6 Simple Exercises

#1 – Push-ups

#2 – Sit-ups

#3 – Pull-ups

#4 – Lunges

#5 – Squats

#6 – Flies

We will start with the simplest of the exercises. The push-ups. Then we will move on to sit-ups, pull-ups, flies, squats and lunges are the easiest for the beginner. You do not need anything special for these exercises. But...

Supplies

Things you will need to start working out:

#1 – A water bottle full of water.

#2 – A nice clean floor (for push-ups and, sit-ups).

#3 – A couple of barbells.

#4 – A bench-press or squat bar (optional).

#5 – And most important of all your willing self.

Step 1: Pre Workout

Step 1. This step is for before you start any exercise. In this step you will inhale and exhale deep breaths for about five minutes, then take a moderate drink of water (not to much or it will interfere with muscle development). Now to get started!

Step 2: Exercise #1

The push-up, is an exercise for strengthening the triceps and slats. There are three different types of men push-ups, the wide, the narrow, and the regular. The wide is where your hand placement is wider than your shoulders. The narrow is when you have your hands placed inside your shoulder set. And the regular is when your hands and shoulders are perpendicular with each other.

The set of the hands changes with the proportions of the person. When doing push-ups you do not want to go to fast or to slow the optimum speed is about once per every one second. To start doing push-ups I recommend doing them in sets of 15-20 for beginners, and then work your way up by two or three at a time. Another important thing to do when doing push-ups or any other exercise is to breath deep constantly. But not so as to make yourself breathless, but at a nice steady pace. This exercise is a good every day kind of exercise. Now on to the next exercise!

Step 3: Exercise #2

The sit-ups are an exercise for strengthening the stomach muscles. There are typically two ways to do them the first is to have the hands behind the head. The second is too gently clasp the throat with both hands.

To do sit-ups you will probably need some kind of weight on your feet, it does not need to be much just a small percentage of your weight. The sit-up procedure is... Step one: lay down on a hard surface with knees up. Place your feet under a bed, bench, piece of furniture or add some weight to your feet to hold you down. Now that you are laying down and your feet are secure. Choose one of the methods mentioned above for hand placement. Next make your chin meet with your knees, or as close as you can get them. Sometimes depending on your size and proportions you will not be able to reach your knees. Or in some cases you will be capable of overshooting your knees.

When you start doing sit-ups do them in sets of twenty, and increase by two or three as you grow stronger. Please note: it is recommended to do one hundred to one hundred and ten daily. Because the excess is not good for the spine. So let us say you do five sets of twenty sit-ups a day and you increase. Increase to like four sets of twenty-five sit-ups.

Step 4: Exercise #3

The pull-up. The pull-up is an exercise where you strengthen your biceps, triceps, stomach muscles, slats, back straps, and many others. So pull-ups are a good general all around kind of exercise. They are also very simple to do. All you really need is a good firmly mounted bar strong enough to hold you. Make sure the bar is high enough that you have to stand up on your tip-toes and reach up to grasp it. Now lets get this straight a pull-up and a chin-up are practically the same exercise. The only difference is that they work a couple slightly different set of muscles. Now the difference in the exercise procedure is when grasping the pull-up bar you have your palms face in (towards you) or out (facing away from you). So I am going to call the pull-up the one where your palms face out, and the chin-up where your palms face in.

So let us assume you have your pull-up bar in place. The first step is to reach up and place your hands palms towards you on your pull-up bar. Then without boosting yourself off the floor or ground pull yourself up until your chin is overshooting the bar. I recommend folding your feet up if your pull-up bar is close enough to the ground for your feet to touch. The recommended number of pull-ups or chin-ups you should do is until you cannot do them any more.

Step 5: Exercise #4

The Lunge is an exercise where you stretch your leg muscles, improve your balancing muscles in your legs, and strengthen both your thighs and your calves. In order to do lunges you do not need any special equipment. All you need is yourself with some willing muscles. Now the exercise procedure is find a nice flat open space, like (living room, hallway, or front lawn). To start: stand in your chosen area with your feet together. Then slowly and carefully stride one leg forward (let us use the right leg). When striding forward with the right leg you want to keep your left foot in its original position. Once you are stretched out (it should feel good) with a light boost with your right foot bring yourself back to your original standing position.

I recommend several things for beginners. The first is: choose ground or a surface that is not slick or loose. Because a slick surface will cause you if you do not watch out, to fall on your face. And a loose surface will more likely than not to throw some ligaments out, because a loose surface (like gravel) has the tendency to roll under your feet which in turn will cause you to throw yourself to regain balance. Which then increases the chance to injure yourself. The second is: do not try to stretch too far. Keep it easy until you get better at keeping your balance. The third is: do not try to lots of these. As a beginner I would recommend only doing twenty or so per session. This exercise is among my favorites.

Step 6: Exercise #5

The Squat in an exercise to strengthen the thighs and the calves. To do this exercise you do not need any special equipment. At least for the simple type of squat. There are basically two types of squat. The weightless and the weighted. For the weightless type all you need to do is to stand with your feet as wide as your shoulders, and stand squarely over them. Next you slowly lower your body toward the ground, and at the same time let your heels come off the ground so that you are only standing on your toes. (The standing on your toes is important for strengthening your calves).

Now for the weighted type you will need a weight bar for working out. A simple bench-press bar would work. So the first step is to remove any excess weight on the bar. Then take the bar and set it across your shoulders. Now that you are weighted down you can go through the same process as with the weightless type of squat. I recommend that for beginners you do not do the weighted type of squat. Because having extra weight on your upper body can cause you to loose balance and that increases the chances for throwing a ligament out of joint. Now if you do want to start with the weighted type of squat, then I recommend starting with a very light weight. Because every little bit will make a difference. This exercise will after doing it diligently for a good period of time will cause your speed to increase. As well as your balance.

Step 7: Exercise #6

Flies, are an exercise for strengthening some of the neck muscles. The only equipment you need for flies are barbells. Now for the fly exercise procedure you need two barbells of the same weight, one for each hand. The next thing you need to do is stand in an open space with your feet shoulder width apart. Then with your hands at your sides, each holding a barbell you lift your hands above your head in a slow sweeping motion. After your hands are above your head you can let your hands slowly descend to your side.

For people just starting to do flies I recommend using five pound barbells or lighter. Until you get stronger, to avoid extra possibility of injury. In relation to the quantity you should do I recommend doing some twenty and then work your way up by two or three at time. Or you could just do the flies until you can no longer lift your arms.

Step 8: After Thoughts

These six exercises are some of the simplest and easiest to get started getting stronger with. Overall these exercises are the best for the beginner. There are many more different types of exercises, but in order to include them all this article would become very long. Now there are several things to know about working out. One you do not often get overnight results. Two in order to improve steadily you need to be diligent with your workouts, do not skip. You use it or you lose it. Three you will grow to be a better athlete.

I know there are people out there that love stats and like to keep records of different sports and activities. Well I think it is a good idea to record your workouts and take notes of your exercises. Now if you have a fitbit or a smartwatch then you are ahead of the game. But a standard student notebook would be sufficient. If you have a tablet or a computer with a spreadsheet program on it then I would also recommend you to use that. It can be very useful and easy to use. Also easy to refer back and find certain instances in past workouts. I made up a simple spreadsheet for the exercises in this instructable I have used it before and it works.

The Exercise Spreadsheet