I learned these pushups a few months back from a crazy russian guy. He says if you work these enough, it’ll help with the muscle-up on rings or a pullup bar. Who knows… They definitely work the triceps and shoulders like crazy.
21 Day Challenge
Previously I posted about the 21 pushup challenge.
I’m currently extending that to twenty-one days, but with a twist. I’ve drawn a table with four columns and ten rows. The rows list these different types of pushups (and one with pullups):
- handstand pushups
- wide pullups
- hop switch pushups
- fully extended pushups
- peck flys
- ball planche pushups
- crow R to crow L
- deep pushups
- planche pushups
- one-arm pushups
Each of those rows and columns represents one 21 pushup challenge. That’s right, sets of one, then two, then three, then four, then five… then twenty then twenty one. Once you reach the top, go back down twenty one, twenty … two, one, DONE!
Each set represents 460 pushups of various types. So if you give yourself one day of rest in twenty one days, you’ll do two 21 pushup challenges per day. For a total of 920 pushups per day.
Hey, look at it this way, Bruce Lee used to do 1000 pushups a day to warmup, sets of 100!
I plan to post some quick vids of the different types of pushups, so stay tuned.
Happy Shoulder Stretching New Year!
I know how everybody likes to avoid, or just slack on their stretching. I do it too. But you know, stretching is important! Flexibility promotes circulation, and nutrients at the joint, and discourages injury. My personal feeling is it helps muscle to recover and grow quicker too, though I’m not sure if this is scientifically proven. Anyway, on to the good stuff.
First stretch is to work each shoulder in opposite directions. This picture is the basic version. Even you big guys out there who lift a lot (or should I say especially you guys) should be doing this.
Once you work your fingers together doing this, you’ll eventually be able to touch your fingers together like this:
An advanced version takes it further, so you grab the whole hand as far as possible:
I’ve seen it done where people actually can grab the opposite wrist. I’m not there yet, but hey, it’s worth trying!
Next is your basic backbend. When you do this push the weight up into the shoulders as much as possible to reduce strain on the lower back:
We’re not done yet. There are still two more ways that I know of to stretch the shoulders. This next one is a great opposing stretch if you work the pecks a lot. This really stretches straight across the front of your chest. It also stretches the elbow joint. I should know the name. It will feel like the hamstring of your arm if you will, which really doesn’t get stretched very often:
Obviously you can use as long a piece of rope as you need to. I’ve seen younger people touch the hands together. So there is really no limit to how flexible you *COULD* be here.
Last but not least, let’s work the shoulders for the illusive manna move. This stretch will feel uncomfortable at first, because you may have never stretched your shoulders this way before.
And that’s it. Over and out, and Happy New Year. Good luck with all your training in 2008!
Space Crunch: Hotel Workouts
We have all encountered a few times where we are traveling, and somehow we get out of the habit and routine of our workout. It’s not so much that a little break couldn’t hurt, and who wants to workout on a business trip, but sometimes we don’t get back to our rhythm when we return.
Also doing a small 20-30 minute routine helps give us the energy we need everyday when we’re off to conferences, and on our feet all day. So what to do? Well if you’re in a hotel with a gym, head to the gym. That’ll give you the space and motivation to keep to your usual workout. But what about if your hotel doesn’t have a gym, and maybe it’s too cold outside to go for a job?
I recommend doing exercises which require very little movement. That way you can do them in small and confined spaces. Basic yoga stretching would be ideal. Here’s the opportunity to really put your heart into those stretches you’ve been meaning to improve. Do some hamstring stretches, shoulder stretches with a towel, or clasped hands, do foot-to knee stretch which is great for the hips, and some spinal twists.
As far as muscle training goes, you can certainly do pushups and situps if you desire. One exercise which I think is really ideal for small cramped locations is the elbow stand. You don’t move at all. Just hold the position. Think it looks easy? Try 30 second hold for starters. If that is too easy, move on to 60 seconds.
Posture is really crucial with this exercise. Don’t arch your back which is very very common and typical. Why? This takes the abdominals out of the exercise, and puts pressure on your lower back instead. We want to avoid that.
Another common mistake is to keep the hipstoo low. As you get tired, this is the usual progression. So try to start out by doing only 15 seconds, but do it perfect!!
Here’s the right way. Notice my back is very flat. That means my abdominals are doing *ALL* the work. That’s what you want.
Again I like this exercise because it’s easy for almost everyone to do, is fairly injury free because there isn’t any movement, works your shoulders, deltoids, triceps, hipflexors, and gluts. It has a lot of the same benefits of pushups.