially in upper body strength. Novice men outperform intermediate women on pull ups.

Unless you’re talking about CrossFit “butterfly” pull ups that are primarily about momentum control. Then maybe, but I still doubt it.

https://strengthlevel.com/strength-standards/pull-ups/lb

But yeah, 50 push ups and 20 pull ups is absolutely not a starting point for most people. A male would be well past intermediate strength level to be cranking out 20 pull ups in one set. The average untrained individual can’t do 20 pull ups in an hour regardless of how they split them up.

[muffinman26]

It's not a visible form difference, but women tend to naturally use smaller and weaker muscles than men for pull-ups. Men are more likely to naturally use the larger back muscles. Women's fitness magazines have articles about practicing engaging the right muscles.

I've seen intermediate women (amateur gymnasts) do 10x the number of pull-ups as truly novice men (20+ vs. barely being able to do 2). We probably have different definitions of novice.

[dpark]

I think we have different definitions for intermediate. 20+ pull ups for a woman of any weight is elite or close to it.

[muffinman26]

My numbers do appear to be skewed a bit. I know a woman in CrossFit with an official record or 40+. It appears that's much closer to the world record (48) than I realized.

[paulcole]

40+ CrossFit (kipping) pull ups or traditional (static) pull ups?

[grvdrm]

This is fair. But I'm not prescribing specific numbers, just using them as examples. The point is to pick something achievable.

So, you can do this: 3 reps of each exercises (push-up, pull-up, sit-up). Perform this circuit 4 times for 2 weeks. Is it getting easier? If so, increase reps, or do the specific exercise slower (time under tension). Lots of ways to build.