And will crunches and side leg-lifts work??
These are OK, dont make your main exericise regimen tho and definitely not for belly fat reduction. "Spot reduction" is a complete myth....right out there with the slimming pills and stuff like that.
Ab crunches (and other general aesthetic ones like bicep curls, calf raises etc) are good to do on cardio day timing wise for me.
But you need dedicated days for the proper anabolic barbell exercises like squats, deadlift, presses etc AND/OR their bodyweight/dumbell equivalents (at a minimum). These will grow all your muscles organically (including abs) more than any aesthetic popularised one will....and also promote overall fat burning (and sugar burning) metabolism over time.
My goal is to be like Edward Fox in that picture. Slimly muscular.
K keep to bodyweight regimen (with spot of dumbell work) then. You wont get too bulked up (esp if you control the food intake in proportion too) but get a good tone and slimmer muscle look.
After a year or so can judge where you are and see if you want to bulk more or its fine. It can be better scaled from that point too (once you got into the mode of it and know what you like and prefer overall etc and what is producing results you like).
Important thing is to always structure the exercise so that entire body is getting targetted, no matter what level/scale/aesthetic goal you are operating to.
Like if you have no time etc, but access to a pool, swimming is also a perfect way scaled for each person and scaleable over time (increasing intensity, duration etc), it does everything together (cardio and full muscle workout as long as you do an assortment of strokes)....and you dont have to think so much about are you getting enough of this and that balance etc.
Okay.
About pull-ups, earlier I used to stay in another room which had a ledge and I could do 20 pull-ups. Later I moved to another room which didn't have a ledge.
But I should be able to join a gym in another three or four months, so I can do the pull-ups and even the cardio then.
Good. Can alternate between chin ups (palms facing toward you) and pull ups (reverse). Former targets biceps bit more, latter the back more. Remember to keep your core nice and compact too....dont let upper body sag etc.
Equivalent in gym can also be the lat pull downs etc. You can also try dumbell rows for specific targetting of back.
How does one know what hand positions are working??
Basically if you fail earlier at them, means something regarding them is not as developed in your body, and focus on those more for a bit etc. Over time you should be able to pump out a good number of any variant/position (wide, medium, narrow/diamond hand position....incline vs non incline body angle etc)....and add even more advanced ones as you like with time. Like I am seeking to do handstand pushes later this year which is basically a completely bodyweight shoulder press....but it needed a long time of doing inclines mixed in to develop the stabilisers and such as well.
Incline push up, sorry I guess its technically "decline" pushup:
I guess I dont do incline (which is reverse) where your hands rest on a higher surface to make it easier.
Also remember with push ups, when you feel like you have done your last one, its good to remain in the higher static position (i.e dont let your core touch the ground) and take a mini-rest and see if you can pump out a few more few seconds later etc....and do again...till you get to complete failure (And take the rest between sets). Then you can even try putting knees down and squeezing out some more that way. till you can't do anymore of those. Get the full maximum of the time you commit basically....and the state you put your body in (that it only gets in that opportunity). This promotes the deep muscle fiber creation.
Do remember to have adequate nutrition some time before and close after the activity.
In what different ways do squats help??
About eating, in 2013 my weight was 45 kg but then I started eating two egg parathas a day and in a few months my weight became 74 kg. I am not tall and wish to convert the weight to lean muscle.
Thats pretty crazy weight gain dude. As django said, check where region of your optimal BMI is to get overall idea of where your ideal "slim" weight (like say BMI of 20 -22) is.
Squats ( can start unweighted now, and move to dumbell and barbell later) are probably single best free weight exercise period...it targets several of your largest muscles all at once, lot of stabilizers too and as django said, creates anabolic environment long term. I would then rank deadlift, RDL and bench/shoulder press in that order.
This all basically means organic muscle growth at your pace/discretion....more muscles means higher rest calorie consumption. Which means if you have a good proper diet, your body will seek energy from any extra fat reserves over time (known as "cutting"). When those are depleted to equilibrium you will find you are lighter but higher muscle % and will find what level of diet will be needed to adequately nourish/develop that equilibrium long term.
Also stick to free weights wherever possible, the machines (leg presses, weighted cages, back machines etc) do not promote good stabiliser growth and your natural balance development (which is crucial for practical function over simple aesthetic). But you will need to look up the proper technique to doing squats, deadlifts right (preferablly have someone you know that knows stuff to spot you +correct you etc) starting right from the low weight (so you scale this up properly over time). Too many ppl I have seen have developed bad habits from poor form starting out and it has potential for long term injury esp as you add weight.
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