@ sports people
will 10 sets of 10 push ups and little over 1 hour of exercise help you get in better shape? My goal is to gain 10 pounds in 8 weeks... will this exercise help?
The first thing to determine what needs to be done is by calculating the Body Mass Index:
Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator
Then, one should plan to remain in the normal range (about 19 to 24). If already within this range, then exercise is appropriate as well as a balanced diet.
If the BMI is less than 19, then additional calories should be taken with more unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates, and protein supplements to help muscle mass. Exercise remains important, with more emphasis on weight training.
If the BMI is above 25, then cutting down calories along with exercise would be indicated, with more emphasis on endurance and heart-lung exercise.
I will assume that by gaining weight, you want to increase muscle mass, and not fat, and guess that you do not like going to the gym.
The blunt truth is that muscle mass is best increased though exercise, but the good thing thing is that there are ways to adequately provide this stimulus to muscles without going to the gym.
The first requirements are good oral intake and sleep.
Good oral intake requires a combination of roughly one third of calories from carbohydrates, protein and fats, each, stressing carb intake shortly before exercise and protein intake shortly after exercise, with fat calories spread evenly throughout the day.
Carbs should be complex, not refined, for example whole grains, in as many forms as you can get (unrefined flour, unshelled rice, fruits and vegetables).
Protein should be lean, with an equal mix of red (beef, mutton, veal) and white (chicken, fish, turkey), with egg whites added wherever your taste buds allow, and the emphasis being on lean-grilling the meats, not cooked in gravy and never fried.
Fats should be unsaturated fats (walnuts, almonds, pistachios) and omega-3 rich sources (sardines, cod, anchovies, fish liver oil).
The total calories per day should be about 2500 for basal metabolism, plus 1,000 for normal daily activites, plus an additional 1,000 to 2,000 calories depending on the level of physical activity.
For sleep, getting out of and into bed should be approximately at the same time each day, with no caffeine intake after noontime. Sticking to a rhythm promotes diurnal secretion of growth and other anabolic hormones naturally.
Now we come to the hard part: exercise.
Try to build in physical activity wherever your daily routines allow. For example, pick up your own things, carry around stuff yourself, clean your areas and belongings yourself, walk wherever possible etc. etc. Please note these are only examples and you can better judge where such activities can be built in according to your circumstances.
Then of course add a balanced exercise regiment with both isotonic and isometric exercise for all major muscle groups, followed by heart-lung endurance exercise.
10 sets of 10 push-ups per day will exercise your triceps and pectorals adequately, but will fall short of the other goals I have described above.
However, it is still better than nothing, so start doing whatever you can!
Good Luck!