Pump you Up (Pushups)

[Martin]

I see you guys are progessing well with the bodyweight routines. I just want to recomend Matt Fury's book as an addition to Pavel's. I dunno if it's been mentioned here as yet. Something else you guys may want to look at since it combines grip and upper body is thick rope work. You can hang the rope off a deck or a tree if you are desperate. Make sure the rope is really thick, like just under 2 inches. This fries the hands and upper body nicely. It's similar to the old martial arts grip exercise using a gi or a towel over the pullup bar.

[Blarg]

I don't have a pull-up bar as yet, but when I get one, I'll be trying the business with draping a towel over it and pulling myself up with that.

I did just order the book Underground Guide to Warrior Fitness, which is supposedly a great book of bodyweight exercises. I've read that Furey's exercises are pretty much in there, plus others.

[ripdog]

[ QUOTE ]
Week 5 is over.

This week I can do 3 more pushups than last week.
That's a total of 24 more than 5 weeks ago.

It is getting harder each week but I am still improving so I see no reason to complain too much.

How did this week go for everyone else?

I will be back in 7 days, I promise. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

I have lost some interest in adding push-ups. I'm forcing myself to do 40 a day and concentrating on doing the last 5 with very good form. I could definitely do more, I just don't feel like it.

[Stuey]

[ QUOTE ]
I have lost some interest in adding push-ups. I'm forcing myself to do 40 a day and concentrating on doing the last 5 with very good form. I could definitely do more, I just don't feel like it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good chance the way your doing it is better. Less chance of injury and still improving your strength. Did you see this link I posted earlier? It seems like a good way to vary the pushups while still improving.

Glad to hear you are doing well, helps me to stay motivated.

[Blarg]

Rip, do one-arm push-ups. They're more challenging and fun, and build a lot more mass.

I'm working on those and handstand push-ups, myself. Just going up and down a little on the handstand push-ups, and doing holds in position, as I'm kind of nervous about the whole process on the one hand and, on the other -- not strong enough to go very far anyway!

You can also try some with your feet elevated on a chair or on whatever, too. And try some on your fingers! There's actually lots of variety in push-ups. When I do them, I almost never do them the normal way.

[ripdog]

Partials were a huge part of the martial arts workout that I used to attend. They were very hard. The instructors would have us hold them just off the floor for what seemed like an eternity. Maybe I'll try adding these in to my routine and see if I'm still capable of 40 reps.

[Martin]

Be careful with the one arm pushup if the shoulder isn't used to it, it can lead to dislocations and injury to the shoulder which takes a long time to heal. Just ease into the one arm pushup slowly and get used to it.

You can add weight to a regular pushup by using a backpack, sandbag or a friendly tart to sit on your shoulders [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

For those of you interested in hand stand pushups check out the following bodyweight training courses
Hercules 2

The Hercules 2 starts out with pushups and works up to a handstand pushup.
And
York

Part 1 of the York handbalancing course which is very interesting.

The Sandow site is very interesting to those with an interest in strength training

[Blarg]

Yeah, it's definitely a strain on the shoulder. The good thing about a program of high stress but low repetitions, not done to failure, though, is that you're under stress for a very short period of time(five reps or under), and always backing off before severe strain -- barring accident, of course. Yet you can still get some volume in, because a set of five or less reps tends not to be too damaging or build up much if any lactic acid.

It's definitely something to handle with care. But it's probably much safer than bench pressing of the high rep body building routines people do. Now the handstands..and shoulder push-ups -- that's where I get a little nervous. I used to do handstands quite a bit as a kid, in my own sloppy way. But handstand push-ups, even against a wall, were never something I got very far in or even felt good about trying. I'll work up to it eventually, though. Just trying to keep smooth progress and restrain myself from overtraining Overtraining is normally my approach to everything! I just get impatient with either lack of results or my lack of willpower, and try to do more work than I should.

Just did a ton of kettlebell presses last night and I'm trying very hard not to do anymore shoulder work today. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] And did pistols so deep that I strained my back a bit, but it feels a bit better today. That's an exercise that's a dangerous one if not done right!

[phil_ivey_fan]

I went to Europe for a summer with a buddy and we did push ups b/c there wasn't an adequate gym nearby. I started around 25ish and 10 wks later could pump out about 75.


Its really fun to take a hit and then see how many push ups you can do before exhaling.

[Stuey]

[ QUOTE ]
Its really fun to take a hit and then see how many push ups you can do before exhaling.

[/ QUOTE ]

rofl
I could see this catching on around here. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Impressive results!