I have 40 days! NEED HELP!!

[slownsteady]

Hello again folks! I'll try to keep this somewhat short and sweet. I have a physical test coming up in 40 days and I need to add a good amount of push-ups and sit-ups to my score. So yeah, my 1.5 mile run is fine as is my sit & reach but I need to be able to do 30+ push-ups and 40+ sit-ups in a minute. As of right now, I can do about 10-15 push-ups and 30~ sit-ups. Is that goal feasible in the 40 days I have to prepare? I could REALLY use some diet/exercise advice as well as SUPPLEMENTS! I have 20% for life at GNC so preferably something they sell as far as supplements go...
I am 27, 6'-1" and I weigh 180lbs, I use to be over 300 in high school and lost a good amount of weight but I've never really done any real "lifting" or weight training of any kind for that matter. I don't know what my BMI is but I guessing it's pretty pathetic... My job is pretty much 6-8 hours of straight cardio outdoors (""lawn technician"... yeah, I spray chemicals on lawns and push around a 50lb+ spreader all day) so I won't be doing a ton of additional cardio, probably just run a mile or two every morning. I generally walk 10-15 miles a day at work so I don't feel it's necessary to do a bunch of additional cardio. LOL


Thanks in advance!

[ac guy]

When I was in the service, I got better at push ups, sit ups and running by doing pushups, sit ups, and running. Just the way it is for my body. I also have a very physical job, but for some reason I still need to do real cardio.

[slownsteady]

can't tell if you're being a d*ck or...? LOL, either way, that's kinda obvious.

[RipOwens]

Nothing at gnc is gonna help you here man. If you need to double the number of push-ups and sit-ups you can do in one minute....do just that.,, do both exercises everyday. You'll get stronger and therefore, up those numbers. Be consistent. Can it be done 40 days? Yeah, I think so. If you don't exercise regularly (outside your job) your body will change quickly in the next 40 days.

[Java Man]

I don't think he's trying to be a dick. He's right... Doing pushups every day will make you better at doing pushups. Do as many as you can every morning, afternoon, and evening. When you can't do even 1 more, do more to complete failure on your knees. Same for situps. When you can't do any more situps, put your feet under a bench or low table and do more.

Try to do 1 more than you did the day before. If you do this every day, you'll be pounding out 50 or more of each in 40 days.

It would.help to add some bench pressing in every day. I warm up every.day with 2 sets of 35-40 reps of a weight that I can do 50 with. You can do them every day if youre not killing your upper body by going to.failure. Your goal is to start with a weight you can barely push out 25 reps with. Add one rep daily. when you can do it 50 times, increase the weight by 20lbs and keep going.

[spywizard]

tri cept press heavy weight.. but 40 days isn't long enough or barley is to build new muscle tissue, you can make what you have stronger.. start your push ups with a wide/normal width, then when you start to fail, move the elbows closer to the body which will engage the triceps, if they are over developed you should be fine..

[slownsteady]

Do I need to take a day or two off at some point or just go hard every single day? Protien shakes or something help any?

[-KJ-]

Do I need to take a day or two off at some point or just go hard every single day? Protien shakes or something help any?

If you feel the new to! What you need is strength endurance! Body weight exercises will get you there!

Push ups and add an incline sometimes.
Try to knock out as many as you can in say 5 minutes no matter how many breaks you take!

Same with sit ups! Do planks also anything that will help core strength and endurance.

Do triceps dips from chair or something alike! Tricep strength will help!

GL

[C3RB3RUS]

do you have anymore fat you'd like to loose. loosing a little fat will make you faster. Cardio will melt the pounds away, just make sure you are still eating lots. The guys are right push-ups in the Morning, afternoon, and evening.

you have to start doing it all, running, push-ups, sit-ups, to get your endurance up. that's about all you can do with the time you have. start eating clean, but eat lots. hydrate hydrate hydrate. Sleep sleep sleep, but don't starve yourself while sleeping.

2 hrs before the test eat carbs. fast or slow is up to you, i ate slow carbs. one hour before the test stretch and don't take that jak3d supplement shit. caffeine constricts your blood vesicles, so don't even think about it. you can do it in 40 days. supplements are just as the name implies, you are responsible for most of the work, so loose weight, sleep, PT, and eat eat eat, remember to loose weight and still eat like a wolf you need to PT your ass off. only stick with the exersises you're being tested on. focus on endurance.

once you've done all of this to the best of your abilities, albuterol will give you that kick you are asking about. careful though it'll make your heart pop if you go higher than 18mg, lol

[slownsteady]

The hardest part will be eating/sleeping for me... I can sleep for shit at night, usually fall asleep around 1-3 and get up at 6-7. I dont usually eat much at all either, for example, yesterday I had a 6oz chunk of steak, and a spicy chicken sausage deal. Ate them both at 6pm, that was it for sunday. Saturday I had a double cheeseburger from McDonalds around noon and the first chunk of that steak I finished sunday... I pretty much only drink water, probably about 1-2 gallons a day.

[C3RB3RUS]

The hardest part will be eating/sleeping for me... I can sleep for shit at night, usually fall asleep around 1-3 and get up at 6-7. I dont usually eat much at all either, for example, yesterday I had a 6oz chunk of steak, and a spicy chicken sausage deal. Ate them both at 6pm, that was it for sunday. Saturday I had a double cheeseburger from McDonalds around noon and the first chunk of that steak I finished sunday... I pretty much only drink water, probably about 1-2 gallons a day.

LOL, find and buy a bag of old fashioned oatmeal, but don'y by anything by Quaker Oats, that shit is striped of its goodness.

stop eating fast food/out. time to start using your brain to make your own meals. it's going to cost.

what's going on with your sleep? it's as simple as going to bed early, and/or just turning all your shit off [lights, computer, TV, friends] and getting in bed. fuk if you can sleep just lay in bed 2-3 hours early. there are always sleep meds...

[Brazensol]

Is this for a military physical fitness test? With your active job (15 miles of walking is pretty active) and minimal eating (even though it sounds like a lot of junk food) your bf is probably not exceptionally high. Can you post a pic so we can give you an idea of your bf%?

The only way to improve situps and pushups is to do them. No magic pills for this one.

[slownsteady]

I'll get a picture when I get home. As I said, I use to be 300+, I don't know if I've got plenty of fat still or just skin or what's going on there. LOL people always guess I weigh 220~ but as of this morning, I was 183 completely dressed, hoodie, phone, wallet/chain etc... so I would guess 175~. Scale is at work so I can't do it in just my boxers or anything. Haha

[slownsteady]

....

[Java Man]

The hardest part will be eating/sleeping for me... I can sleep for shit at night, usually fall asleep around 1-3 and get up at 6-7. I dont usually eat much at all either, for example, yesterday I had a 6oz chunk of steak, and a spicy chicken sausage deal. Ate them both at 6pm, that was it for sunday. Saturday I had a double cheeseburger from McDonalds around noon and the first chunk of that steak I finished sunday... I pretty much only drink water, probably about 1-2 gallons a day.

So in two days time you ate 2 fast food sandwiches and 6oz of steak... If your diet looks like that every day for any length of time, you are going to be in serious health trouble way before your time. I'd say you lost all that weight just due to a massive calorie deficit but what little food you are eating is junk. Before you correct me on that point, fast food is junk food.

If you put cooking oil in the gas tank of a Porsche, it won't run for very long if at all. Living organisms are the same. Garbage in, garbage out. You aren't giving your body the nutrients it needs to build muscle. No amount of physical activity is going to do much until you start fueling the machine properly.

Hit the diet section and ask those guys to give you a diet plan.

[slownsteady]

Only one fastfood sandwhich, not that it makes much of a difference. The chicken thing was a "healthy" spicy bratwurst deal made of chicken instead of pork.

That's not my usual diet, just had a busy weekend... although my usual diet isn't great, its not that bad! I'd say my "usual" diet would be more like this: protein bar for breakfast, lunch is generally not great, if I eat it at all, I'll get a 6" cold-cut from Subway. Dinner is usually chicken/beef of some sort. Snacks are usually tuna salad sandwhich or peanut butter sandwhich.
I do REALLY need to get my diet right and I've been researching and coming up with a plan, like I said, I just don't like eating so it's hard. I appreciate the input thus far guys! And thanks for not completely ripping me apart!

[Brazensol]

Definately post in the nutrition section and those guys will get you on the right path. As for the push ups and situps - you're just going to have to do them. Try doing three sets of each at least once a day and try to add a few extra repetitions each day. Sounds like your doing the Air Force PT test, if yes, then your goal is a minimum 33 pushups (you are halfway there) and 42 situps (you're only 12 away). Every morning knock out 3 sets of each and before bedtime do it again. No reason you can't pass the test. And remember you can't score only the minimum and still pass the composite requirement of 75. So you need to do at least 3 more than the minimum unless you score high on the 1.5 mile run. Get with the nutrition guys and get to work on that waist measurement. No more junk food. Period. Good luck.

[slownsteady]

Thanks man! This isn't a military thing, I was an MP in the army but I've been out since '08. This is for a local law enforcement job.

[bigdippin]

Make sure your eating clean and work on your push-ups and sit-ups. When I was younger, we had to do so many in a time period and working on them really helped my numbers. Keep pushing.

[Brazensol]

Thanks man! This isn't a military thing, I was an MP in the army but I've been out since '08. This is for a local law enforcement job.

Got ya! Sounds almost identical to the current AF PT standards.

[slfmade]

I find it ironic that your username is slownsteady when that this thread is about anything but.......

[Brazensol]

^^ good catch! And so nice to see the proper use of the word 'ironic'!

[slownsteady]

I find it ironic that your username is slownsteady when that this thread is about anything but.......

-_- it's not like I'm in here saying "I have 40 days to add 20lbs of muscle". LOL I think it's a very feasible goal and am working hard at it and just figured I would ask for advice from people who live this shit! This job offer was just kind of thrown at me so, it is what it is. I appreciate the help, I am working on a diet based on the stickies (didn't feel the need to clutter with a new post when there's plenty of good info already there!) and knew this was a good place to get advice.
I REALLY want and NEED to make a lifestyle change and I am hoping this is the start! It's just hard because all I hear locally is "pop this pill" or "shoot this up" or "you need to eat 5x your weight in protein" etc... just no real good advice around here that I have found yet. then I hear "no cardio if you're trying to add reps" and others say "cardio, cardio, cardio and a little weights between", it's just a mess...

[btrizzyb]

40 days to be able to do 30 pushups in a minute, and 40 situps in a minute seems very simple to me? Maybe im missing the catch here?

At one point I felt the need to do pushups every night before bed. I dont remember exactly what I started out at, but the process behind it was pretty simple. I did as many pushups as I could (lets say I started off the first night at 40) each night I added 5 pushups. Most nights it was tough, but I was successful. Some nights I wasnt quite able to add the 5, but always made sure to at least hit the previous night. After not long at all I was doing over 100 pushups at a time. At that point I got bored with them and stopped doing them. LoL. Anyways your goal seems to be pretty simple to reach.

EDIT: Like everyone said eating healthier, will get your body into better shape and make your goals a lot easier for you also. I dont believe I saw any numbers posted anywhere to know if your actually in shape or not, but going off of the fact that you arnt able to do 30 pushups in 1 minute already, its safe to assume you have a little work to do yet to get into decent shape?

[Brazensol]

-_- it's not like I'm in here saying "I have 40 days to add 20lbs of muscle". LOL I think it's a very feasible goal and am working hard at it and just figured I would ask for advice from people who live this shit! This job offer was just kind of thrown at me so, it is what it is. I appreciate the help, I am working on a diet based on the stickies (didn't feel the need to clutter with a new post when there's plenty of good info already there!) and knew this was a good place to get advice.
I REALLY want and NEED to make a lifestyle change and I am hoping this is the start! It's just hard because all I hear locally is "pop this pill" or "shoot this up" or "you need to eat 5x your weight in protein" etc... just no real good advice around here that I have found yet. then I hear "no cardio if you're trying to add reps" and others say "cardio, cardio, cardio and a little weights between", it's just a mess...

I am doing quite a bit of cardio (probably more than most people on this site) and also hitting the weights four times a week. I am making great progress both in building/toning my muscles and cutting lots of fat with the cardio. I see no reason not to do both though you may not want to do as much as I have been doing. Remember, the kitchen (diet) is half the battle. Maybe more.

You can scan through my log; http://forums.steroid.com/nutrition-...build-log.html

It's not as detailed as some others but it shows what you can do if you put your mind to it.