Bodyweight Training – Pushups 101

Bodyweight Training – Pushups 101

What’s your goal for pushups?  Is it to build more strength?
Is it to build a leaner body?  What’s the reason behind your
pushups?

Pushups, unless you are doing them for competition purpose’s; it
really doesn’t matter if they are done slow or the chest hits the
ground or you do a full lockout, unless your goal is to do slow,
chest to the ground and full lock out pushups.

If you are looking for a leaner, stronger body and getting better at
pushups the key is to keep tension on the muscle as long as
possible, this will strengthen the muscle quicker and more
efficient for quicker results

If you can bang out 100 speed pushups do you think you could do
more or less slower ones?  Well, if you limit is 100 does it really matter
if they are slow locked out pushups or does becoming stronger and
more fit more important? I don’t like locking out. The reason is the
more stress placed on the elbow joint over time will cause injuries
and it also takes the stress off the working muscles.

The actual rules for the standard pushup for competition or for records
are arms must be at a 90 degree angle (parallel) and just short of
lockout. But unless you are training to break records almost any
variation of pushup will get you stronger whether you do them fast,
or slow. You do them any way you want it all depends on what you
want. I prefer fast and explosive for building athletic type reflexes.

I prefer to do specific pushups for my specific goals and do others
just to change up and get my muscles to respond to stress at a
different angle.

One way to improve your pushup total is to do pushups every day,
not every other day, not once a week, every single day. Some even
train their body like the local bodybuilder that works one body part
a week. How are you supposed to get bigger, stronger or any better
doing anything once a week.

Think for a minute, would you get better at anything doing it once a
week? If you want pushup results you train doing pushup and you
let your mind and body tell you when enough is enough.

It comes to physical and mental toughness when training and getting
better at anything, if the most pushups you can do is only 50 and
you have been stuck on the same number for a month and you can’t
push one more, you are weak mentally plain and simple.

What if you got to your 50 and decided to push a little harder and
squeeze in 5 half pushups what do you think that little extra work
would do for you? You will then know you can do a little more the
next time and the next time.

Try some half pushups at the end of your workout and pass your
highest pushup total once and for all.

Toughness Builds Winners