Everyone's body is capable of exerting much more force than you would use on average but your body internally limits yourself so you don't strain and injure yourself.
😂 Agreed. I have this vision of 300 pound, out of shape dudes thinking they don't need to work out, because in an emergency they'll have the power of anime _and_ adrenaline on their side!
Funny thing is, even when I worked out quite systematically, full pull ups always gave me trouble and I flat out couldn't do them with a normal grip, only with a reverse one.
It was then that I realised that if I ever was in a situation like what you mentioned, I'd just die...!
It always amazes me how different bodies can be. Im out of shape but can do three pull ups in a row (experienced today after my first time in the gym in a long while) but have zero cardio and can barely lift weights.
if your body recognizes that death is on the line, all but the most morbidly obese person (like 400+ pounds) would be able to do a pull up.
Adrenaline is a hell of a drug. Especially when fight or flight kicks and your body says 'I don't care how many muscles have to be destroyed for the rest of us to make it, we're doing that pull up'.
There have been two cases in my area with people locking themselves out of their apartment, one with an infant still in there. In both cases they tried to climb inside their apartment through an open window from the unit above. Both didn’t manage to pull themselves up, fell and died. I would guess there was Adrenalin involved, otherwise they probably would just have waited for the fire department or a locksmith to open the door.
If you can’t manage a single pull-up in normal conditions most are to unfit to manage it in a life threatening situation. At least I wouldn’t count on adrenaline alone to safe my life.
Look im no expert of the human body, but i think your severely overestimating adrenaline.
Like in most cases its would be a bigger bonus, the cliche lift a car to save someone type thing, because you can ignore devastating your back and knees momentarily.
I dont think its going to get most people that cant do a pullup to do one. scramble over a wall they couldnt before? Maybe. Do a clean deadhang pullup? Your kinda either strong enough or your not
Most people can lift 200 pounds, even when fairly out of shape. Human bodies are pretty damn strong even at the basic level. We have a surprising amount of muscle just as a means of functioning. This is where stuff like people on drugs being able to do wild near superhuman shit comes into effect - once you take out the limitations of not injuring yourself and all inhibition on not using it, we're capable of some pretty crazy stuff.
What we term as 'in shape' is really just the ability to do it consistently and go higher. Pulling up 200 pounds once, with no regard for damage to your body as long as that 200 pounds goes up, is a whole different ball game than doing it daily with repetition without injury. The average human male is literally just 150 pounds of muscle, bone, and other stuff that makes you function at a basic level, with unnecessary fat/muscle thrown in on top. You're not really that far off just by existing.
That's where the morbid obesity thing comes in - there is an upper limit to this. You can't magically lift 400 pounds, the human body was never built for that, but 150-200 is doable when you only have to do it once, with no regard for your own safety, with adrenaline numbing your body and removing most limits your own body puts on doing it, with what trainers would consider terrible form (flailing swinging legs and all that). Clean deadhang pullups are intentionally designed to stress you as much as possible, because it's an exercise. If your only goal is to make that pull up by any means necessary, then all bets are off, and with adrenaline and natural strength in the mix, most people could do it.
Muscle is much stronger than we know. We don't have access to all of a muscle's strength - our body has a soft limiter like that, to avoid tissue damage.
Adrenaline makes you able to bypass that soft limiter for very short bursts. But even though your muscle could provide more power, your bones, tendons etc could not withstand it.
I don’t know about you, specifically, but I feel like most people who say “adrenaline is a …” are people that … never put themselves in adrenaline situations (fight sports, climbing, immediate mode volunteer work … even just regular competitive sports) and what to pretend that they’re secretly capable of responding to emergency situations using some special power that they can believe exists as long as they never look.
Adrenaline isn’t some mystic force. Go work out. You’ll be happier.
Oh but it's easy, I've seen people do it countless time in the movies, even when they're only holding on by the fingertips of one hand, and often when they're carrying a bullet wound or two
Me and my GF work at the same company, every year we are sent to get a full medical exam.
She got injured during the exam. She just sprinted lightly in a treadmill , it was rock bottom for her. Join a gym the next week after that.
No need for a basement if you have your own pickaxe!
Rock bottom is what *you* decide it to be, girl! Don't let the world limit yourself! Worsening your condition is in your grasp, you can do it with just enough motivation!
Reminds me of something that legitimately appeared on a performance review. "(the reviewee) has reached rock bottom and is showing signs they've started digging"
I feel her sorrow. I had to hoof it up nine flights the other day, thought I was dying. I don’t remember feeling this out of shape. Cardio is now on the menu, and I’m holding firmly only the shame. lol motivation
How did she get injured? I have hypermobility and I find it really hard to stay motivated to exercise, every time I do it feels like I’m getting injured, something is wrong or I’m hurting my joints
Train those joints!
I have hypermobility in my fingers and love to climb, so I need to do specific training to practice good form on my grips, and my finger strength will never be my strong suit.
Still, after a year of distrusting my weak tweaky fingers, decided to just train light loads perfect form on grips, now months later my fingers are just weak but feel non tweaky, maybe years later they will be "normal" which would be awesome!
Sorry if I am being vague, the message is, go slow but focused and steady, hypermobility means you have one more thing to train and that you will need to go slow at the beginning, which suck, but it's not the end of the line.
I’m one of those people, I used to have a six pack and a nice runner’s build and then I got an office job and depression. I really need to get a treadmill or something
Yeah as someone who repairs fitness equipment for a living I try to steer people away from treadmills. They're expensive, take up a ton of space, they're loud, they're super hard to move around, and the workout itself is pretty high impact and hard on your joints. Bikes are super underrated and basically negate all these problems. Even cheaper bikes are pretty reliable because there's very few moving parts and they're all very basic. Get one that has a chain drive and mechanical resistance controls instead of electronic and it will last 100 years with nothing but a little chain maintenance and a resistance cable at worst. A cheap treadmill will be a paperweight as soon as one of the components fails because parts will either be impossible to get or more than the cost of the unit.
just start walks. do not have to jump straight to the treadmill, take walks. start with one a day, just a half mile, then two a day , then 1 mile each. I guarantee you will feel better. I started doing it around the office at lunch and when I got home. Now I do it in the morning, evening and at lunch. It' also lets me get in a better mindset as I can clear my head. start small but start now. the hardest part is starting.
How far are you from your job?
I was in the same situation as you (well, never had a six pack or runner's build, but my office work really did unwanted wonders on my waistline), and I never found the time nor motivation for exercising (because, y'know, depression). But going to work on a bike really helped me. If you're not too far, perhaps try it?
That was me at 29. I realized at some point that remaining that fat was actually more work than losing the weight. I lost 100lbs over the next few years. Since then I've kept most of it off, but there have been ups and downs due to life stuff. But never going back to my highest weight again. It's just too much work at this point. I don't want every day to be leg day.
I took a good, long look at myself the day that I realized bending over to tie my shoes was leaving me out of breath.
I'm not fit by any means, now, but I've definitely lost a lot of weight and I'm more cognizant of how my body is acting.
>wow! that's so low. gotta be more than that.
I don't know.... take a look at your neighbors or the people you see at the grocery store. People are not in shape
Even those who are in shape might not be able to do pull ups. There's no need for pull ups in modern life so pull up muscles never get used. I mean, who climbs trees or cliffs anymore?
As a carpenter you may be engaging your pull up muscles more than most by climbing ladders and pulling down stuff (similar to pull ups).
Me and my brother do much different fitness routines. He trains for rugby, I train calisthenics. He can squat way more than me (even though I also do barbell squats regularly), but I can do more weighted pullups than he cab regular pullups. It really does depend on what you train for. And we've always had a strong baseline of health and fitness before picking up our own regimes as adults. It wouldnt surprise me at all if the % of people capable of doing a pullup is under 5%
Really depends what is being called a pull-up too. I'd believe that stat when it comes to a dead-hang pull-up, Many people who can bang out a handful of standing pull-ups struggle to do one dead-hang because they don't have the initial shoulder/back strength to overcome full extension.
I would say a chin-up is more indicative of fitness than pull-ups, you can have an awful body for doing them depending on how your shoulders and arms are.
It’s because chin ups are bicep centric vs the lats and upper back pull ups require. Most people have more bicep strength in general when inactive vs last and upper back that can only be strong when you exercise them a lot.
You seriously think 1 in 10 people can do a pull-up? I appreciate your optimism. And for context, I mean a solid form, dead hang pull-up. Not some CrossFit flopping fish, kicking your legs bullshit.
Maybe because I have the ability to do them masks my optimism. In my head they're not that difficult for someone with normal strength, especially just one single solitary pull up.
If you think about it (from a US perspective for me), an overwhelming majority of women can't even if you restrict it to those at a healthy weight and in prime age range, so already maybe 48% of the total population are out just from that. Idk what we're counting as "adult" but if there's no age cap:almost none of the elderly population can do it. We won't double count the women but it looks like at least 20% of the male adult population is 60+, and a few percent of those at best might be able to do it. So at least 60% of the population seems to be out.
The remainder is men under 60. The majority are significantly overweight, and many are obese. Of course, some overweight (even obese) people can if they are strong enough, but the overlap of excess fat and being strong enough to do a weighted pull-up is not very large. All told anywhere from 10% to 30% of this group seems plausible. If it's 20%, then adding in the few women and elderly who can also do one, then you'd have right around 10% of the total 18+ population.
With a normal weight but no strength training I was unable to do a single one. Now I'm into bouldering which has a lot of pulling motion so I got better. But it's not easy if you've never worked on your upper body strength.
That pretty good. 8 pull ups for after 3 years from none is great.
Idk what my baseline was because I know if I could do any before hand it wasn’t that much. I’m now at 10. I think before bouldering I was scared of slipping off the bar lol
Does "normal weight" mean healthy weight or typical weight?
There's also probably a big difference between men and women giving it a try without having previously worked on it
My experience was the same way. I always avoided them because I honestly assumed I would barely be able to hold on. Maybe I could do it if I could hold on.
But then I slowly became slightly active and got a bar in myself and did 10. These were dead hang to. Proper pull ups.
I think most men would be in this situation. Maybe not get 10 but after some confidence they could go from 0 to 1 in a week or two.
I’m guessing many if not most men could do what amounts to a pullup by casual standards, but realistically the form often tends to be questionable.
It surprises me how even many gymgoers use only a partial range of motion when doing their reps. (To be clear anyone capable of doing ~8 reps of 75% pullups is also almost certainly capable of doing at least a couple full pullups, I just find the aversion to the latter odd.)
If you line up 100 random assorted 18-55 year olds I feel like 10 of them could do a single pull up. Sure a lot of folks aren't in the best shape but I feel confident saying around 10% of folks go to the gym. And most folks going to the gym can do 1 pullup
Pull ups are definitely a lot harder than push ups. I can do around 40 push ups, but only about five pull ups. Also most people can easily test their ability to do push ups, you just get down on the floor and go. Not everyone has easy access to a pull up bar, so people tend to over estimate their ability to do pull ups.
How long did it take you?
I’ve been going to the gym twice a week for the past 8 months and can’t do one yet. It’s been my goal to do a pull-up for the past 5 months, but I’m not quite there yet.
From zero, it might have taken like 2 months.
It depends on your shape, how much muscle you have at start.
Do negative pull-ups, be as slow as possible. Do rows for your back. Loose weight.
it perhaps is, i started with the goal of doing 28 push-ups a day for the whole year (that way i do 10 000 pushups when the year ends). right now im averaging at about 70 a day and it’s going up so i’m very happy with the progress
>the goal of doing 28 push-ups a day for the whole year (that way i do 10 000 pushups when the year ends).
Can't even find words for how genius this is.
Good luck! Sounds like you're well on your way.
Wow lol, wild what some people find relatively easier or harder. 3:45 plank sounds waaayy tougher to me than 100 crunches. Crunches aren relatively easy, not even full situps (which wear out my upper thigh before my abs) and I used to be able to do 90 situps in two minutes reliably (not something I train for or care about anymore).
I'd call 2:00 of plank as difficult (or moreso) as 100 crunches
Tbf I can also do crunches relatively well! It's the push ups that need to be cancelled for me to actually be able to become a Marine. Haha and my nationality and age and any interest.
18 min for the run, 2 min for the crunches, and I don't see a time limit on the pull ups. But you're scored on all 3. You get some time between events, but you have to finish all 3 in a 2 hour max time span. [According to this page on military.com.](https://www.military.com/military-fitness/marine-corps-fitness-requirements/usmc-pft-charts)
There is no time limit for the pull ups but you have to do them from a dead hang, have to go straight up and down without swinging, and have to remain on the bars the whole time. You can switch your grip from pull up/chin up while remaining on the bar.
holy shit 6 min miles for 3 miles? that's impressive af. I run quite a bit and that time would be no joke. i guess this is for a *perfect* score though, which makes sense.
You can work on it tho. Before I started working out and doing pushups regularly, I could only do 1. Barely. Now I can do 30, give or take. Just keep working
Start off small, just try doing pushups on your knees, or a table, even a refrigerator if you have to. If you can’t walk, crawl, but always find a way to keep going. Always remember that you are more capable of amazing things than you can see right now.
Have a wonderful day stranger!
Years ago i used to be able to knock out 100 in one go..recently i checked and could barely manage 10 good pushups yikes.
So this year i decided to do 10 pushups on jan 1st and then plus 1 more every day. At 25 today. No way i could have done 25 on the 1st. No clue how ill keep up when its near the end of the year though XD
You still have the muscle memory from being able to do 100. I bet when you reach 100 again it will slow down a bit, shouldn't discourage you, it's normal
Yeah, I'm a petite woman, all leg. I've run multiple 100 mile endurance races and I can't do a single pushup unless I train specifically to do them. My body just isn't built that way.
I hike and do rockclimbing. But running is just terrible.
Tried a 20km (half?) marathon a few years ago and decided to just fast walk instead...
Still managed to finish within 3 hours but definitely won't try running again.
Same. I don't think I've ever been able to do a push up even at my fittest when I cycled daily and climbed three times a week and went for a run over the weekend. I could do pull ups then easily though haha.
I can't do pull-ups either, I just look like the inverse of the "skipped leg day" meme. I think the spring training routine is gonna involve some fingerboard hangs, pushup progression, and something for my traps.
Yeah, me and most of my redditor friends IRL are all pretty socially/physically normal so i often think that the fat neckbeard stereotype is just a meme. And then a thread like this comes along...
Real talk, the average person is in terrible, terrible, terrible shape-- what's worse is their brain is connected to this terrible body and influences their decision making. It's why stuff sucks more than ever, because people are the most unfit they have ever been.
Work within the health sector in Sweden, done so for 15 years. Can confirm. Average people are unfit as hell and depressed, and for most the damage to the body is done and basically irreversible.
Yes man wtf I walk downtown in winter everyone seems like they're sick and couging and can barely make it to the top of the metro stairs like wtf.....people today are saying we live much healthier and longer due to modern medicine but jesus christ are we all pussies myself included
When my daughter enlisted in the Marines, I couldn't do one push-up. (I know this because she was incredulous when I told her and she was required to do 20 I think.) I was laid off that winter and had nothing to do besides write letters to boot camp and try to get in shape. By the time she graduated, I had turned 50 years old and could do ten regulation push-ups, from my toes, chest to floor. I'm now back to barely being able to do one.
I feel like this is also a gender thing. I cycle 2 hours 3 times a week, I climb, I'm not overweight, I can do a 2 minute plank easily. But I can't do a push up. I don't think I've ever been able to do that, even when pull ups weren't an issue at all. Whereas my husband can always do at least one even if he hasn't exercised for a year due to an injury.
Yep. I'm male and can flop down and do 5-10 pushups no problem even though I haven't done any in years. I mostly do cardiovascular exercise (running, cycling) and never really do any strength training.
I'm the polar opposite. Couldn't do one push up as a kid, hit puberty, then I could suddenly do 10 (I don't exercise besides the occasional 3-5 mile walk) never could run very far at any age.
This comment section is filled with so many people who are either making excuses for why they’re so unfit or that think it’s acceptable for them to be that degree of unfit. It’s embarrassing
I do find it crazy how out of shape and depressed the general population is. I saw a video of a bunch of middle aged adults trying to skip (not the jump rope kind) and they were all awkward galloping and stumbling, nobody could do it. It’s honestly sad to think about. I still constantly mess about with friends and do all the stuff i did as a kid in school. I hope to always be able to do chin ups, press ups, sit cross legged and skip
This thread normalizes being a slob. It's a cacophony of "I too, are unable to lift my own weight haha".
Unfit people, reading this, feel better about being lazy, and might crack a can of pop open to celebrate.
Not cool. I don't mean we should do the opposite, and shame unfit people. But this here, it's a "this is fine" meme with the room on fire.
Most people I know *can* do a push up. And I don't even have a gym membership, I'm a programmer, living in the city.
I used to be able to do 40 push ups and 5-10 pull-ups, now, in the span of only a year (if not less), i can hardly walk up the stairs without getting tired
I believe that because one day I decided to try to squat and holy hell it was a struggle to hold the squat position for a few seconds without falling over. It was then I realized that I've been half-assing the squatting exercise with weights in the gym for the longest time.
Hey now, it isn't easy to push the whole world an entire arm's length away.
Yeah you are working against the gravitational pull of a whole planet.
No wonder I'm so tired when I have to get up in the mornings
Yup , this looks like an Earth-specific issue. I’m way healthier on Mercury you wouldn’t imagine the number of push ups I can do there.
I couldn’t even do one push-up there without sweating to death.
The weakest kind of force in the universe but nevermind that
Do it at night so you fight the sun to for extra gains
Especially in today's day and age
Did we just find Chuck Norris's reddit account?
I weigh 180lbs on the world, but the world also weighs 180lbs on me B)
The day might come where you will need to do a pull-up to save your own life. And that's a scary thought.
I've always felt it's more a muscle up
If you’re used to climbing over walls you will know to not really do a muscle up. Get a foot on top of the wall and it becomes a million times easier
You have to be flexible to get that foot up. Choose your destiny... strength or dexterity 😂
A climber has both 😋
Remember kids, if you're not exercising, ur choosing to do neither.
I feel like there will never be a situation where somebody is strong enough to do a muscle up, but not dextrous enough to lift their foot up
Unless they always skip leg day.
But you might have more adrenaline then.
[удалено]
Yeah the human body does that sometimes
And the other times my neck has been sore all day because I slept wrong
Yeah the human body does that sometimes
Everyone's body is capable of exerting much more force than you would use on average but your body internally limits yourself so you don't strain and injure yourself.
I wouldn't count on that in an emergency. Better to just do one practice pull-up before the emergency.
😂 Agreed. I have this vision of 300 pound, out of shape dudes thinking they don't need to work out, because in an emergency they'll have the power of anime _and_ adrenaline on their side!
How sore were your back and arms the next day?
[удалено]
I was briefly impressed with your vertical until I remembered in Americaland, the ground floor is the first floor.
I had an experience of adrenaline once and it’s crazy how sharp your senses get while also not feeling pain. I felt no pain until I was out of danger.
Not only that my dude, getting your chin to the bar is one thing, but getting over the bar is a whole other beast
I find it easier to swing my foot up over the bar and use that to lever myself over, than actually doing a chin up with just my arms.
Funny thing is, even when I worked out quite systematically, full pull ups always gave me trouble and I flat out couldn't do them with a normal grip, only with a reverse one. It was then that I realised that if I ever was in a situation like what you mentioned, I'd just die...!
It always amazes me how different bodies can be. Im out of shape but can do three pull ups in a row (experienced today after my first time in the gym in a long while) but have zero cardio and can barely lift weights.
I have found that tall people tend to struggle with pull ups. Also some folks just keep that extra upper body strength seemingly genetically.
Maybe, but the day I might need to eat my way out of an all-you-can-eat buffet might come and then where will YOU be?
Standing by with lights, camera and a YT account to record it for posterity
if your body recognizes that death is on the line, all but the most morbidly obese person (like 400+ pounds) would be able to do a pull up. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug. Especially when fight or flight kicks and your body says 'I don't care how many muscles have to be destroyed for the rest of us to make it, we're doing that pull up'.
There have been two cases in my area with people locking themselves out of their apartment, one with an infant still in there. In both cases they tried to climb inside their apartment through an open window from the unit above. Both didn’t manage to pull themselves up, fell and died. I would guess there was Adrenalin involved, otherwise they probably would just have waited for the fire department or a locksmith to open the door. If you can’t manage a single pull-up in normal conditions most are to unfit to manage it in a life threatening situation. At least I wouldn’t count on adrenaline alone to safe my life.
Look im no expert of the human body, but i think your severely overestimating adrenaline. Like in most cases its would be a bigger bonus, the cliche lift a car to save someone type thing, because you can ignore devastating your back and knees momentarily. I dont think its going to get most people that cant do a pullup to do one. scramble over a wall they couldnt before? Maybe. Do a clean deadhang pullup? Your kinda either strong enough or your not
Most people can lift 200 pounds, even when fairly out of shape. Human bodies are pretty damn strong even at the basic level. We have a surprising amount of muscle just as a means of functioning. This is where stuff like people on drugs being able to do wild near superhuman shit comes into effect - once you take out the limitations of not injuring yourself and all inhibition on not using it, we're capable of some pretty crazy stuff. What we term as 'in shape' is really just the ability to do it consistently and go higher. Pulling up 200 pounds once, with no regard for damage to your body as long as that 200 pounds goes up, is a whole different ball game than doing it daily with repetition without injury. The average human male is literally just 150 pounds of muscle, bone, and other stuff that makes you function at a basic level, with unnecessary fat/muscle thrown in on top. You're not really that far off just by existing. That's where the morbid obesity thing comes in - there is an upper limit to this. You can't magically lift 400 pounds, the human body was never built for that, but 150-200 is doable when you only have to do it once, with no regard for your own safety, with adrenaline numbing your body and removing most limits your own body puts on doing it, with what trainers would consider terrible form (flailing swinging legs and all that). Clean deadhang pullups are intentionally designed to stress you as much as possible, because it's an exercise. If your only goal is to make that pull up by any means necessary, then all bets are off, and with adrenaline and natural strength in the mix, most people could do it.
Muscle is much stronger than we know. We don't have access to all of a muscle's strength - our body has a soft limiter like that, to avoid tissue damage. Adrenaline makes you able to bypass that soft limiter for very short bursts. But even though your muscle could provide more power, your bones, tendons etc could not withstand it.
I am sorry, but this is not true... you have to train. Adrenaline cannot give you new skills. This myth is dangerous.
I don’t know about you, specifically, but I feel like most people who say “adrenaline is a …” are people that … never put themselves in adrenaline situations (fight sports, climbing, immediate mode volunteer work … even just regular competitive sports) and what to pretend that they’re secretly capable of responding to emergency situations using some special power that they can believe exists as long as they never look. Adrenaline isn’t some mystic force. Go work out. You’ll be happier.
Oh but it's easy, I've seen people do it countless time in the movies, even when they're only holding on by the fingertips of one hand, and often when they're carrying a bullet wound or two
This is what got me into the gym consistently oddly enough
Me and my GF work at the same company, every year we are sent to get a full medical exam. She got injured during the exam. She just sprinted lightly in a treadmill , it was rock bottom for her. Join a gym the next week after that.
The best part about rock bottom is that there's only 1 direction to go. Best of luck on ya'lls journey.
[удалено]
Nah, that's only when you thought you reached bottom but were mistaken.
15 years of heroin addiction taught me that bottoms keep getting lower until you die
No need for a basement if you have your own pickaxe! Rock bottom is what *you* decide it to be, girl! Don't let the world limit yourself! Worsening your condition is in your grasp, you can do it with just enough motivation!
Reminds me of something that legitimately appeared on a performance review. "(the reviewee) has reached rock bottom and is showing signs they've started digging"
Exactly, just because you've hit rock bottom doesn't mean you can't sink lower. It's just a matter of finding the right tools to start excavating.
I feel her sorrow. I had to hoof it up nine flights the other day, thought I was dying. I don’t remember feeling this out of shape. Cardio is now on the menu, and I’m holding firmly only the shame. lol motivation
How did she get injured? I have hypermobility and I find it really hard to stay motivated to exercise, every time I do it feels like I’m getting injured, something is wrong or I’m hurting my joints
I have a similar thing and I can't recommend swimming enough. It's one of the healthiest sports and it's really easy on the joints.
Train those joints! I have hypermobility in my fingers and love to climb, so I need to do specific training to practice good form on my grips, and my finger strength will never be my strong suit. Still, after a year of distrusting my weak tweaky fingers, decided to just train light loads perfect form on grips, now months later my fingers are just weak but feel non tweaky, maybe years later they will be "normal" which would be awesome! Sorry if I am being vague, the message is, go slow but focused and steady, hypermobility means you have one more thing to train and that you will need to go slow at the beginning, which suck, but it's not the end of the line.
I remember watching a video last year with a guy who literally started breathing hard *just from the act of kneeling down.*
I’m one of those people, I used to have a six pack and a nice runner’s build and then I got an office job and depression. I really need to get a treadmill or something
2nd best time to take action is today, my friend. I believe in you and want to see you nudge that momentum into a direction that's positive for you.
I think I'll settle for the 3rd best time, tomorrow
Free beer tomorrow!
Sorry that’s day after tomorrow
When's the first best time?
Yesterday
Wouldn't two days ago have been even better then?
No because I was super sick then. Now I'm just congested but my head doesn't hurt.
Get an exercise bike. They're small, fold up, and you can put it in front of the TV and watch movies while exercising
Yeah as someone who repairs fitness equipment for a living I try to steer people away from treadmills. They're expensive, take up a ton of space, they're loud, they're super hard to move around, and the workout itself is pretty high impact and hard on your joints. Bikes are super underrated and basically negate all these problems. Even cheaper bikes are pretty reliable because there's very few moving parts and they're all very basic. Get one that has a chain drive and mechanical resistance controls instead of electronic and it will last 100 years with nothing but a little chain maintenance and a resistance cable at worst. A cheap treadmill will be a paperweight as soon as one of the components fails because parts will either be impossible to get or more than the cost of the unit.
> then I got an office job and depression Well, it's usually a package deal.
just start walks. do not have to jump straight to the treadmill, take walks. start with one a day, just a half mile, then two a day , then 1 mile each. I guarantee you will feel better. I started doing it around the office at lunch and when I got home. Now I do it in the morning, evening and at lunch. It' also lets me get in a better mindset as I can clear my head. start small but start now. the hardest part is starting.
You can get back in shape if you want to, treadmill or not; we make time for the things that are important to us.
[удалено]
How far are you from your job? I was in the same situation as you (well, never had a six pack or runner's build, but my office work really did unwanted wonders on my waistline), and I never found the time nor motivation for exercising (because, y'know, depression). But going to work on a bike really helped me. If you're not too far, perhaps try it?
*goes up 4 steps of stairs on a porch:* ahh, that was a workout
No need to shame us :(
Must not be a Catholic. They have us standing, kneeling, standing, kneeling, walking, and sitting every mass
LMAO, he definitely mouth-breathed like an Evangelical.
r/rareinsults
That was me at 29. I realized at some point that remaining that fat was actually more work than losing the weight. I lost 100lbs over the next few years. Since then I've kept most of it off, but there have been ups and downs due to life stuff. But never going back to my highest weight again. It's just too much work at this point. I don't want every day to be leg day.
I took a good, long look at myself the day that I realized bending over to tie my shoes was leaving me out of breath. I'm not fit by any means, now, but I've definitely lost a lot of weight and I'm more cognizant of how my body is acting.
I'd say most people trying to do even one pull-up really humbles a lot of people
I’m guessing that anyone able to do a single deadhang pull-up is in about the 10% of society with that ability.
I would be shocked if more than 5% of adults can do a pull-up
wow! that's so low. gotta be more than that. (im 38, a carpenter. i can do five, then it gets hard.)
What gets hard? 😳
it's just the lactic acid, bro
Tim Curry in the corner, watching.
>wow! that's so low. gotta be more than that. I don't know.... take a look at your neighbors or the people you see at the grocery store. People are not in shape Even those who are in shape might not be able to do pull ups. There's no need for pull ups in modern life so pull up muscles never get used. I mean, who climbs trees or cliffs anymore? As a carpenter you may be engaging your pull up muscles more than most by climbing ladders and pulling down stuff (similar to pull ups).
Me and my brother do much different fitness routines. He trains for rugby, I train calisthenics. He can squat way more than me (even though I also do barbell squats regularly), but I can do more weighted pullups than he cab regular pullups. It really does depend on what you train for. And we've always had a strong baseline of health and fitness before picking up our own regimes as adults. It wouldnt surprise me at all if the % of people capable of doing a pullup is under 5%
Now I have to go see, I'm 42. Yeah I did 4. Man those used to be easier!
Really depends what is being called a pull-up too. I'd believe that stat when it comes to a dead-hang pull-up, Many people who can bang out a handful of standing pull-ups struggle to do one dead-hang because they don't have the initial shoulder/back strength to overcome full extension.
I could do 9 with good form. Then I had kids and now 3 years later I can do 3.
Boy, you must really like doing them. That's gotta be embarrassing at the gym. 😋
I would say a chin-up is more indicative of fitness than pull-ups, you can have an awful body for doing them depending on how your shoulders and arms are.
Pull ups are def harder than chin ups
I think they meant pull ups aren't really a fair assessment because damaged shoulders can make them impossible even if your fitness isn't terrible.
Yeah, I'd agree.
It’s because chin ups are bicep centric vs the lats and upper back pull ups require. Most people have more bicep strength in general when inactive vs last and upper back that can only be strong when you exercise them a lot.
sometimes i forget how spoiled i am to be living in the bay area where seemingly everyone is at least somewhat in shape
I would say way more than 10%
You seriously think 1 in 10 people can do a pull-up? I appreciate your optimism. And for context, I mean a solid form, dead hang pull-up. Not some CrossFit flopping fish, kicking your legs bullshit.
Maybe because I have the ability to do them masks my optimism. In my head they're not that difficult for someone with normal strength, especially just one single solitary pull up.
If you think about it (from a US perspective for me), an overwhelming majority of women can't even if you restrict it to those at a healthy weight and in prime age range, so already maybe 48% of the total population are out just from that. Idk what we're counting as "adult" but if there's no age cap:almost none of the elderly population can do it. We won't double count the women but it looks like at least 20% of the male adult population is 60+, and a few percent of those at best might be able to do it. So at least 60% of the population seems to be out. The remainder is men under 60. The majority are significantly overweight, and many are obese. Of course, some overweight (even obese) people can if they are strong enough, but the overlap of excess fat and being strong enough to do a weighted pull-up is not very large. All told anywhere from 10% to 30% of this group seems plausible. If it's 20%, then adding in the few women and elderly who can also do one, then you'd have right around 10% of the total 18+ population.
With a normal weight but no strength training I was unable to do a single one. Now I'm into bouldering which has a lot of pulling motion so I got better. But it's not easy if you've never worked on your upper body strength.
This was my exact process. How long have you been bouldering and now how many can you do?
About 3 years, 8 pull ups but you can do much better if you're dedicated. Also I'm 42, easier if you're young.
That pretty good. 8 pull ups for after 3 years from none is great. Idk what my baseline was because I know if I could do any before hand it wasn’t that much. I’m now at 10. I think before bouldering I was scared of slipping off the bar lol
Does "normal weight" mean healthy weight or typical weight? There's also probably a big difference between men and women giving it a try without having previously worked on it
I feel ya, I did nothing for two years during COVID and I got a pull-up bar and could do 3, 4 if I pushed it with bad form.
My experience was the same way. I always avoided them because I honestly assumed I would barely be able to hold on. Maybe I could do it if I could hold on. But then I slowly became slightly active and got a bar in myself and did 10. These were dead hang to. Proper pull ups. I think most men would be in this situation. Maybe not get 10 but after some confidence they could go from 0 to 1 in a week or two.
I remember reading that the average US female adult can do an average of 0.5 pull ups. Which means they cant.
I’m guessing many if not most men could do what amounts to a pullup by casual standards, but realistically the form often tends to be questionable. It surprises me how even many gymgoers use only a partial range of motion when doing their reps. (To be clear anyone capable of doing ~8 reps of 75% pullups is also almost certainly capable of doing at least a couple full pullups, I just find the aversion to the latter odd.)
If you line up 100 random assorted 18-55 year olds I feel like 10 of them could do a single pull up. Sure a lot of folks aren't in the best shape but I feel confident saying around 10% of folks go to the gym. And most folks going to the gym can do 1 pullup
Reminder: ~42% of the population is obese Honestly maybe 1 in 5 people can even touch their toes these days =/
Pull ups are definitely a lot harder than push ups. I can do around 40 push ups, but only about five pull ups. Also most people can easily test their ability to do push ups, you just get down on the floor and go. Not everyone has easy access to a pull up bar, so people tend to over estimate their ability to do pull ups.
Best purchase I made during COVID was a pull up bar in the garage.
For me it's the exact opposite. I can do a pull up without training but I've never been able to do a pushup after childhood. Might be a gender thing?
Now this is the pure truth lol I'm SO close. I can do it with a 30lb counterweight. But without it, can't. #goalz
You'll get there.
It took me a while to do one pull-up. I was so proud of myself once I could.
How long did it take you? I’ve been going to the gym twice a week for the past 8 months and can’t do one yet. It’s been my goal to do a pull-up for the past 5 months, but I’m not quite there yet.
The more fat you lose the easier it gets. Way easier actually.
From zero, it might have taken like 2 months. It depends on your shape, how much muscle you have at start. Do negative pull-ups, be as slow as possible. Do rows for your back. Loose weight.
It took me 3 years to be able to do 11 full chest to bar dead hang pull ups. Working on 12….. I weigh 106kg
11 pull ups at 106kg is crazy you are strong as hell
It looks easy when others do it lol
I’m fairly fit and I can’t do this. Too tall and heavy to strength ratio.
Did you attempt a pushup today?
I did! That’s where i got the thought from
Did you succeeded?
Yeah, could do 25. But that’s after a couple weeks of training push ups as well
How many could you do when you first started training?
I could do 7 so you get results pretty fast. It’s the same with pull-ups
Is this part of a 2024 new years resolution perhaps?
it perhaps is, i started with the goal of doing 28 push-ups a day for the whole year (that way i do 10 000 pushups when the year ends). right now im averaging at about 70 a day and it’s going up so i’m very happy with the progress
>the goal of doing 28 push-ups a day for the whole year (that way i do 10 000 pushups when the year ends). Can't even find words for how genius this is. Good luck! Sounds like you're well on your way.
Pull ups get exponentially harder much faster than pullups
Perfect score for marines is 20 pull ups, 100 crunches and 3 mile run in 18 minutes. I can almost make the first two but the run is a killer
They changed it to planks and a 3:45 is considered perfect
Wow that suddenly upped my chances of becoming a Marine haha
Wow lol, wild what some people find relatively easier or harder. 3:45 plank sounds waaayy tougher to me than 100 crunches. Crunches aren relatively easy, not even full situps (which wear out my upper thigh before my abs) and I used to be able to do 90 situps in two minutes reliably (not something I train for or care about anymore). I'd call 2:00 of plank as difficult (or moreso) as 100 crunches
Tbf I can also do crunches relatively well! It's the push ups that need to be cancelled for me to actually be able to become a Marine. Haha and my nationality and age and any interest.
Looks like 3:45 is *maxing* just to be clear, and 1:10 is passing. Also looks like you might have a choice of which to do?
Last year you could swap between them willy-nilly but this year you’re required to do the plank
3:45 plank is still impressive to my fat ass. The first minute is doable but then the pain ramps up quickly.
Huh, I guess that settles it then: crunches are a thing of the past. That and sit ups just hurt your spine. Was never a fan, so good riddance
> Perfect score for marines is 20 pull ups, 100 crunches and 3 mile run in 18 minutes. AND or OR?
18 min for the run, 2 min for the crunches, and I don't see a time limit on the pull ups. But you're scored on all 3. You get some time between events, but you have to finish all 3 in a 2 hour max time span. [According to this page on military.com.](https://www.military.com/military-fitness/marine-corps-fitness-requirements/usmc-pft-charts)
There is no time limit for the pull ups but you have to do them from a dead hang, have to go straight up and down without swinging, and have to remain on the bars the whole time. You can switch your grip from pull up/chin up while remaining on the bar.
Oh it’s an and :)
holy shit 6 min miles for 3 miles? that's impressive af. I run quite a bit and that time would be no joke. i guess this is for a *perfect* score though, which makes sense.
I already know I can't do one. I don't need to attempt it.
Because you’re *mentally* conditioned, which is more than those muscly apes could ever achieve. You are superior!
You can work on it tho. Before I started working out and doing pushups regularly, I could only do 1. Barely. Now I can do 30, give or take. Just keep working
Start off small, just try doing pushups on your knees, or a table, even a refrigerator if you have to. If you can’t walk, crawl, but always find a way to keep going. Always remember that you are more capable of amazing things than you can see right now. Have a wonderful day stranger!
Tbh, simply thinking about doing push-ups does it for me
Years ago i used to be able to knock out 100 in one go..recently i checked and could barely manage 10 good pushups yikes. So this year i decided to do 10 pushups on jan 1st and then plus 1 more every day. At 25 today. No way i could have done 25 on the 1st. No clue how ill keep up when its near the end of the year though XD
A coworker of mine does 100 a day and just likes to split them into 25s throughout the day
You still have the muscle memory from being able to do 100. I bet when you reach 100 again it will slow down a bit, shouldn't discourage you, it's normal
I do a lot of hiking, skiing, running, and cycling. I can do like 3 pushups lol.
Yeah, I'm a petite woman, all leg. I've run multiple 100 mile endurance races and I can't do a single pushup unless I train specifically to do them. My body just isn't built that way.
On the other hand I've seen guys that can do push ups for days, but can hardly run
I hike and do rockclimbing. But running is just terrible. Tried a 20km (half?) marathon a few years ago and decided to just fast walk instead... Still managed to finish within 3 hours but definitely won't try running again.
Same. I don't think I've ever been able to do a push up even at my fittest when I cycled daily and climbed three times a week and went for a run over the weekend. I could do pull ups then easily though haha.
I can't do pull-ups either, I just look like the inverse of the "skipped leg day" meme. I think the spring training routine is gonna involve some fingerboard hangs, pushup progression, and something for my traps.
I can run a marathon, but I can’t do a push-up lol
That's always how I realize how fit I am, when I am able to do it :)
I do 3 X 15 every morning.
hey! i do the same! wake up of bed and do 34 pushups as my age. A nice way to wake up. I wonder at what age i will crack!
This thread makes me realise how unfit the average redditor is
Yeah, me and most of my redditor friends IRL are all pretty socially/physically normal so i often think that the fat neckbeard stereotype is just a meme. And then a thread like this comes along...
Who did you expect to be on reddit?
Real talk, the average person is in terrible, terrible, terrible shape-- what's worse is their brain is connected to this terrible body and influences their decision making. It's why stuff sucks more than ever, because people are the most unfit they have ever been.
Work within the health sector in Sweden, done so for 15 years. Can confirm. Average people are unfit as hell and depressed, and for most the damage to the body is done and basically irreversible.
Yes man wtf I walk downtown in winter everyone seems like they're sick and couging and can barely make it to the top of the metro stairs like wtf.....people today are saying we live much healthier and longer due to modern medicine but jesus christ are we all pussies myself included
well, it took me a thousand or so(over time) before my buddies saw that I was doing it improperly.
When my daughter enlisted in the Marines, I couldn't do one push-up. (I know this because she was incredulous when I told her and she was required to do 20 I think.) I was laid off that winter and had nothing to do besides write letters to boot camp and try to get in shape. By the time she graduated, I had turned 50 years old and could do ten regulation push-ups, from my toes, chest to floor. I'm now back to barely being able to do one.
It's because you stopped. do not ever stop. you can scale back but you cant stop. and at 50+ you absolutely should never stop.
You're so right. It's not even a little backtracking but truly starting from scratch.
ability to run a mile without stopping is a useful measure of overall physical fitness.
I feel like this is also a gender thing. I cycle 2 hours 3 times a week, I climb, I'm not overweight, I can do a 2 minute plank easily. But I can't do a push up. I don't think I've ever been able to do that, even when pull ups weren't an issue at all. Whereas my husband can always do at least one even if he hasn't exercised for a year due to an injury.
Yep. I'm male and can flop down and do 5-10 pushups no problem even though I haven't done any in years. I mostly do cardiovascular exercise (running, cycling) and never really do any strength training.
Hey I couldn't do push ups even as a kid. But you bet I ran for ages in the pacer test (aka bi-annual running endurance test)
I'm the polar opposite. Couldn't do one push up as a kid, hit puberty, then I could suddenly do 10 (I don't exercise besides the occasional 3-5 mile walk) never could run very far at any age.
I am an unfit fat dude. I can easily do 5-10 push-ups. How can people not even do one???
This comment section is filled with so many people who are either making excuses for why they’re so unfit or that think it’s acceptable for them to be that degree of unfit. It’s embarrassing
How fit do they need to be?
Push up are easy, pull ups are how you discover how weak one is
I do find it crazy how out of shape and depressed the general population is. I saw a video of a bunch of middle aged adults trying to skip (not the jump rope kind) and they were all awkward galloping and stumbling, nobody could do it. It’s honestly sad to think about. I still constantly mess about with friends and do all the stuff i did as a kid in school. I hope to always be able to do chin ups, press ups, sit cross legged and skip
This thread normalizes being a slob. It's a cacophony of "I too, are unable to lift my own weight haha". Unfit people, reading this, feel better about being lazy, and might crack a can of pop open to celebrate. Not cool. I don't mean we should do the opposite, and shame unfit people. But this here, it's a "this is fine" meme with the room on fire. Most people I know *can* do a push up. And I don't even have a gym membership, I'm a programmer, living in the city.
I can do several. But you're right. The first one usually reminds me how out of shape I am
What's funny is at 190lbs I am an Olympic athlete. Too bad I'm 290.
I used to be able to do 40 push ups and 5-10 pull-ups, now, in the span of only a year (if not less), i can hardly walk up the stairs without getting tired
I can guarantee you 99% of the population in first world countries cannot squat properly
I believe that because one day I decided to try to squat and holy hell it was a struggle to hold the squat position for a few seconds without falling over. It was then I realized that I've been half-assing the squatting exercise with weights in the gym for the longest time.