First thing, you are NOT the problem. Please remember this. The problem is the workout you are doing.
Being weak and awkward is normal, you are just starting out, you just need a routine adapted to your needs and goals. Speaking about that, what do you want out of working out? Think about it seriously because that determines what you should do.
If all you want is be stronger, look healthy and not feel like you are dying anytime you have to do some manual labor, I would say a gym is mostly superfluous especially if you hate going there.
Bodyweight training works great for many things and you can practice anywhere. It will make you learn to control your body, reinforce your joints and allow you to learn some cool tricks like handstands or bridges (if that's your thing).
However doing BW training is not just about doing push ups, there are a number of exercises you will learn to master by doing easier variations until you can reach the hardest ones (like one legged squats and one handed handstand push ups). If you are interested, I have books for you.
Read Al Kavadlo's books, Zen Mind, Strong Body and Pushing The Limits mainly, if you have the time read Diamond Cut Abs from his brother Danny, him and his brother are masters of calisthenics and they have been coaches for years. I like their approach because it is more from the point of view of someone who wants to have a life outside of working out. The books are not long and full of images showing the exercices. A few things though: listen to Al's advice, respect the journey, even if an exercise seems too easy, do it seriously at least once to make sure you are ready for the next step; the beginning sucks and you will feel ridiculous doing the easiest exercises but they are needed to reinforce your joints and teach you the basics; we are all built different and making some minor adjustments to exercises because you are not comfortable is okay, as long as you do not compromise the general form of the movement (like keeping your ass up when doing push ups is bad, having your hands slightly closer or farther than shown in the pictures is okay); on food, as a vegan I obviously disagree with Al's point about eating meat, you don't need it, just buy chickpeas, lentils and beans in cans and add one to whatever you are cooking but that's for another discussion, his objections about plant milk are also ridiculous and show his lack of knowledge on nutrition (which he admits).
Zen Mind Strong Body: http://library.lol/main/1B5213C86F42E25E19A00F9543E5F746
Pushing the Limits: http://library.lol/main/7D28F6317FB300292E46DD2D6887BCDC
Diamond Cut Abs (great book on how to train your midsection): http://library.lol/main/8FFA880F23F23D222FEDE7E111303E56
Another to read with those is Convict Conditioning, it needs a few warnings though: I would advise you to stick with the Kavadlo's philosophy unless you want to dedicate a lot more time to training. CC is about getting strong quick in a hostile environment. It is however a great bible of sorts with lots of explanation of basic concepts of how to train using only your body and has great descriptions of the different exercises. The coach's focus on very slow execution of each rep is not as important as he makes it out to be from what I have read elsewhere but it's still good to keep it in mind: don't cheat by using the movement of your previous rep, whatever the exercise. You can do this from time (like a sprint of sorts) but strive to keep the form and to do clean reps most of the time.
Convict Conditioning: http://library.lol/main/2E5273EE8AE2E8A63F491E18327EEFB5
There are videos of the exercises: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpAChiQOEnUSVp4Lnjdl0KH__LqiLKRtP
To be clear, these books are not workouts, they explain how to work out. They have example routines that you can follow but you should modify them depending on your goal and the way you feel. Same thing for progression, when you feel like an exercise is getting too easy, try the next one. Also those are books I use, coupled with a whole food vegan diet I have been achieving my goals. Hope this helps.
I agree completely. Gyms are great but by no means necessary.
In my unprofessional opinion, if you start with even just a few bodyweight exercises, it is a great way to get going. Doing sit-ups, plank, squats, lunges, and a few different types of push-ups is enough to start developing solid foundational strength.
I get that. When you search for information online remember that the fitness industry is completly fucked by terrible marketing. A vast majority of what you will find is pointless shit that won't do anything at best and hurt you at worst. Stay prudent and good luck with whatever you do :rat-salute:
First thing, you are NOT the problem. Please remember this. The problem is the workout you are doing.
Being weak and awkward is normal, you are just starting out, you just need a routine adapted to your needs and goals. Speaking about that, what do you want out of working out? Think about it seriously because that determines what you should do.
If all you want is be stronger, look healthy and not feel like you are dying anytime you have to do some manual labor, I would say a gym is mostly superfluous especially if you hate going there.
Bodyweight training works great for many things and you can practice anywhere. It will make you learn to control your body, reinforce your joints and allow you to learn some cool tricks like handstands or bridges (if that's your thing).
However doing BW training is not just about doing push ups, there are a number of exercises you will learn to master by doing easier variations until you can reach the hardest ones (like one legged squats and one handed handstand push ups). If you are interested, I have books for you.
Read Al Kavadlo's books, Zen Mind, Strong Body and Pushing The Limits mainly, if you have the time read Diamond Cut Abs from his brother Danny, him and his brother are masters of calisthenics and they have been coaches for years. I like their approach because it is more from the point of view of someone who wants to have a life outside of working out. The books are not long and full of images showing the exercices. A few things though: listen to Al's advice, respect the journey, even if an exercise seems too easy, do it seriously at least once to make sure you are ready for the next step; the beginning sucks and you will feel ridiculous doing the easiest exercises but they are needed to reinforce your joints and teach you the basics; we are all built different and making some minor adjustments to exercises because you are not comfortable is okay, as long as you do not compromise the general form of the movement (like keeping your ass up when doing push ups is bad, having your hands slightly closer or farther than shown in the pictures is okay); on food, as a vegan I obviously disagree with Al's point about eating meat, you don't need it, just buy chickpeas, lentils and beans in cans and add one to whatever you are cooking but that's for another discussion, his objections about plant milk are also ridiculous and show his lack of knowledge on nutrition (which he admits).
Zen Mind Strong Body: http://library.lol/main/1B5213C86F42E25E19A00F9543E5F746 Pushing the Limits: http://library.lol/main/7D28F6317FB300292E46DD2D6887BCDC Diamond Cut Abs (great book on how to train your midsection): http://library.lol/main/8FFA880F23F23D222FEDE7E111303E56
Another to read with those is Convict Conditioning, it needs a few warnings though: I would advise you to stick with the Kavadlo's philosophy unless you want to dedicate a lot more time to training. CC is about getting strong quick in a hostile environment. It is however a great bible of sorts with lots of explanation of basic concepts of how to train using only your body and has great descriptions of the different exercises. The coach's focus on very slow execution of each rep is not as important as he makes it out to be from what I have read elsewhere but it's still good to keep it in mind: don't cheat by using the movement of your previous rep, whatever the exercise. You can do this from time (like a sprint of sorts) but strive to keep the form and to do clean reps most of the time.
Convict Conditioning: http://library.lol/main/2E5273EE8AE2E8A63F491E18327EEFB5 There are videos of the exercises: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpAChiQOEnUSVp4Lnjdl0KH__LqiLKRtP
To be clear, these books are not workouts, they explain how to work out. They have example routines that you can follow but you should modify them depending on your goal and the way you feel. Same thing for progression, when you feel like an exercise is getting too easy, try the next one. Also those are books I use, coupled with a whole food vegan diet I have been achieving my goals. Hope this helps.
I agree completely. Gyms are great but by no means necessary.
In my unprofessional opinion, if you start with even just a few bodyweight exercises, it is a great way to get going. Doing sit-ups, plank, squats, lunges, and a few different types of push-ups is enough to start developing solid foundational strength.
deleted by creator
I get that. When you search for information online remember that the fitness industry is completly fucked by terrible marketing. A vast majority of what you will find is pointless shit that won't do anything at best and hurt you at worst. Stay prudent and good luck with whatever you do :rat-salute: