Pushups, where do they fit in?

[Maljonic]

Originally Posted by JuniorPowerlifter

Please do not pay too much attention to posts by bodybuilder as he bases everything he "knows" based upon what he has been told, over heard, or barely looked into.

I couldn't agree more. Saying that doing lots of push ups will do 'nothing' for your phyisque is perhaps one of the stupidest things I've ever read in my life, of course it will bloody do something for your physique!

Regardless of the BFL 12 reps thing, which works there is no doubt, if you weren't doing BFL but did 500 push ups every other day you'd look pretty amazing I think.

I guess if they do become so easy that you could do that many, I wish, you could do push ups as a cardio exercise and speed up when you want to increase intesity or do those claps to make it harder for the high point of your 20 minutes.

If you're pleased about being able to do push ups and it makes you happy to do them I don't see why fitting them into your life could ever be a bad thing, I mean they aren't going to make you less fit are they?

What if you happen to like running, are you supposed to stop because it interferes with your BFL program, of course not!

It's about what works for you and what makes you feel and look good in your own eyes, making a better life for yourself and not necessarily making Bill Phillips clones, though I'm sure many of us would be happy to have such a physique.

TheHappyFamily, don't get tangled up with the conflicting views, that's what forums are like whatever the subject - there's always someone spouting their opinions like the 100 Commandments - but if you stick around long enough you soon find out who's making sense, whose posts help you the most (you can give those +reps so others might know too), and you'll end up skipping over the ones you don't agree with, the ones that rub you up the wrong way. In fact, if it gets really bad, you can even put them on your ignore list and it's like they don't even exist, their posts wont show up for you at all, though that's a bit extreme, and you'll wonder what everyone else is arguing about.

[bodybuilder]

Originally Posted by JuniorPowerlifter

Please do not pay too much attention to posts by bodybuilder as he bases everything he "knows" based upon what he has been told, over heard, or barely looked into.

ive got one thing to say :

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

meaning - go and whack out 20 reps every sessions. go and replace bench press with pushups.

if your muscles grown then there is your proof that it works . if they dont grow then there is the proof that it doesnt work. if the pudding tastes good you continue eating it. if it tastes bad you dont eat it anymore

if you do 20 reps and you do push ups then id be very suprised if you like the taste of the pudding

[TheHappyFamily]

Originally Posted by Maljonic

I couldn't agree more. Saying that doing lots of push ups will do 'nothing' for your phyisque is perhaps one of the stupidest things I've ever read in my life, of course it will bloody do something for your physique!

<snip>

If you're pleased about being able to do push ups and it makes you happy to do them I don't see why fitting them into your life could ever be a bad thing, I mean they aren't going to make you less fit are they?

<snip>

TheHappyFamily, don't get tangled up with the conflicting views, that's what forums are like whatever the subject - there's always someone spouting their opinions like the 100 Commandments - but if you stick around long enough you soon find out who's making sense, whose posts help you the most (you can give those +reps so others might know too), and you'll end up skipping over the ones you don't agree with, the ones that rub you up the wrong way. In fact, if it gets really bad, you can even put them on your ignore list and it's like they don't even exist, their posts wont show up for you at all, though that's a bit extreme, and you'll wonder what everyone else is arguing about.

Thank you! I couldn't see where in the world push-ups wouldn't be a beneficial exercise. bodybuilder had some good stuff to point out and say and I appreciate those particular portions, but I was starting to get pretty confuzzled by some of the things going back and forth.

I like endurance anyway. We do several sports that require long hours of activity, so if going past 12 is going to help me there ... I'm all over it!

Thanks again everyone.

P.S. And if I forget the reputation thing, my apologies. I'll try and remember it. I often overlook it ...

(I run a content management system/service, and one of our modules is a forum, and we never built in the reputation thing, so unfortunately over the years, I've forgotten they exist...)

[Chris]

One thing to keep in mind when increasing your reps... we used to think that doing reps in the 15 to 20 range would give you the benefits of weight training and cardio without making you bulk. That's why so many womens workouts suggest high reps.. BUT it's not true. You will not get all big and burly from lifting low reps. That comes from eating more calories than you burn.. and it's hard to do by accident. High reps isn't bad for you, but don't be fooled into thinking it's the way to go, exclusive of the low reps. You need the low rep exercises for strength. I don't need to point this out since your routine is already good, but just some food for thought. By all means, go higher in reps if you want. It's great for endurance.. and it's quite humbling to try to do something 20 times when you're used to only doing it 12. It gets heavy VERY FAST!

But back to your original post... yes, pushups work chest. I would recommend doing them as your second chest exercise. Since you have a partner, you can have him/her add weight plates to your back to make it more challenging if need be. Also, don't worry if you can't do 12. If you get to your level 10 effort, that's all that matters and you can work up to 12 (and beyond).

I don't see anything wrong with your routine. I would caution you on the behind the neck presses though. If your head leans forward at all, this will put a lot of stress on your shoulders and neck. Head forward = poor form = injury.
Also, nothing wrong with dumbbells before barbells or visa versa.

You're doing great! Congratulations on the 5!

[TheHappyFamily]

Originally Posted by Chris

One thing to keep in mind when increasing your reps... we used to think that doing reps in the 15 to 20 range would give you the benefits of weight training and cardio without making you bulk. That's why so many womens workouts suggest high reps.. BUT it's not true. You will not get all big and burly from lifting low reps. That comes from eating more calories than you burn.. and it's hard to do by accident. High reps isn't bad for you, but don't be fooled into thinking it's the way to go, exclusive of the low reps. You need the low rep exercises for strength. I don't need to point this out since your routine is already good, but just some food for thought. By all means, go higher in reps if you want. It's great for endurance.. and it's quite humbling to try to do something 20 times when you're used to only doing it 12. It gets heavy VERY FAST!

But back to your original post... yes, pushups work chest. I would recommend doing them as your second chest exercise. Since you have a partner, you can have him/her add weight plates to your back to make it more challenging if need be. Also, don't worry if you can't do 12. If you get to your level 10 effort, that's all that matters and you can work up to 12 (and beyond).

I don't see anything wrong with your routine. I would caution you on the behind the neck presses though. If your head leans forward at all, this will put a lot of stress on your shoulders and neck. Head forward = poor form = injury.
Also, nothing wrong with dumbbells before barbells or visa versa.

You're doing great! Congratulations on the 5!

Thanks Chris! That was a great post. I appreciate your input.

We'll keep an eye on our form for those neck presses. Perhaps I'll find another shoulder one instead. DEFINITELY don't want to injure ourselves... just wanted to mix things up and they felt pretty good.

[Maljonic]

That's a great idea about adding the weights on, I never thought of that because I'm always on my own.

[NausicaaWind]

Something to add...

I'm in TaeKwonDo and everything extra exercize we do is to basically 'tone' our muscles, not build. TKD is about flexability, not about getting your bicep bigger than your waist. Basically, if you want smooth muscles then endurance and cardio is more effective than weight training. Not that you shouldn't do weight training, I like to keep it roughly at 70/30 cardio/weights. Both help, but from experience Cardio keeps your muscles slimmer and less bulky.

Hope this helps.

Also, push-ups are fantastic and do help! I try to do 20-30 a day just to keep myself active. If you physically cannot manage pushups, stand about a foot to the wall and do wall pushups, it trains the same muscles as regular push ups and in about two weeks you'll find you can do pushups regularly.

[JuniorPowerlifter]

Originally Posted by bodybuilder

ive got one thing to say :

THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING

meaning - go and whack out 20 reps every sessions. go and replace bench press with pushups.

if your muscles grown then there is your proof that it works . if they dont grow then there is the proof that it doesnt work. if the pudding tastes good you continue eating it. if it tastes bad you dont eat it anymore

if you do 20 reps and you do push ups then id be very suprised if you like the taste of the pudding

I believe push ups were being ADDED to the program, not substituting in for another exercise.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by JuniorPowerlifter

I believe push ups were being ADDED to the program, not substituting in for another exercise.

I guess I have to disagree... Pushups is a very effective chest exercise. They can be done instead of any other chest exercise. They probably even provide more "useful strength" than bench presses, IMO.

[NausicaaWind]

Especially for girls, for some odd reason push ups are always easier for guys then girls, though I'm not stating that as fact. I'm sure SOME girls can do more pushups than guys.

[TheHappyFamily]

Yeah, I'm going to add them to our program as the second set of chest exercises for awhile. Then when they get easy, switch them out for the first set and do a second set of something else, like Flys.

I'm pretty sold on the general consensus that they are a great addition to the strength arsenal, until my bod tells me otherwise!


[snipped to make new post]

[twheelz]

To target the chest more than the triceps on your pushups (if you're substituting them for a chest exercise), use a narrower position (hands closer together on the floor). The wider your hands, the more arms you're using. I have lots of pushup experience - 3 months at Parris Island for USMC boot camp...we found out that by varying our "stance" we could get through them better.

Another way to make them more effective is to use hex dumbbells as "props" (instead of buying another piece of equipment like the "ultimate pushup" thingamabob). Using these allows more range of motion and can really make the difference in pulverizing those chest muscles...

[Maljonic]

TheHappyFamily, I made a new thread from your post about bowling because I thought it might get lost in here.

[TheHappyFamily]

Originally Posted by Maljonic

TheHappyFamily, I made a new thread from your post about bowling because I thought it might get lost in here.

Thanks! Sorry about that ... I should know better!

[Chris]

Originally Posted by twheelz

To target the chest more than the triceps on your pushups (if you're substituting them for a chest exercise), use a narrower position (hands closer together on the floor). The wider your hands, the more arms you're using. I have lots of pushup experience - 3 months at Parris Island for USMC boot camp...we found out that by varying our "stance" we could get through them better.

Another way to make them more effective is to use hex dumbbells as "props" (instead of buying another piece of equipment like the "ultimate pushup" thingamabob). Using these allows more range of motion and can really make the difference in pulverizing those chest muscles...

I think this is backwards. If you look at close grip bench press vs wide, the close grip targets triceps more than pecks, while the wider (or normal grip) does the opposite. I would therefore consider the same philosophy with pushups. Narrow mimics close-grip bench press and therefore targets tris.

[bluexj]

I'm not gonna add anything to the argument portion of why or why not pushups are good but I will agree with Chris that they are a great chest exercise. I often add them in as my second chest exercise or will add a set of 12 as a third exercise to get an incredible burn....

[twheelz]

Chris - you're right, I believe! I think I typed it backwards. Must have been early in the AM...

[ottomaticjack]

another variation you can add, is decline pushups. Put your feet on a bench and do pushups...works similar to incline bench press. Further you can do pushups with your feet crossed which makes it more difficult to stay stable and pulls in more muscles. Oh, and diamond pushups (the hands very close together with thumbs and forefingers of each hand forming a diamond) works the triceps like there is no tomorrow....try those with your feet on a bench....lol. I used to do those in the Navy.

[scottishdude]

I used to do a lot of them. I went from being able to do 5 to 50 after a few weeks of regular training. Its very satisfying to do. You can adjust hand placements should wide, extra wide, close together, hands under your chest to activate more shoulder,tricep or chest. You can also help strenghthen your wrist by doing them on your fist. raise feet on a bench,swiss ball loads of stuff you can do.
In Kung Fu the Chinese call it Taming the Tiger