Urgently need an exercise that is not push up or abs, leg required

M

marimur

New member
TL;DR I urgently need a body weight exercise that is not push up, burpee or squat in 6 hours. My arms, abs, and thighs are sore.

I am out of shape, 38 yo, 6 ft 230+ lb. I promised myself I will work out just 5 mins a day (I know it’s laughably little) for a week. Day 1 I did about 40 push up piecemeal (7, 8, 7, 6, 10) Arms extremely sore. So Day 2 I did about 20+ burpees, piecemeal again (7, 8, 7, 6, 4 + some squats) to let my arms rest a bit. Still sore today. So day 3, today, I need to work out for 5 mins and gosh, my abs and arms are still very sore. Thigh is sore too but to a lesser degree. I tried to get into push up position and my arms already gave out.

So I am in need of an exercise for today (ending in 6 hours) that my useless body and muscles can do. Huge thanks in advance! (And sorry if I broke any subreddit rules. I read the FAQ. Hope this post doesn’t violate the rules)

Side note:
1. The reason I decided on a laughably little time is because 1) My wife and I had my first born a few weeks ago. So we are very sleep deprived. 2) i took the advice from a trusted source about starting small, don’t be too ambitious.
2. I have no equipment at all. I am staying in a temporary place until my wife’s health gets back to before labour. So no dumbbell, pull-up bar, exercise mat, no nothing.
3. My push up form is bad, always been, elbow away from my body, less triceps kind. I tried tricep push-ups but I just can’t even do one.

Edit: Thank you all for your comments. Recommendation or criticism I welcome it. Although I can’t reply to all, I upvoted all. The advice here can last me for a long time. With your support, I have more confidence I can follow through my plan and more. BIG THANK YOU EVERYONE!!
 
@aliaconnors This! Go to the stop sign down the street. Tomorrow go a little farther. Keep going until you reach your goal of 1 mile. Then go farther.

It amazing what fresh air and walking will do for your body. Very underrated.
 
@aliaconnors And try to find some hills. During Covid I decided to get back in shape, managed to snag a couple of kettlebells and went to the park every day Monday-Friday for an hour at noon. I’d go to one of my hills, and at the beginning would mostly walk up and down, with some kettlebell swings or push-ups or whatever I felt like here and there.

Added in walking backwards up the hills (helped my knees a ton), and added in various other exercises - some body weight, some with kb - to keep it interesting.

I can’t run due to injuries but the hills let me get a good cardio workout and I could add as much difficulty as I wanted. Carrying 80lbs of iron up and down a big hill never got easy.

It was nice to be outside, I got my first AirPods, no monthly fee, and I could make changes and spice it up to keep it from getting boring.

Pretty quickly I started feeling better and seeing results.

Then I stopped and I’ve kept the weight off but I’m out of shape again. Now I have to start all over, but I know what works for me so not a complete reboot.
 
@hikaridemand I'd be careful with this if you are walking outdoors. Bicycles and cars can run you over, you can trip and slip on things, in rare cases you may even get mugged. Stick to audiobooks and one earbud unless your peripheral hearing is VERY good and you're not prone to motion sickness from staring at a page while moving.
 
@aliaconnors To add to this, (if possible) also try to go for a walk with no music or audio etc... It's a useful way to semi-meditate.

A book I read (Digital Minimalism) talks about the importance of being alone with your thoughts and to not constantly be flooded with information. It helps your mentally. BUT if you just won't go for a walk because of that, then pop those tunes and distract yourself. That being said, I've found it very therapeutic to be alone with my thoughts at times.
 
@michelrives Yes, I find it really hard to not listen or read things around the house and always think about listening to podcasts as I walk but actually I find the break from information really refreshing. Especially early in the morning when it's quiet.
 
@aliaconnors Even easier with your new born. If you already found out the rough eat/sleep schedule of your offspring then try to give your wife some rest. Take the stroller and head out for a bit.
In general you might want to try to go for a walk daily and do your 5 min workouts on a 2 day on 1 day rest schedule.
 
@aliaconnors Go on a very enthusiastic walk.

No seriously, if the walk feels like a chore or a hassle. You'll start to lose motivation (which happens to me).

Sometimes I'd have to hype myself up just to go on a walk or put on a good song.
 
@aliaconnors Or a quick sprint. I hate running distances, but it feels good sometimes to just run 200 feet as fast as you can and then walk a bit. Gets the blood pumping.
 
@marimur How about stretching today and coming back tomorrow fresh
maybe take a walk or something.
Give your self time to adapt instead of going all out and burn out
 
@ptrchunt Agree with the above.

Awesome job on your fitness journey and good thinking on keeping it short/maintainable. Don't underestimate the importance of stretching and movement to keep range of motion.

If you want to do some light yoga/stretching like others have suggested, I really like the "yoga studio" app. It's only $4 and has really simple exercises. You can choose to just do the first 5 minutes or even design your own by dragging some of the exercises into a "playlist," but you can just as easily do some stretching on your own hitting the major muscles.
 
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