Is 5 Reps Enough?

Teglan

I walk over 1 hour almost every morning, but I wanted to add some bodyweight exercises to my routine. I did 10 knee push ups, 10 squats, 10 lunges on each leg, 10 jumping jacks, a 30 second plank, and a 45 second side plank on each side. This left me pretty sore and feeling some concerning neck pain (from the plank, probably?)

After a few days recovery, I just tried again, but reduced everything by half (except the planks, which I did 30 seconds for each). I broke a slight sweat, got my heart rate elevated, and feel pretty great, but is that enough to see any results? I know anything is better than nothing, but I just don't know how hard to push myself. ( Please don't say to get a trainer. I'm poor. )

Any advice would be great. I'm a 210 lb, 26 y/o female with no access to gym equipment, and I'm just trying to lose weight and strengthen myself, not be ripped or anything. Should I cut out the planks since I can't seem to get the form right? I was going to do Russian Twists, but I just read they're bad for your spine or something? Ack!

SnifterPug

Planks are great but can be hard at first. Maybe you need to do a bit more core work before working too hard on the planks. Maybe try bird dogs? Concentrate really hard on doing them slowly and not allowing your trunk to rotate as you extend your arm and leg.

Yes, anything is better than nothing. Breaking a slight sweat and elevating the heart rate, plus feeling good are all great signs. I think you will quickly get used to this, though, and should be aiming for 2 sets of 5 after a week or so. Then 3 sets of 5. Once you're at 3 sets of 5 maybe you could try 2 sets of 10, or 3 sets of 7. The important thing is to try to get some improvement week on week.

AnnPT77

Any starting point that creates useful challenge, but doesn't cause injury, is a good starting point.

Your plan is fine. (I'd agree about doing preparatory exercises for anything that's threatening injury. You can build up a little bit via prep exercises, then go back to the more advanced exercise. Some good suggestions in the post above; you can also look for exercises on YouTube from physical therapists who have actual credentials/certifications. (Physical therapists are the experts in overcoming limitations, IMO.)

After a while, if you stick with it, and avoid injury, you'll find that what you're doing is getting kinda easy, not really a challenge anymore. When that happens, increase the challenge: Do more reps, or more sets, or change to a manageable but more challenging exercise, or - only if you can and still leave a recovery day between strength challenge to the same muscle groups - increase frequency.

Things getting easier is a sign of increasing strength/fitness. Increasing (something) to keep a manageable challenge going, that's how to continue increasing fitness.

We start wherever we are, wherever that initial manageable challenge is. Exactly where that is (in terms of exercises, reps, sets, etc.) is a question of good or bad. I've said it so many times here on MFP that I'm sure others are sick of it, but I think the wisest sign in the whole world is one we see all over the place: It says "you are here". Here is the only place from which we can take the next steps toward self-improvement. It's the steps that matter, not the starting place.

P.S. Planks in particular can be an extra challenge when we're still carrying a good bit of extra weight, if that's what your current weight is for you. Basically, you're asking your core structure - which has a bunch of small muscles in it, as well as a few big ones - to support all of our weight in suspension between hands and feet. That can be Too Much.

I agree that Russian Twists are iffy. The Bird Dogs that Snifterpug suggests can be good, or check out Bob & Brad on YouTube (Physical Therapists) who have various videos with plank alternatives, to strengthen core. Search "Bob & Brad Planks" within YouTube, you'll find them. (I don't want to link them here because I find the in-line videos annoying, personally.)

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I've been doing floor-ex for years, but I do less during the summer because there are so many great outdoor things I want to do. Every time I go back, there's a few weeks of ramp-up where everything feels damn hard! I just scale back and do whatever I can and, by the magic of physiology, I get better at it over time. If I can do it, you can, too!

Now, I think you CAN hurt yourself by some common exercises, so it helps to ramp up slowly. If something hurts don't do it. If it hurts a lot later, you did too much. If you have problem areas, talk to a PT. If knee push-ups are still too hard, for example, you can do push-ups against a wall. Using light dumbbells can really help build strengh. Here's one video that I think is pretty helpful (I like a lot of PopSugar's videos. I found this by searching for "PopSugar easy upper body"). If it's too hard at first, start by using NO weights at all. Then use two water bottles. Once you have that, buy a set of lightweight dumbbells and just keep at it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KGNq7PEHkU

rheddmobile

The question is, is it enough for you right now?

The way strength training works is that you increase your work as you get stronger. So 5 reps or even 1 rep for some people may be all you can do today, but that doesn’t mean it’s all you should keep doing as you go forward. Don’t be afraid to start where you are, even if it doesn’t seem like much, but also don’t let that stop you from adding more. So, maybe six reps, then seven, and so on, until you add a second set, and then you get sick of doing a million body weight reps so you add some weights, and in a year you are doing more than you ever thought you could.

All of this will get easier as you lose weight, too. Jumping jacks and other high impact activities in particular will get easier.

BTW I am not a fan of side planks. I permanently tore up my shoulder doing them when I was obese. Now that I am normal weight and can do them easily, I don’t think they are a good exercise for working the muscles they are supposed to target in any case.

age_is_just_a_number

Do a YouTube search for wildman athletica overweight. You’ll receive a short series of videos from mark wildman with his recommendations.

My thoughts: do what you can. Small increments over a period of time will return results.

You lose weight when in a caloric deficit. So, you need to track your food.