Body weight and heavy @ same time?

Is it fine to do body weight exercises every day; push ups, pull ups, situps, etc.? Is it also fine to have a regular heavy lifting routine along with it?

yes

(except for situps...they be dumb)

Look at the thread Westside for Skinny Scrappers.

That's the training method I'm fixing to incorporate.

Okay, I'll check that out Mule. What's the problem with situps? Should I do crunches instead?

"What's the problem with situps? Should I do crunches instead?"



For me it's a risk/benefit reason. From spine biomechanist Dr. Stuart McGill:



"The traditional situp imposes approximately 3300 N (730 lbs) of compression on the spine. Further, the spine is very flexed during the period of this load. NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) has set the action limit for low back compression at 3300 N in workers; repetitive loading above this level is linked with higher injury rates in workers, yet this is imposed on the spine with each repetition of the sit-up!"



Alternative exercises can be found in this article:



www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do

Thanks, Hudd. Those exercises seem more interesting/fun than situps anyway. :)

So, the bottom line is that doing body-weight stuff everyday is fine?

"Pavel's Naked Warrior is just one-arm squats and one-arm push- ups, few reps, few sets, frequently throughout the day. High tension, grease the groove."

What is a one-arm squat?

Baz

"Yes, if you are a gay pussy, don't do situps.

Jesus."

Yeah! What the hell would McGill know anyway?

ttt

wow. WT is pretty science-minded for a English major.

hahah... An....

This T-Nation article discusses the controversy over sit-ups, which has been going on a long time. NIOSH is the Canadian version of OSHA.

http://www.t-nation.com/findArticle.do?article=05-063-training

The official US Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide suggests that the back problems of SEALs may be traced to doing too many hip flexor-dominant exercises like sit-ups and flutter-kicks. There's a whole section in the book about alternatives to sit-ups. pp. 137-141.

Are the Navy SEALs pussies, WizzleTeats?

From the article Lofland linked:

"As far as I'm concerned, most athletes did enough sit-ups in grade school to last them a lifetime; I'd rather give them some safer exercises with greater functional carryover to sport. Occasionally, though, I'll write them into programming to offer a bit of novelty. Regardless of the hip flexion exercise, it's imperative that the athlete maintains a neutral spine position and braces the abdominals. And, even before undertaking such an exercise, the coach should be considering whether or not that athlete could be doing something more productive instead.

-Eric Cressey"

That's what I was referring to by "risk/benefit".

However, I am also a gay pussy so situps are really not an option for me.

Well, yeah, that must suck.

"The official US Navy SEAL Physical Fitness Guide suggests that the back problems of SEALs may be traced to doing too many hip flexor-dominant exercises like sit-ups and flutter-kicks. There's a whole section in the book about alternatives to sit-ups. pp. 137-141."

Saying that sit-ups can cause you to overdevelop your hip flexors is reasonable and provable. You shouldn't only do situps--but claiming that they are far too dangerous to even think about attempting due the massive spinal compression that will result is the action of a gay pussy.

However, I don't see that you are saying that SEALs don't do them, or that they feel try are far to dangerous to attempt, lest your spine explode due to the massive compression placed upon it by the deadly, evil SITUP.

It's funny, I had read articles and studies ranting against the squat, stiff leg dead lift, plyometrics, etc...all using similar reasoning to McGill. Strange how none of us are cripples.

However in the spirit of McGill's rigorous standards of proof I offer the following:

Crunches are done in aerobics classes, and most likely in San Francisco EVERY...SINGLE...DAY.

Women and gay men tend to go to aerobics classes. AND...lots of gay men live in San Francisco.

And, according to some statistics I just made up, crunches can cause your willy to pull inside itself a bit--they exert 30000000000000 micromegaouncacrons of force DIRECTLY on your penile ligament!

This is higher than the recommended limit for glory hold handjobs given by hudd (see RoR's "Analysis of Cock Tugging Forces in Male Prostitutes" p.34) and rivals the penile retractile forces generated by being forced to watch a naked Rosie O'Donnell do jumping jacks (Lofland's "Boner Jams '06", 2h34m).

Even worse, the site of Rosie O'Donnell naked has been proven to turn normal, red-blooded American men into flaming homosexuals.

THEREFORE...doing crunches will either cause you to grow a mangina AND/OR become gay. It's highly recommended you avoid this exercise at all costs and simply do a sit up istead.

Hip flexors can be stretched, but the mental scarring
of performing 100's of crunches...is forever.


PS--Rob...an English major who likes science? That's like a philosophy major being an admin on an S&C board. It's crazy-talk and I won't stand for it.

"You shouldn't only do situps--but claiming that they are far too dangerous to even think about attempting due the massive spinal compression that will result is the action of a gay pussy."

Nobody is saying that.

As for the rest of your post...the fact that you're forced to respond with gibberish is telling.

You can do crunches for your abs, and leg raises for your hip flexors, without putting too much stress on your lower back. So there's really no reason to do sit-ups, unless you have to do them for some military or LE test.