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Incidentally I've been doing this the past three months. I have an athletic background and I tend to go full-on workouts etc. But I decided to take it easy thi

by zaplin 4y ago

Incidentally I've been doing this the past three months. I have an athletic background and I tend to go full-on workouts etc. But I decided to take it easy this summer, stopped training in general but I would set an alarm every 30 minutes and take short brakes (2-5mins) from work. In that time I do a few pushups and a couple exercises with the kettlebell. Nothing fancy or tiring, I stop just before I feel any type of resistance or "burn". This happens 5-8 times a day. On weekends I do none of that. Of course It's anecdotal but my body has FOR SURE changed. It's like when I did two times a day workouts. Of course I'll go back doing full workouts because I enjoy them. But anybody who dislikes devoting big chunks of time just for workouts should definitely experiment with micro workouts.

rollulus 4y ago
What you describe here is also known as “Greasing the Groove”.
Thlom 4y ago
I will try this starting now.
evv555 4y ago
Depending on how hard you're pushing yourself this is commonly known as "greasing the groove" and is often used to get passed performance plateaus. The key is to never train to failure, increase the total volume of fresh/quality reps(spread through the day), and switch up the routine after x weeks to avoid overuse injuries.
NetOpWibby 4y ago
Two weeks ago I decided to try reps of 20 push-ups whenever I thought about them. I haven’t thought of doing so more than twice a day BUT I’ve noticed an increase in my chest mass. I want to get back into exercising regularly but that large chunk of time isn’t conducive to my personal projects…I just don’t want to dedicate so much time to exercise. I’m relatively healthy so it’s not a big deal but you know how it is. Your biggest bully is yourself.
- simonbarker87 4y ago
  Great work! Keep it up. This method is called Greasing The Groove and is a well used method to break through pull up plateaus. After two weeks of 40 or so push ups a day it’s incredibly unlikely you’ve gained muscle mass in your chest (or at least not noticeable) what you are probably seeing is increased water retention in the muscles and other associated exercise related side affects. I’m a fairly muscley guy and if I stop working out for a couple of weeks I look “flatter” when I’m training regularly my muscles look fuller and rounder after a week or so back at it. True muscle gains take a lot of time.
  - darkerside 4y ago
    You'd be surprised how quickly someone with very little muscle mass can put a little bit on. It gets harder to keep adding once you've started.
    - gigaflop 4y ago
      Beginner gains are real.
- gardenhedge 4y ago
  If you can do 20 pushups, you're already in a good starting shape.
  - NetOpWibby 4y ago
    The several months of consistent exercise I was doing a few months ago helped, I think. This time last year, I struggled to do 10. Now, I start to feel the burn when I reach 16 but I just power through.
  - antisthenes 4y ago
    Numbers without adjusting for age are meaningless. When I was 18 and weighed 130 lbs, I could do 50 push-ups almost effortlessly. These days, I struggle to do 20 (still can, but my arms will literally noodle-fail at 25).
auggierose 4y ago
You take out 2-5 minutes out of every 30 minutes??? After those 5 minutes I would need 30 minutes just to get back into my context.
- zaplin 4y ago
  Everyone is different and has different routines. If I'm in the middle of important work or experiencing flow I will not break it. But we all do have repetitive tasks or housekeeping work to do. This is the time I do it. As always, experiment and adjust
- yoz-y 4y ago
  Depends on how complicated your context is. I try to strive to keep it as simple as possible so distractions don’t matter that much.
- bil7 4y ago
  that's standard pomodoro timings which are globally popular
  - zaplin 4y ago
    true. The reasoning was pomodoro technique to keep the mind/eyes fresh (20-30mins) + a time-frame that is enough for the body to restore all the necessary "ingredients ". (> 15-20mins)
- quickthrower2 4y ago
  The equivalent for sedate people like us might be a couple of squats or one push up. If you do it every 30 minutes it has to be maintainable. It could even be walk and get some water. (You get a free squat if you had to stand up, just sit down slowly when you get back)
- alkonaut 4y ago
  A 3 minute interruption e.g. a phone call risks dropping the context. But if I just step out of my office chair and do some excercises I'm sure I could keep the context in my head while making a few pushups. Since I'm not really distracted perhaps the break can be a thinking break. Some times it's hard to avoid "thinking with your keyboard" and use your head. When I'm stuck on a really hard problem I go for a walk or take a shower or something. I think this could be the same thing.
neilv 4y ago
Very interesting. Question... For a while, I kept a pair of shiny chrome dumbbells atop table, and could impromptu pick them up and use, when pacing and thinking about a design problem, without thinking much about the exercise itself. If I resumed this, doing it several times a day, for only a few minutes at a time, it'd have a big impact? (I also used to have a Concept2 erg in my work area, but somehow using that was more interrupting.)
- prox 4y ago
  The thing is variance, if you just do a small range of movement (say only bicep curls), it might be unbalanced. The idea is good though. I do a whole range of exercises from yoga, fitness, a few weightlift-y exercises and functional movement which make a nice practice during the week.
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  Of course it would work. Though I recommend one of those door frame pull-up bars. You'll be amazed how fast you progress when you're just using it to burn time while thinking, Zoom calls, and other dead time. You can do a huge body recomp with just push-ups + pull-ups. You just have to do them.
  - kaskakokos 4y ago
    I tend to do that. And I've experienced some embarrassing moments when during a zoom call I'm doing burpees and I hear my name and I have to talk in front of 5 people with very deep, loud breathing and someone asks me.... What were you doing man?
towaway15463 4y ago
Sounds a lot like high volume training like 8x8s or 10x10s where you use much lighter weight and leave a lot of reps on the table but do twice as many or more sets. For anyone interested, the simplest form of that is to use 60% of your one rep max and do 10 sets of 10 repetitions with adequate rest periods in between, 4 minutes minimum. Focus on form and don’t rush the reps.
tiborsaas 4y ago
Are you not scared about skipping warmups? This sounds like you aren't doing any. I was sick for a few days and decided to do some TRX rowing (20) and my elbow started to hurt the next day :)
- snowwrestler 4y ago
  Just do the first few at low intensity. A few push-ups or light kettlebell swings are a warmup for folks with a good strength baseline. For less fit folks, push-ups off the knees or body-weight squats would work the same way.
  - zaplin 4y ago
    this
awb 4y ago
I’ve also heard of people putting a pull-up bar in a well traveled doorway and doing a single pull-up every time they walk through it.

by zaplin 4y ago

rollulus 4y ago

What you describe here is also known as “Greasing the Groove”.

Thlom 4y ago

I will try this starting now.

evv555 4y ago

Depending on how hard you're pushing yourself this is commonly known as "greasing the groove" and is often used to get passed performance plateaus. The key is to never train to failure, increase the total volume of fresh/quality reps(spread through the day), and switch up the routine after x weeks to avoid overuse injuries.

NetOpWibby 4y ago

Two weeks ago I decided to try reps of 20 push-ups whenever I thought about them. I haven’t thought of doing so more than twice a day BUT I’ve noticed an increase in my chest mass. I want to get back into exercising regularly but that large chunk of time isn’t conducive to my personal projects…I just don’t want to dedicate so much time to exercise. I’m relatively healthy so it’s not a big deal but you know how it is. Your biggest bully is yourself.

simonbarker87 4y ago
Great work! Keep it up. This method is called Greasing The Groove and is a well used method to break through pull up plateaus. After two weeks of 40 or so push ups a day it’s incredibly unlikely you’ve gained muscle mass in your chest (or at least not noticeable) what you are probably seeing is increased water retention in the muscles and other associated exercise related side affects. I’m a fairly muscley guy and if I stop working out for a couple of weeks I look “flatter” when I’m training regularly my muscles look fuller and rounder after a week or so back at it. True muscle gains take a lot of time.
- darkerside 4y ago
  You'd be surprised how quickly someone with very little muscle mass can put a little bit on. It gets harder to keep adding once you've started.
  - gigaflop 4y ago
    Beginner gains are real.
gardenhedge 4y ago
If you can do 20 pushups, you're already in a good starting shape.
- NetOpWibby 4y ago
  The several months of consistent exercise I was doing a few months ago helped, I think. This time last year, I struggled to do 10. Now, I start to feel the burn when I reach 16 but I just power through.
- antisthenes 4y ago
  Numbers without adjusting for age are meaningless. When I was 18 and weighed 130 lbs, I could do 50 push-ups almost effortlessly. These days, I struggle to do 20 (still can, but my arms will literally noodle-fail at 25).

auggierose 4y ago

You take out 2-5 minutes out of every 30 minutes??? After those 5 minutes I would need 30 minutes just to get back into my context.

zaplin 4y ago
Everyone is different and has different routines. If I'm in the middle of important work or experiencing flow I will not break it. But we all do have repetitive tasks or housekeeping work to do. This is the time I do it. As always, experiment and adjust
yoz-y 4y ago
Depends on how complicated your context is. I try to strive to keep it as simple as possible so distractions don’t matter that much.
bil7 4y ago
that's standard pomodoro timings which are globally popular
- zaplin 4y ago
  true. The reasoning was pomodoro technique to keep the mind/eyes fresh (20-30mins) + a time-frame that is enough for the body to restore all the necessary "ingredients ". (> 15-20mins)
quickthrower2 4y ago
The equivalent for sedate people like us might be a couple of squats or one push up. If you do it every 30 minutes it has to be maintainable. It could even be walk and get some water. (You get a free squat if you had to stand up, just sit down slowly when you get back)
alkonaut 4y ago
A 3 minute interruption e.g. a phone call risks dropping the context. But if I just step out of my office chair and do some excercises I'm sure I could keep the context in my head while making a few pushups. Since I'm not really distracted perhaps the break can be a thinking break. Some times it's hard to avoid "thinking with your keyboard" and use your head. When I'm stuck on a really hard problem I go for a walk or take a shower or something. I think this could be the same thing.

neilv 4y ago

Very interesting. Question... For a while, I kept a pair of shiny chrome dumbbells atop table, and could impromptu pick them up and use, when pacing and thinking about a design problem, without thinking much about the exercise itself. If I resumed this, doing it several times a day, for only a few minutes at a time, it'd have a big impact? (I also used to have a Concept2 erg in my work area, but somehow using that was more interrupting.)

prox 4y ago
The thing is variance, if you just do a small range of movement (say only bicep curls), it might be unbalanced. The idea is good though. I do a whole range of exercises from yoga, fitness, a few weightlift-y exercises and functional movement which make a nice practice during the week.
hombre_fatal 4y ago
Of course it would work. Though I recommend one of those door frame pull-up bars. You'll be amazed how fast you progress when you're just using it to burn time while thinking, Zoom calls, and other dead time. You can do a huge body recomp with just push-ups + pull-ups. You just have to do them.
- kaskakokos 4y ago
  I tend to do that. And I've experienced some embarrassing moments when during a zoom call I'm doing burpees and I hear my name and I have to talk in front of 5 people with very deep, loud breathing and someone asks me.... What were you doing man?

towaway15463 4y ago

Sounds a lot like high volume training like 8x8s or 10x10s where you use much lighter weight and leave a lot of reps on the table but do twice as many or more sets. For anyone interested, the simplest form of that is to use 60% of your one rep max and do 10 sets of 10 repetitions with adequate rest periods in between, 4 minutes minimum. Focus on form and don’t rush the reps.

tiborsaas 4y ago

Are you not scared about skipping warmups? This sounds like you aren't doing any. I was sick for a few days and decided to do some TRX rowing (20) and my elbow started to hurt the next day :)

snowwrestler 4y ago
Just do the first few at low intensity. A few push-ups or light kettlebell swings are a warmup for folks with a good strength baseline. For less fit folks, push-ups off the knees or body-weight squats would work the same way.
- zaplin 4y ago
  this

awb 4y ago

I’ve also heard of people putting a pull-up bar in a well traveled doorway and doing a single pull-up every time they walk through it.