PUSHUPS MAXIMUM: making the best out of bodyweight push ups

PUSHUPS MAXIMUM: making the best out of bodyweight push ups

A key to gaining mass is to aim for a high volume of work while lifting weight that is heavy enough to challenge the muscles. You also want to keep the rest somewhat brief in between sets to get the full pump in the muscles…this is the optimum condition to put on size quickly.

However, the problem with bodyweight exercises like the push up is that you quickly get too strong for them to be challenging. A set of 50 reps of push ups is high rep "endurance training". The problem is that even if you go to failure, the exercise isn't really hitting the muscle fibers with the most growth potential

The body will always respond better to a wide variety of stimuli. The every so dreaded PLATEAU is usually a result of stagnant training. The body becomes so "good" at performing the movements of the usual training program that it no longer has to adapt to deal with it. Eventually, it will actually start to detrain, and the individual may experience a loss in strength.

My aim in this article is to detail ways in which the push up, a staple in any athletes workout, can be maximally utilized to build mass, while delivering on endurance and strength. You will find below, some of the most difficult types of pushups you will ever meet.

 

Triset - Three exercises are performed consecutively without any rest.

Giant Sets - Four or more exercises are performed consecutively without any rest.

Failure - That point in an exercise at which you have so fully fatigued your working muscles that they can no longer complete an additional repetition of a movement with strict biomechanics. You should always take your post-warm-up sets at least to the point of momentary muscular failure, and frequently past that point to maximize benefits.

Isometrics - Isometric exercises involve producing force in a static position, with the result that joint angle does not change. Typically, these exercises are performed against an immovable object or weight like a wall.

One Legged Pushups

Assume the standard push-up position and simply raise your right leg straight up, so that now you are only balancing your weight on your left foot. Do push-ups in this position and make sure to keep that right leg straight and in the air.

Weighted Push ups

Get an old school bag, fill it with discarded rocks , paving stones, or any heavy, solid object, until it weighs between 20 -50kg, depending on your fitness level. As your muscles tire, reduce the contents of the bag. Assume a pushup position with your body forming a straight line from your ankles to shoulders. Your arms should be straight. Lower your body as far as you can - your upper arms should drop lower than your elbows. Pause, hold the contraction for 5 secs, and then slowly push yourself back to the starting position. An isometric variation is to drop down half way and hold the position for 10 secs before returning to the starting position.

Slow Motion Push Ups

With this type of push up, you slow the movement down to the point where you are holding the contraction for 5 sec at top and bottom. This means that you never lock out your arms; this makes pushups more difficult because it retains tension in the muscle and the slower it is performed, the less output the muscle is able to provide. This principle also works well with pull ups and dips.

Do 3 reps and rest 10 seconds then 3 more reps…repeat; When it becomes tough to do 3 reps, extend the rest time to 20 seconds. When it becomes to tough to get 3 reps, extend rest time to 30 seconds. Keep doing this exercise for 15 minutes straight. As soon as it gets tough to complete 3 reps add another 10 seconds to the rest time in between sets.

Tips: Make sure to avoid failure on all of your sets, but push yourself. By avoiding failure, you are limiting fatigue and you will get in more sets and reps in the 15 minute period.

By performing the pushups very slowly, you could further increase tension in the muscles so three to five reps is hard. For example you could spend ten seconds lowering your body and ten seconds raising your body. From there you can do the exercise as described above (continuous sets until fatigued). This would be a good technique when you are traveling, but I would not use it as a long term replacement for resistance training.

The Sideways Push Up

This is a more intense variation of the one arm push up. Assume the push up position with your legs spread as far as possible, with increased strength you will reduce the spread of your legs. Rotate your body upward and raise your right arm as if you are trying to touch the ceiling. You should be facing sideways with both arms straight so that they form a ‘T’; execute 3-5 pushups in this position. Repeat with the other arm; to make it harder, hold a dumbbell or any heavy object in the raised hand.  

A variation of the sideways pushup is the ‘T’ pushup lower yourself to the ground and push up. As you come up, rotate your body so that your right hand comes off the floor and your right arm extends overhead. You should look like a giant “T” tilted on its side. Return to the starting position, lower yourself, push up, and rotate until your left hand points up.

The Plyometric Pushup

To perform the Plyometric Pushup, assume a normal pushup position. Lower yourself to the floor. With explosive force, push off the floor with enough force that your hands leave the floor. Repeat 30 times. You could clap two or three times in between bounces, for the fun of it.

In a Box Plyometric pushup, you place two boxes; one on either side of you, the height of the box should not exceed your triceps if you are in the push up position. Push off from the ground and land with each hand on a box. Always enforce a pogo stick like reaction off the ground. You should "bounce" off the ground, not stick and go. The intensity can be adjusted by increasing the height of the box. A variation of this type of push up requires only one box; from the push off position, you bounce of the floor and land with both hands on the box.

The Clock Push Up

This type of pushup is a variant of the plyometric pushup. Here you execute the pushups while alternating between the points of the clock with each rep, e.g. 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 9 o’clock.

  

The Diamond Push Up

Place your hands together so they form a diamond. You can either put your hands underneath your chest or your head to hit different muscles. Once your hands are in place, perform a push-up by trying to place your nose in the middle of the diamond. Go for 25 reps, if you can. You can heft your weight bag onto your back if you find the diamond pushup easy.

A variant of the diamond is the Tiger Pushup. You should look like an upside down V. Place your hands close together in a diamond position. Now, lower your head to the ground by bending your elbows, but keep your butt up in the air. Push yourself back up.

The Hindu Push Up

Get in position by standing with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Bend down and place your hands on the floor while keeping your arms and legs straight. You should look like an upside down human “v” with your butt being the point of the “v” and your head pointing down to the ground.

To perform the Hindu push-up, you make a swooping motion with your body. Bring your head down and forward by bending your elbows. When your head gets close to the ground, continue moving your torso forward by arching your back and lowering your hips. Your hips will now be near your hands. Make sure to get a good stretch in your back. The first time you perform a Hindu Push-up you might find yourself falling on your face during the initial descent. Keep at it though. Return to the starting position and repeat.

A variant of the Hindu push up is the dive bomber pushup. This is performed in exactly the same manner as the Hindu Push-up, except you follow the same swooping motion you made on the descent in reverse when returning to the starting position. This increases the work done by the muscles.

The One Handed Push Up

Assume the normal push-up position, but spread your feet wider than shoulder width apart. Place one hand behind your thigh. Lower yourself slowly to the ground and press up. Repeat until you can’t do anymore and then switch to the other hand. The more square and level you keep your body, the more difficult the push-up will be. To make it easier, turn your torso and legs away from the pressing hand. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO WEIGHT FOR THIS TYPE OF PUSHUP!!!

A variant is the Rocky Pushup, where you alternate hands with each rep.

The Handstand Push Up

To perform the handstand push-up, assume a handstand position. Slowly bend your elbows and lower your inverted body towards the ground. In order to maintain balance, you’re going to have to call on your core and other smaller stabilizing muscles. Because you’re pressing yourself off of the ground, the handstand push-up is great for your deltoid (shoulder) muscles. This can be done against a wall until you have developed a sufficient amount of stability to do without the wall.

The Fingertip Push Up

In this variant of the regular push up, Instead of resting on your hands, rest your weight on your fingertips. If you seek truly herculean strength, try out the Bruce Lee Push up which is a one handed pushup using only two fingers.  

There are so many variants of the push up, you never have to bored again. Start out with one, and maximise your benefits.

MY SIX PACK HAS RETURNED!!!!!!!

Those stubborn rolls of flesh around your middle, affectionately known as love handles, are more of a nuisance for men than women since that's one of the first places men store fat. But no matter who owns them, the only way to erase love handles is to lose weight!!!! With overall weight loss, you'll eventually see [the reduction] in your love handles.

The fastest and most effective way to reduce love handles is to double team exercise and diet. This is because if you tone without losing weight, you'll end up with muscle covered by a layer of fat.

First, lose excess fat by getting plenty of aerobic exercise and eating a healthy low-fat (this means low in saturated fats) diet; you need to burn off 3,500 more calories than you take in to lose a pound, that's about an extra hour of exercise or one less chocolate muffin per day for 10 days.

You can discipline yourself to avoid fatty foods by calculating the amount of calories it would provide and the amount of exercise needed to burn those calories (note:  unutilized energy is ultimately stored by your body in the form of fat)and committing yourself towards burning off your calorie intake from that meal or snack.

For example, lets say a tub of chocolate ice cream provides 3500 calories ( if you check the nutrition information on the packs of most food products, you’ll see the amount of calories it will produce), you will need to run for about 10 km to burn off that energy. If you go ahead and eat the ice cream, make sure you run or walk the 10km required to burn it off. After a few workouts of this nature, you’ll be more careful about what you eat.

Second, you can “spot build” by focusing on the underlying abdominal muscles—rectus abdominus, external and internal obliques (the muscles at your sides)—and your back muscles.

A good weight loss diet incorporates 3 major meals and 2-3 subsidiary meals. For instance you can start your day with two glasses of water at 6:30am eat a fruit with a bowl of oatmeal with honey, limiting your milk to two level spoons. Eat fruits BEFORE meals!!!! At 9am you could eat two slices of bread with a boiled egg (not fried!!); at 12pm, eat a can of tuna, or two boiled eggs. At 3pm you could eat beans, rice, amala (or preferably wheat meal) with fish. Luckily for us in Nigeria, our soups have high nutritional content, however, substitute high fat cooking oils with lower fat oils. By 6pm, your system should be winding down, so you could eat a vegetable salad with lots of tomato; alternatively you could eat foods that are high in fibre as it aids bowel movements on the morrow. You could cap dinner with a cup of tea with honey.

Make sure you savour each bite of your food, it helps digest it more effectively. Also try keeping some dried fruits and nuts at hand when you're in the office. they are very effective when you are feeling peckish; and the cravings can get very bad. Alternatively, you could prepare a pack of carrots which you could carry in your bags, especially if you're female.

Note: Avoid alcohol, even small amounts of alcohol can disrupt your normal hormone balance and weigh down your dieting efforts for days afterwards. Besides, alcohol packs almost as many calories per gram as pure fat.

Abdominal Exercise

For any type of abdominal movement to effectively train the abs, it must require a crunching movement or folding of the torso.

The basic abdominal crunch effectively defines and increases abdominal mass. With a traditional crunch, you lie on your back with your feet up on a bench or in the air where you are balancing them and roll your head and shoulders toward your pelvis by contracting your abs, your shoulders should not rise more than 45 degrees from the floor. During this movement, you are also pressing your lower back into the floor. To make the exercise more difficult, place your feet on a bench or against the wall.

While the crunch tends to emphasize the upper portion of the abdominal muscles, the lower portion, along with the hip flexors, contracts to maintain stability in the lower ab-hip region to allow for proper upper body movement. The muscles involved include the rectus abdominis, external and internal obliques, and to an extent - the hip flexors. 

The reverse crunch stabilizes your upper torso to put the focus on the lower abs. The reverse crunch uses the weight of your legs to add resistance. To perform the reverse crunch, lie face up with your arms along side your body. Bend your knees and raise your thighs until they are perpendicular to the floor, which is the starting position. Inhale and hold your breath as your contract your abdominal muscle to pull or roll your pelvis up toward your chest. Your knees should move relatively close to your chest and your pelvis should come completely off the floor.

As you crunch, keep your knees bent so that muscular contractions do the work instead of momentum. Squeeze your abs at the top and slowly lower yourself back to the starting position. For an even stronger contraction of the lower abs, hold your head and shoulders up. This tightens the upper abdominal region so that when the lower aspect shorts, it works harder to raise your hips.

Hanging leg or knee raises involve the same crunching movement but require a higher level of fitness, only with your body in a vertical position. Keeping your legs straight during the movement makes this lower-ab exercise even tougher. To perform this exercise jump or step up to a high bar so that when you grasp the bar your body hangs without your feet touching the floor or you can perform this exercise on a vertical bench.

Fully extend your arms and lower body when hanging from the bar. Your lumbar spine should be slightly arched. Inhale and hold your breath as you first bring your legs slightly behind your body, then quickly raise them forwards and upward as high as possible. Keep your legs straight but not locked out.

If you have tight hamstrings ( the muscles at the back of your thighs), keep a slight bend in the knee. For the exercise to be most effective, your legs should come above the level position, at which point you should hold the peak contraction for 1-2 seconds as you exhale. Relax slightly as you return to the starting position.

 If this exercise is too difficult to perform with straight legs bend your knees further to decrease the resistance. The key is to allow your pelvis to rotate maximally as your legs rise. Concentrate on curling your pelvis after you get your legs moving upward.

The obliques are generally the muscles that make your waist too big. Powerful obliques are important stabilizers for strength athletes, but if you want to create a lean, defined torso, then it is better to rarely train your obliques with weights. Doing weight oblique work tends to thicken your waistline instead of tapering it.

Side bends without weight or twisting crunches should be enough. Another strategy for keeping your waistline small is to perform stomach vacuums. They are great for exercising control of your abdominals and taper your waist.

To begin, stand straight with your feet shoulder width apart from each other. Place your hands on your hips. This is the starting position.

Now slowly inhale as much air as possible and then start to exhale as much as possible while bringing your stomach in as much as possible and hold this position. Try to visualize your navel touching your backbone. One isometric contraction is around 20 seconds. During the 20 second hold, try to breathe normally. Then inhale and bring your stomach back to the starting position. Once you have practiced this exercise, try to perform this exercise for longer than 20 seconds. Tip: You can work your way up to 40-60 seconds. Repeat for the recommended amount of sets. 

Training the abdominals are the same for men and women but results are determined largely by your gender. Men naturally carry the majority of their fat around their waist, whereas women tend to carry theirs on their hips and thighs. Thus, it is harder for a man to get his abs to appear. He must be extremely lean. Regardless of your gender, developing your abs occurs between the pelvis and the ribs. 

Start the journey toward building streamlined abdominals one step at a time, make sure you've got the right fundamentals, and the reults will astound you.

Harness the power of music to make your workouts more enjoyable.

BODY MASS INDEX CALCULATOR

calculate bmi

THE BASICS OF WEIGHT LOSS

Some people, especially when they have unsuccessfully tried to lose weight, think that they just made to be overweight all their life. They might have spent a lot of time and money on diets, exercise equipment, supplements, and pills, yet nothing seems to work for them. After some time they tend to get depressed and just give up; commonly turning to food as a source of comfort.

If you know someone that has been through this experience, the worst thing you can do is nag the person about their weight. Many people make this mistake in the belief that their comments are meant to motivate the individual; sadly, the contrary is the case. The person becomes more depressed, eats more, and gains more weight.

You have to let the person know that you love them unconditionally. Focus on things he/she might have achieved in the past that he/she, and your family, felt proud of. Feeling good about yourself now will motivate you to treat your body and soul with respect. Healthy eating and activity will result from that self-respect.

I would start by ADDING things to your diet. Eat lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and lean protein (chicken breast, ground turkey, baked fish, etc.). Also, substitute regular sodas, which by the way, are chock filled with sugar, with one diet soda per week. Sugar is the cornerstone for diabetes, remember. So you should always try to limit the amount of sugar you eat. If you eat too much sugar, your insulin levels may not be able to keep up with you! try making the rest of your beverages green tea, skim milk, lemonade etc. You could also experiment with natural fruit juices until you find one which suits your palate. Please remember, this is not a DIET, but rather a lifestyle change...One that you should adhere to the rest of your life. Here are some tips for your new lifestyle:

****Drink lots and lots of WATER!!!!***** ITS GOOD FOR YOU

Water helps flush out toxins from your system, it also helps to fill you up. Drink a minimum of 8 glasses a day. For the benefits of water <<click here>>. If you find water a tad tasteless, numerous companies market individual pour-in flavoring packs to add taste to your bottle of water.

It’s important to start a regimen of cardiovascular exercise. Find something that you enjoy, or can at least tolerate, that causes you to breath heavily, break a sweat, and increase your heart rate. Do it at least three times a week for 30 minutes. This will increase your metabolism, keep it increased throughout the day, and help you to burn more calories and fat, even when resting. I advise getting a training partner, it helps keep you motivated.

A general rule of thumb is to keep your activity level at a point where you can answer a question, but you cannot carry on a conversation. This will prevent you from carrying on your exercises in a manner which produces little or no benefit.

START DESIGNING THE BODY THAT YOU WANT, RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

GET RID OF STUBBORN FAT IN 3 MONTHS FLAT!!!!!

All over the world today, people are confused about what to do to get rid of fat because there are a lot of ineffective programs, literature and equipment outside there. The public is constantly bombarded by new diet books containing the latest weight-loss advice on the best way to shed those extra pounds. There are fat-burning pills, exercise machines, low-fat-low-carb snacks, and diet tips. With all this conflicting information, it’s difficult to find a diet and exercise programme that is right for you — and that will work for you!

I’ve had problems with managing my fitness levels within the past year. Sometimes it gets so bad that it seems far easier to lay just lay back and let the fat pile on. It’s even worse when, like me, you work day in, day out at a job which leaves you little time for yourself, and less for the gym.

I’ve got good news for you; YOU CAN LOSE THAT WEIGHT!!!!!

 I bet you already know that the human body is a remarkably adaptable machine. Therefore, even if years and years of neglect have allowed pound after pound of fat to fill out your frame, you can rid yourself of that lard at a much faster rate than you brought it on board.

However, this can only be done if you sincerely commit to the lifestyle changes necessary to attain those ends. It involves sacrifices and privations, but by the end, you would have exceeded your wildest conceptions of physical fitness.

Take the Challenge, reclaim your body from fat!!! The best time to start is NOW!!!!

Before we start, let’s get some things straight

•   There are no short cuts to physical fitness. Any program that promises miraculous fitness results without regulating your diet and exercising is a FRAUD!!!! Yes, you could lose a little weight at the start, but within a short while the fat would return with a kick. The real secret to weight loss is to make small, lasting changes. The key is to forget about instant results and settle in for the long run.

•   Taking fat burning tablets can become dangerous in many ways. Yes, it might work. But your body isn't meant to lose weight in an artificial way. Plus, these tablets can become addicting. So much that you may hit a point where you are obsessed with them and rely on them. Losing too much weight too quickly can cause you to get seriously ill.

•  It’s not that all the weight-loss advice is useless or even unhealthy. It’s just that one person’s diet secret may not work for you. Find what works for you and go with it.

• You need to count calories in order to lose weight. People tend to overestimate their physical activity and underestimate their caloric intake.  Every day, write down what you eat, the corresponding calories, and your physical activity. If you eat a slice of apple pie a la mode that is 500 calories, you’ll have to walk briskly for two hours to burn those calories. So, you won’t lose weight unless you also cut calories.

•   Take it Slow, Rome was not built in a day. Fitness is a journey, not the destination.

Watch out for my next post…..