Context:
I walk in the afternoon, 5.30pm, around our terrace, for half an hr. It's winter now, so it gets dark by then. I don't like that.

And, I went on a vacation last week where I had to climb a ton of stairs and hills, and not too surprisingly, despite eating tons of oily food and sugary drinks, I didn't put on more than 500 grams (weighed at the same time, in the morning, on empty stomach).

So I was thinking about doing high rep bodyweight squats, with intervals, and with half rom if need be. It should mimic the stair climbing for cardio. Half rom to not make the quads the failing point. Goal is to lose some body fat to achieve pull ups.

For context am 33yo male, 125kg and i work in a physical demanding job and my hours at work have night shifts also sometimes so my sleep schedule is not normal.

In the past when i was 15 yo until 24 i exercised a lot ranging from cycling, running, calisthenics doing mostly muscle ups, some weight training, soccer.... then the declined started after an injury in my rotator cuffs.. stopped everything, then at work time passed like nothing and with bad habits i gained weight...

I still can do 5-6 normal pull ups and i was excited about it...

But am wondering if its possible that i could start again and be able with my work schedule and sleep schedule plus my physical job and at my age of 33 if i could start again and reach an advanced fitness level like i had before.... but i feel its impossible....

Any help appreciated...

I've been skinny for as long as I can remember. I don't eat much and I don't do sports. But I've been bodyshamed so much and it's been a huge factor of my insecurity. I don't need to be huge like a weightlifter, I just need to not be skinny, at least reach 80 kilos. I need to get started but I don't know how. I'm scared to go to the gym because I'm afraid they'll laugh at me. How much do I need to eat? Is there a routine I should do? If possible can I do this without going to the gym? (I don't have any friends to go with)

I lift regularly but have noticeable anterior pelvic tilt and lumbar lordosis, which forces my lower back into a permanent arch. I physically struggle to curl my spine which is obviously needed for ab exercises that require spinal flexion, making it basically impossible to train my abs efficiently. I also really don’t like the way I look with this arched back, and I suspect it is the exact reason why I have a noticeable rib flare too. For those who had a similar problem in the past, how did you fix this?

Since I’ve started being more intentional about bracing my core and keeping my form under control, I’ve noticed fewer issues with my lower back. After dealing with a back injury before, I’m alot more conscious about my technique now and try not to rush through sets just to hit a certain number of reps.

I’m still struggling with harder movements like one-arm push-ups, so I’ve definitely got a long way to go. But it’s interesting how something as simple as paying more attention to your core can make a difference.
Has anyone else made a small adjustment that noticeably improved their training?

Hi everyone! I'm currently doing calisthenics at an outdoor park, and I want to start incorporating Nordic hamstring curls into my routine to strengthen my hamstrings.
I'm thinking about buying a resistance band to help me perform assisted Nordic curls, but I'm not sure which type or resistance level I should get.
What resistance band would you recommend for a beginner? Should I get a light, medium, or heavy band? Is there a particular brand or type that works best for this exercise?
I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!

I'm currently trying to work towards building up the strength for getting my first pull up, using a doorway pull up bar like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/AETKFO-Strength-Adjustable-Equipment-Installation/dp/B0H3Z3D1MH.

I'm about 6'1 (184cm) tall and have wide shoulders & long arms, so when I go to full hanging extension my knees are just above the floor. I also find that my hands are right at the edges of the main bar (before the extending mechanism joins it) to get a comfortable shoulder width/just beyond grip. If I hang gym rings off it then for trying to do pull ups it lowers the height more and, whilst I've not tried it, I suspect my knees will sit on the floor. Due to an ongoing back/glute injury I can't really practice with my legs in front of me as it flares up my pain.

I can dead hang for about 15-20 secs and can do 3x8 scapula pulls. When I tried to do negatives or unassisted lock offs at the top position, I simply don't have any sort of strength to hold it yet. I've been playing around with different ways of trialling jack-knife pull ups but I have to be careful as the overall height results in my knee/distal quad which are supporting me flaring up an old injury around it due to the extreme flexion it requires. The best technique for jack-knife pull ups I've found so far is to use gym rings lowered down and to have my feet on the floor with knees bent, although the rings are still about three quarters of the way up the doorframe height due to my long arms.

I came across the JOROTO Foldable pull up tower (which also allows for dips, incline rows and press ups) here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0F7QXK79S. In one of the reviews I've watched, the user who is 5'11 had to bend his knees slightly but at my height and having measured the height, it would definitely give me about an extra 8" (20cm) of height over the doorway bar (even more over my rings) and more width for grip.

Would the tower offer any noticeable benefits for helping me work towards my goal of a pull up, or should I just concentrate on putting in the work with my current doorway bar (and assistance work with rings) and just accept that I have to bend my knees a lot

Thanks for any advice.

TLDR: Would I benefit from buying a pull up tower which would give me about 8" (20cm) of additional height to help a tall guy with long arms work towards his first pull up (and help alleviate a back/glute and a knee injury from laring up)?

Hey guys,

So I've been following the program from Mark Lauren's You Are Your Own Gym for about 10 weeks now. I am seeing some progress, but to be honest, I'm running into a few frustrating issues and wanted to see if anyone else experienced this.

First off, the difficulty jumps feel really unbalanced for me. With some exercises, I've hit a complete wall and just can't keep up with the expected progressions. But then with other movements, the routine is too easy and I don't feel challenged at all.

On top of that, a lot of the specific exercise variations he programs just aren't very fun or feel a bit awkward to do.

My biggest gripe right now is that I really want to focus on building my pull-ups. However, the way the book's plan is structured, actual pull-ups only seem to show up maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks. That just feels way too low for actual skill or strength acquisition.

Has anyone else had this experience with his routines? Did you just tweak the book's program to fit your goals, or is it time for me to ditch it entirely and jump on the recomended routine or any other training plan recommendations?

I'm a woman a bit on the heavier side, and I've got pretty weak arms. I want to be able to do push ups on the floor. But for now, I tried doing as many wall push ups as I could in 3 mins (a song), and I noticed nearing the end, my arms are shaking. Is that a good sign?

I'm very new to fitness, and I've been wanting to work on push ups for a long time and now is the only time I have available hours to begin.

Also, are you supposed to clench your butt? How hard? I think I was clenching mine quite hard.

Any tips? Thank you!

I know this probably gets asked a ton on this sub but please I promise I've done a lot of research myself and I just haven't been able to find any good advice.

I'll just get straight to the point, I want to improve my vertical jump because I play basketball. However, I got high arches so I also got really shitty ankle mobility. When I did some googling to figure out how to jump higher, it didn't take long to figure out that the most recommended exercises were all variations of squats. The issue is that I physically just can't do a squat properly, which rules out like 50% of all the advice that i found on the internet.

Is there anyone that knows any workarounds for this problem? I'm aware of those shoes that have a super high heel-to-toe drop but I honestly can't really afford them atm