I thought I was fit but I still can't...

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  • ChaplainHeavin
    ChaplainHeavin Posts: 426 Member
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    Real pushups. I'm finally to the point where I can do nice, clean half pushups but the full ones are still too hard.

    Try this military trick. Just do as many push ups (not too fast or too slow) that you can in 2 minutes. Don't worry how many you do, just do as many as you can in two minutes, three times a week. You might start out with five, then rest a few seconds and do one, just keep it up until the two minutes are up. When I started I could only get in 30 or so in that time frame. Now I can do 200 or more in a time slot of three minutes and I add doing to other positions and 3 minutes to it.
  • HardcoreP0rk
    HardcoreP0rk Posts: 936 Member
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    Running for the bus.. I run 3 times a week, part of a running club and half marathons under my belt but when I have to run without being prepared for it I think I am going to die... I can happily do sprint intervals, cover 1k in under 4 minutes but running for the bus... WTF??

    anything you do under mental / emotion stress will take the wind right outta ya
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    I understand your frustration!! I know I'm not super fit at all, but I have come a long way, I can walk long distances with no problem (miles and miles) even in the heat or cold, I regularly hike, ride on bike trails, etc. But my husband and I went on a loop at a state park a couple weekends ago that included rockier terrain and about 800 stairs going in different directions and I was SO exhausted!! It was disappointing.
  • ChaplainHeavin
    ChaplainHeavin Posts: 426 Member
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    I still can't do a pull up/chin up and it makes me sad.

    Try doing as many half pull ups as you can in two minutes, do this three times a week. You'll be surprised at the results. I went from one to 9 in a matter of weeks but had to stop for a while because I pulled something (no pun intended)
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    I've walked along a section of The Great Wall, which I can safely say has a LOT of steep stairs, and even that didn't get to me like that damned escalator!
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
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    ...walk or run up the escalators at Seven Sisters underground station. What's up with that? I run three times a week and go to the gym at least twice more, but walking up a single set of moving stairs has my heart trying to leap out of my chest, my hamstrings burning and a rising sense of nausea. And I do it every working day!

    I also go "Gnnnfff!" whenever I stand up, or bend to tie my shoelaces.

    What still defeats you however fit you get?

    Two possible reasons.

    1) jogging and going up and down stairs are two different animals. Just because you're fit for one workout doesn't mean you're fit for another. For example, although I could go for a five mile run, practicing with my daughters when they played soccer would wear me out in five minutes.

    2) Allergies. I always take the stairs at work (my office is on the third floor). Certain times of the year I am breathing heavy because of the pollen counts.

    Two additional reasons:

    3) what you are carrying. Even if it not heavy, adding a purse or computer bag throws your balance off to where you may be swaying side to side or rotating the pelvis more than if not carrying anything. I am at the beginning of gaining fitness after a long term illness and I have noticed I have little trouble going up the 2 flights of stairs at my apartment when carrying nothing but even my purse makes a difference (even more of a difference if I carry it by my elbow rather than over the shoulder)

    4) your shoes. Different heel heights make you carry your weight differently which can affect how you go up the stairs.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I walk the stairs EVERY day at work- 3 flights- and often more when I have to run errands. I am not an elevator person.

    I use the stair master and jump rope- and run- and I life- I'm very "fit"

    but I am ALWAYS winded at the top of the 3 flights of stairs in the morning- not excessively so- but I ALWAYS have been that way.

    Sprinting for no reason at all (like the person who said running for the bus) gets me like lungs on fire burning. I do DO sprints- so that's not foreign to me. LOL

    Think timing and "extra's" change the way things work.
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
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    I finish in the top 5 women in my CrossFit box in all of the weightlifting workouts but I still can't do a pull up. I've been working on it 5x per week for 7 months and am not even close. I weigh about 170 with 27% ish body fat and when I use an assistance machine, I have to add at least 30 pounds.The bottom is my worst. I have no functional strength there. Rows, negatives, lat pull downs, banded pull ups, half pull ups, etc. etc. I've tried it all. I feel like I am too big for pull ups but I do know one other gal built like me who has hers, even chest-to-bar, so I will keep trying.
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    Sleep..

    No matter what I do, how hard I work.. i still toss and turn..

    Also.. when I fall (as in literally my body hits the ground) I hurt for days.. my finger still hurts from the last time I fell and that was 9 days ago.

    Pull ups.. but to be honest.. i need to get back to lifting.. I've been doing a lot of cardio and slacking on the lifting.

    Stretching.. I swear the more I exercise the tighter everything gets..and I stretch before and after.. :grumble:
  • kelly_e_montana
    kelly_e_montana Posts: 1,999 Member
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    I love Jillian M. But I cannot wait until a BURPEE drops her!! :laugh: Sometime the age thing becomes a factor. You can still be fit but it is not the fit of 25yrs. That is life enjoy :drinker:

    I disagree. I am fitter now than I was working out in my 20s. I put up times in the top 3-6 women in my CrossFit box consistently, and only one of them is even close to my age. The rest are 8-20 years younger. Don't let your own conceptions of age limit your performance! The top performer in our box is 42 and came very close to making the CrossFit games via the masters' qualifier. He knocked 50 spots off his performance last year when he was a year younger.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    I dunno, age didn't stop me getting on the leader board my gym's one-minute burpee challenge (at the end of the HIIT circuit class) but after three weeks I sprained the joints in my feet and hands and haven't been able to burpee since :laugh:
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
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    I finish in the top 5 women in my CrossFit box in all of the weightlifting workouts but I still can't do a pull up. I've been working on it 5x per week for 7 months and am not even close. I weigh about 170 with 27% ish body fat and when I use an assistance machine, I have to add at least 30 pounds.The bottom is my worst. I have no functional strength there. Rows, negatives, lat pull downs, banded pull ups, half pull ups, etc. etc. I've tried it all. I feel like I am too big for pull ups but I do know one other gal built like me who has hers, even chest-to-bar, so I will keep trying.

    even at 180 pounds I can still pull myself up.

    Sure it's HARDER than 10-15 lbs lighter (last summer I could bang out a few with a 15 lb dumbbell between my feet) now- not so much LOL.

    You need to practice ACTUAL pull ups- NOT on the assisted machine- that's the WORST way to practice for a pull up- it's, I would even hazard to say- more counterproductive than actually helpful.

    https://www.google.com/url?q=https://db.tt/EkLszOQP&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHzniVqGUdLxgAGt3lM8cPbRE_21A

    https://db.tt/EkLszOQP

    https://db.tt/sTIu04YE

    not sure which is the best way to copy- I'm doing a hoop jumping method to deliever my drop box stuff LOL
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
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    I use the assisted pull up machine.. but I make it so I can barely get myself up i struggle to do two.

    I try without the machine and I can't even do a little 1/4 pull up.

    I really need to focus on upper body.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    This is an interesting post. I've often had thoughts about the divide between what I can do when 'working out' versus doing something in terms of function.

    For example, I can deadlift 175 lbs, but I still find myself struggling to lift heavier things in everyday life (like lifting drywall x_x). That feels defeating, the "I CAN DO THIS! I LIFT!" followed by "Nope, guess I'm still a shrimp." Still can't do a full pull up, either.
  • pookaroo78
    pookaroo78 Posts: 65 Member
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    Unassisted pull-ups and handstands, my upper body is still weak after almost a year doing crossfit, frustrating! :sad:
  • greypilgrimess
    greypilgrimess Posts: 353 Member
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    Play basketball with kids. Or any fast moving sport. I run half marathons, but I cannot seem to keep up with kids' boundless energy when it comes to other sports! I miss that youthful fitness!
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
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    skip to save my life...
  • Victoria2448
    Victoria2448 Posts: 559 Member
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    Age doesn't have much to do with it..I crush younguns regularly!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    I still can't do a push-up. I know I am stronger. My arms are more defined. But I STILL can't push my fat *kitten* up off the floor. :sad:
  • willrun4bagels
    willrun4bagels Posts: 838 Member
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    I still can't do a real push up. :cry:

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