If you have little strength can you even do some damage?

[JowGaWolf]

My vote is to see a doctor. It sounds like you may have some other issue going on. If I were in your shoes then I would let my doctor know about the muscle weakness and let the doctor recommend another doctor or a possible solution. The doctor may have some insight that will help you with your muscle strength. I've known people who couldn't do 1 pushup, but getting tired holding a book isn't a normal example of "Im not strong" Get it checked out.

 

[Kickboxer101]

Blimey just get your *** off the computer go to a school or gym and train and find this out for yourself just so you know strength doesn't mean looking like a body builder

 

[geezer]

Actually I'm at the point where I'm beginning to wonder if there is something else going on here. Keycorpz has had about all the advice anybody can give him. Why would someone repeatedly post with more and more excuses and increasingly extreme accounts of their physical difficulties unless it was to get attention? Something like Munchausen syndrome.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to stop posting move on?

 

[Tames D]

Actually I'm at the point where I'm beginning to wonder if there is something else going on here. Keycorpz has had about all the advice anybody can give him. Why would someone repeatedly post with more and more excuses and increasingly extreme accounts of their physical difficulties unless it was to get attention? Something like Munchausen syndrome.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to stop posting move on?

Agreed.

 

[Tames D]

But how do I know which spots to hit to cripple people?

6 feet, 160lbs. I lack at least 40lbs muscle mass in order to look halfway normal.

I think there is something else going on. You don't seem to be a frail weakling to me, based on your height and weight.

 

[Ironbear24]

I'm also skinny. On my chest for example there really isn't much it's mostly skin and bones. I can see the ribs under the skin.

So it's not like I have a lot of muscle and little strength. The question is should I be able to do pushups even when I'm skinny?!
What shall I do? Go to my GP and tell him I can't even do 1 pushup?! What if he thinks I'm crazy? I don't want to make myself look
stupid.

But in order to gain strength isn't lifting weights most effective? But if I wasn't able to gain much strength through lifting then
other things will be even less effective imo.

Ok, this is the way to fix all of this. Look in the mirror. Slap yourself, and shout at yourself in the mirror.

I am somebody!

Then go to a wing chun dojo or a silat dojo, sign up and train. All of this stuff seems to be mental, all in your mind. You are not weak, if you had any issues the docs would have found it if you did go the doc and tell them about his problem.

If not then go to the doctor, tell them about your problems and then they check you for possible issues. If you had just a general check up, and didn't mention it then they won't know to look for that.

Go do that. Like right now!

 

[Phobius]

Now I'm scared. Muscular disorder?!
I wouldn't even know which doctor to go to for something like this.

If it was a muscular disorder then why for example am I better at back exercises than at chest exercises?
I was only using machines but on the back machines I could use relatively much weight.

I'm also skinny. On my chest for example there really isn't much it's mostly skin and bones. I can see the ribs under the skin.
So it's not like I have a lot of muscle and little strength. The question is should I be able to do pushups even when I'm skinny?!
What shall I do? Go to my GP and tell him I can't even do 1 pushup?! What if he thinks I'm crazy? I don't want to make myself look
stupid.

I get blood works done regularly but it's the ordinary stuff.

My triceps are also really weak and they quickly exhaust.
For example when I'm laying in bed on my back and holding up a book or a cellphone
then my tricep muscle quickly starts to burn and exhaust! I can't even read a book in bed
very long cause my arm exhausts!

I used supplements back then like whey protein,amino acids,creatine.
What I didnt do is count calories. I didnt really know how many calories I needed per day but
let's say I ate a little too less (which I dont even know) then should I not still have improved?
I mean most people likely press more than me without ever touching a dumbell....

Also today I'd definitely NOT be able to push 110lbs. I haven't worked out in years and logically
I'm much weaker than back then when I pressed 110lbs.

I don't know how much power my kicks have. I can't measure this.

-> However, if you bring your legs into it, your upper body needs to do less work.

Do you mean twisting your body and using the core muscles to generate more power?
Cause other than that I don't know how to use the legs.

-> So if you can strike with precision you can be very effective.The knees are great targets.

Isn't the knee a bit low for striking? Or do you mean kicking?

There is a sentence to summarize why you did not get stronger; You had no idea what you were doing.

Using creatine, amino and all that other crap. Working out the way you did with no understanding of progress it tells me you had no personal trainer or coach with you. Instead you were so eager to see progress you maybe trained your muscles every day, ate too little and wrong kind of food. In addition you expected results on a level that you did not receive because it requires a long term committment.

Same goes for martial arts. I say anyone can do it no matter how weak or how out of shape you are. Illness, injuries well it just sets the pace of your development, it does not halt it.

If you had only asked for help, been patient. Learned to divide and isolate your muscle groups when training. Stopped using crazy substances without knowing what you were doing (which clearly is the case since the level you were doing weight lifting should not require anything other than a healthy diet. And without a healthy diet a lot of those substances should have been avoided)

Not saying substances are bad, far from it, but they come with the expectation that you have a very good control of your food intake and training. Also did you even know you had to take breaks in your workout every 4-6 weeks, a 1-2 weeks break where you do lower weights and/or less repetitions. This is required to break patterns especially when you have a body that does not seem to build up muscle mass in a rapid haste.

None of that happens when doing martial art, you will have a teacher/instructor guiding you. Helping you. And you will grow stronger by doing the exercises. One day you will learn to do a pushup. Besides, when you pressed 110lbs you had enough strength to be able to do a pushup so that is just your lack of confidence speaking.

 

[zanaffar]

If you have little strength can you even do some damage?

Not if the only thing you're doing about it is posting on forums. Do strength training 3 times a week, do martial arts classes 3 more times a week. Do that for a few years consistently and let us know if you're still having issue.

 

[kuniggety]

You need to be eating more to put on muscle... Not less. At your height, you should be eating at least 3000 calories a day... And more like 3500-4000 if you want to bulk up. It sounds like you need to.

To put things into perspective:

3-6 months of training a person (relatively young adult male) should be able to do the following:

- bench press their body weight
- squat 1.25
- deadlift 1.5

After another 3-6 months training it should look more like:

- 1.25 bench press
- squat 1.5
- deadlift 2.0

If you're not hitting these bench marks then you're either not eating enough, not lifting properly, or need to see a physician because something ain't right.

 

[PhotonGuy]

This question concerns me cause I have very little strength. I don't even know if this is "normal".
I have always been weak, I remember that. Back in school around 15 or so I was the worst in the entire
class when it came to exercises where you needed strength like shot put. I don't know if the girls were
better, too.

I also can't do even one regular pushup, no chance. And I'm not overweight, that's not it.

Around 20 I went to the gym for 2 years and tried to gain strength and muscle mass and I hardly made any progress.
I was worst at exercises which involve chest,shoulder,triceps. At back exercises like rowing or lat-pull on a machine I
was a bit better.
The highest weight I ever pushed on a bench was 110 lbs! And I did this after almost 2 years of training!
But when I was pressing 110lbs I already felt like this is pretty much the maximum my body can take. My shoulders
felt totally instable and I felt like it's simply too much weight.
If I had gone on steroids for example and then gotten more strength then I don't know if my body could even have
handled it if I had tried to press 150lbs for example.

Later I had to leave the gym cause my body just couldn't handle it. I had too many problems with different joints.
I really liked lifting and having to leave was awful cause this was the only hobby I enjoyed.
I really wish I could go back to the gym but it wouldn't make any sense I'd only end up with more pains and aches.
For example I have been having pain in my knee (when bending it) for over 1 year now. I didn't injure myself and I
don't know where it comes from. But I was never able to squat down for example without pain. If I try to squat
and go down to 90 degrees and then get back up it always stings in my knees.
If I now started to go back to the gym and then did leg exercises it would only make it worse in no time.

At my current state where I do not have the "strength" anymore from back then I'd probably be able to press
45lbs!

If I can only press ridiculous weights then this means I also cannot punch hard right? I mean how can you punch hard
if you don't have a strong chest,shoulders,triceps? These are the muscles needed for punching.
I have had nightmares about this when I tried to punch someone and it had absolutely no effect! It was terrible.

If you're hurting your knees when you squat you're doing it wrong. With weightlifting, as with martial arts, proper technique is of utmost importance. You want to lift with a weight that's light enough for you to handle while maintaining good technique. If your technique suffers because the weight is too heavy than lighten it up until you can do it with good technique. With squats it is very important to keep your weight on your heels. You're probably not doing that and that's what's causing you to hurt your knees. If you let your weight shift forward to your toes you WILL hurt your knees. Keep your weight on your heels and go below parallel, contrary to popular belief going below parallel is better for your knees with the squat but only if you keep your weight on your heels. You want your weight on your heels to the point that you're almost falling back. As for your other weightlifting exercises you might be hurting yourself with those also because of poor technique. I would say that if you want to go back to weightlifting you should but at the very least you should get a good book on weightlifting that describes good technique. Ideally you would want a trainer, you might want to check your local gym or YMCA they might have programs and instructors that can help you. And for your punches to be effective proper technique is much more important than being strong. You want to work on developing good precise technique and then once you do that work on speed while maintaining your good technique and from there the power will come.

 

[PhotonGuy]

I can lift 300 pounds on a bench press and I have that same nightmare you have. My punches move slow like molasses and my kicks and punches do nothing when they hit. It is caused by terrible self esteem. Your self esteem sucks, you have to change that.

More importantly it is caused by low self confidence.

Even if you're really strong as you state that you are, being able to bench 300 pounds, your punches aren't going to hurt somebody if they're slow. When your punch is slow it becomes more of a push than a punch so its not going to hurt somebody. It might be a really strong push but since its a push and not a punch its not going to be that effective at hurting or stopping somebody. It will move them but it won't hurt them.

And yes self esteem is important too. In fact I would say attitude is perhaps what's most important of all.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Actually I'm at the point where I'm beginning to wonder if there is something else going on here. Keycorpz has had about all the advice anybody can give him. Why would someone repeatedly post with more and more excuses and increasingly extreme accounts of their physical difficulties unless it was to get attention? Something like Munchausen syndrome.

Maybe the best thing to do would be to stop posting move on?

I don't know what's going on but if someone gets tired from holding a book or a cellphone, then martial arts is probably the last thing they should be concerned with. And on that note. Here's the new word of the day: Myositis

 

[Flying Crane]

See a psychiatrist and stop posting here.

Folks, stop responding to him. Either this is all fake, or he needs serious help that the readership cannot give him and he has been told this over and over.

I recommend that the management close his account and block him from posting here ever again.

 

[Kenpoguy123]

There's plenty of ways to get strength and sitting behind a computer asking questions isn't one of them

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

A: Can someone tell me what I should ...?
B: You can try ... .
A: What's so great about ...?
B: ...

 

[Ironbear24]

Even if you're really strong as you state that you are, being able to bench 300 pounds, your punches aren't going to hurt somebody if they're slow. When your punch is slow it becomes more of a push than a punch so its not going to hurt somebody. It might be a really strong push but since its a push and not a punch its not going to be that effective at hurting or stopping somebody. It will move them but it won't hurt them.

And yes self esteem is important too. In fact I would say attitude is perhaps what's most important of all.

You're not getting my point. I never once said that I punch hard because I can lift 300 pounds. I understand that weight lifting strength has little to do with how hard you can punch.

The point was his nightmares are not about being weak. It is about self confidence.

 

[crazydiamond]

Go to any general family doctor - get a full physical and blood work. Talk to him about your inability to do a push up. Ask your doctor include a testosterone level in your blood work. Then decide on diet and exercise.

 

[AIKIKENJITSU]

Look, I'm 5'2" and small bone. Back in the old days we freestyled hard. I fought a guy 6'2" big boned and I came in to him when I shouldn't have and I ran into the bottom of my foot. It took me off the ground and I flew back and down. His footprint was on my chest; his toe under my throat and his heel below my stomach. I got up and continued to attack him.
Few places do that anymore.
I had little chance of beating him, but I went back into him with kicks and punches and many years later I'm still here.
So, get in there and mix it up and learn!
Sifu

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Look, I'm 5'2" and small bone. Back in the old days we freestyled hard. I fought a guy 6'2" big boned and I came in to him when I shouldn't have and I ran into the bottom of my foot. It took me off the ground and I flew back and down. His footprint was on my chest; his toe under my throat and his heel below my stomach. I got up and continued to attack him.
Few places do that anymore.
I had little chance of beating him, but I went back into him with kicks and punches and many years later I'm still here.
So, get in there and mix it up and learn!
Sifu

FYI, the original poster hasn't been on the forum for the last six years, so it's unlikely he will be reading any replies.

 

[Holmejr]

This is pretty much the same conversation you had here in 2016. Did you ever seek medical advice about your fragile condition? It would seem that you need professional assistance. I hope you find the root answer to your questions.

We have a fellow at our school that has only his left arm from birth. He wears a prosthetic on his right. My instructor is creative enough to come up with techniques specifically for him. Our student never gives up and comes to class on a regular basis. He encourages everybody.