Pushups are and have been an exercise that has
been done by athletes and fitness enthusiasts,
combat athletes, military, police, fireman, prisoners
etc. The reason is that pushups, even the basic pushup
has proven over time that it can change your life physically.

The pushup works almost the whole body. It’s a fat burner
as well as a lean muscle builder. I said before you find me
a man that practices the pushup daily and can do hundreds
and thousands you will find a physically fit man.

To get to a high number of pushups taxes the anaerobic
system pushing your body to work without oxygen not
allowing you to go very long without a short rest in
between it’s not like aerobics where you can go for an
hour like a jog it’s a heavy breathing exercise.

Explosive and Heavy breathing exercise that work many
muscles can activate HGH just like sprinting and squatting.

Years ago I did a workout with heavy breathing squats and
it was brutal. It was taking a weight you have a tough time
doing 10 reps and squeeze out 20 reps without taking the
bar off your shoulders, you would do 11 then take a few
breaths until you could do another rep and you would
continue until you hit 20 reps, it sucked. But it worked!

Pushups can be done the same way, do as many as you
can do; then rest. Take a few breaths, do a few more.

Than try half pushups and squeeze all you can until your
muscles no longer respond and you collapse. The problem
is most people won’t push through the exhaustion once
they get to where they can do only 2 or 3 more they are
done I would go for an extra 20!

As far as pushups NOT building size or big massive
bodybuilding muscle it might be because bodybuilders
take tons of supplements and steroids.

I don’t know anyone who took steroids and just trained
using their bodyweight so I can’t say whether it will help
but I can tell you that whether you train with weights or
your body weight the only way to gain mass is to take in
extra calories.

Not everyone is a genetic freak and has a massive
chest or legs. You have to work to your capability and
you natural gifts you can’t be like everyone else.

We can all improve, but we need to compete with ourselves
and do the best we can to build a strong healthy body.

I personally am no longer interested in bulking up I go for
the more athletic type of training and that’s what I try to
get through to most people, be athletic and lean not
overweight and slow.

For instance yesterday I took it easy and went for a walk
wearing an extra 50 lbs I live in a mountain town and walk
up hill after hill which is a workout by its self but I added in
500 pushups wearing the extra 50 lbs it was a nice workout
that took about an hour to finish walk and 500 pushups

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

www.wildmantraining.com

P.S. If you want to build lean explosive muscle? Order your copy of
“How to Build Explosive Pushup Power” and build a different
type of explosive power.

http://www.wildmantraining.com/products/pushup-power/

My early morning pick me up took all of 4:00 minutes.

25 Wildman Plyo Jumpers

50 bench dips

4 rounds non stop total 100 WPJ 200 bench dips not bad for 4:00 minutes

try it

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Some times these books just give me a refreshing look at a different angle. As far a FELON FITNESS
goes I like it, I think the men in the pictures were ex con’s. Either way the workouts in the book
are extremely brutal.

I have many prisoner fitness books and think this has the most physically demanding workouts
without questions. If there are men that think that the book is fraudulent and don’t believe it
give the workouts a try. The problem is, that just by looking at some of the workouts seem
almost super human.

I like the book and think the workouts are bad ass and for the serious bodyweight trainer
it should be a book in their library.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Most think by using 40 different exercises in a workout will
build the ultimate body and build over the moon conditioning.

Try keeping track of more than 5 different exercises as you get
farther in your workout. I want to focus on training not tracking
what exercise is next.

I very rarely do more than 5 exercises at any one workout because
to me it waste valuable training time. Jumping rope, burpees, pushups
pullups and situps ( an example ) do you really need any more?

Physical fitness is built on a consistent basis not something you do when you
feel like it. Training when you don’t feel like it or just because you got done
work late.

Make training a priority. It will give you better results than reading the
newspaper or watching t.v. We should all try to live at a higher standard
by doing all we can to remain physically and mentally healthy.

Outdoor training can really improve a workout. Training natural in a
natural environment will do wonders for your attitude.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

I do train everyday, and have for years. I believe training everyday has allowed me to stay very fit and
injury free from conditioned muscle, meaning over the years my muscles have adapted to the many years
of stress placed on them.

I do NOT train all out every single day, but I do something. Training everyday gives you the feeling of
knowing and the habit that everyday you can workout. Think about it. Anything you want to build
in life whether a successful business, a weight loss program what ever, seems to bring better results
from momentum.

Almost everyday I walk. I like to walk and it gets me both ready for the day or gives a little relaxation at
night either way it’s exercise. Sometimes I’ll just drop down for some pushups or do squats or situp crunches
it takes up almost no time.

Do you think that if you did something every single day things would improve? If you continued to try
to get better by creating better habits do you think your physical and mental life might improve?

Remember it’s okay to exercise and move everyday. You do not need to take the day off, something as
simple as a walk will give you a feeling of accomplishment.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

I hear time in and time out about how someone
isn’t going all the way down or he’s not locking out.
Okay, why does it matter if he’s not locking out or
using a full range of motion?

Who made up the rules? If I don’t want to go slow
and lockout every pushup and wreck my elbows I’ll
rename my pushups to “Speed Pushups” or “Speed
Dips” etc.

Meaning I go as fast and explosive as I can, training
my body to be more explosive and build faster reaction
time.

Everyone has their own opinions and will follow
whatever they think will work best for them. I said it
before train slow you become slow if you train fast
and explosive you get fast and explosive.

If you look at the way the body moves on a natural
everyday basis the way you walk, run, jump, climb,
bend, twist, reach etc the body is always in flow,
full range of motion or locking out is never thought
about until we train with conventional methods.

In a life saving situation would you worry about a full
range of motion? If you had to pull yourself up a tree
would you worry about the stretch or do you get your
ass up in the tree?

If you had to carry or lift an object are you going to make
sure your back is flat and you lift with the legs? You explode
with the whole body to do what needs to be done.

After all the years of training and listen and reading all I can
I find is that the faster and more explosive I train the less
injured I get. Training the conventional ways with weights
and locking out abused my elbows, knees, shoulders and
neck.

Animals never use a full range of motion or lock out.
Animals are explosive, strong and react to the situation.
In nature there is no full range of motion or locking out
at the joints. Locking out and full range of motion is made
up by old school weight trainers and that is not a natural
state of the body.

Children never use a locking out or full range of motion
and never seem to get bad backs or sore elbows or knees.
I have four kids and they never used the conventional way,
they play. Kids run, jump tumble and have fun oh yeah
kids never jog they sprint, they always run short and as
fast as they can.

Kids weren’t taught this method of running it’s just natural.
Most adults train like adults and the older they get the slow
they train. Why not just keep on keeping on and see where
it brings you.

I still the “Pro’s” talking about wearing out, my opinion is
keep locking out and using full range of motion your body
will start to wear out.

Other hard labor countries that still earn a living farming,
carrying water whatever eat little and stay active well past
their 60’s and don’t seem to be worn out it’s just the
conventional hear say that seems to wear people out.

Really look at the way we really move or any animal and
you should get the answer.

Here’s a great workout you can try that will have you
sweating in no time.

All you need is a place for pull-ups, outside is best.

You will do 10 Wildman Prisoner squat thrusts when you
stand up you will explode jumping forward coming down
with legs bent and dropping back down for the next one
until you complete 10 than you will walk over and do 3
pull-ups and walk back and repeat. You will repeat this
for at least 10 rounds.

This will fry the entire body your legs will hate you!

Try to get as close as you can to the pullup bar or tree
branch on the 10^th jump.

www.wildmantraining.com

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Most trainers and strength coaches all over the world use a few
strength building exercises, the squat, the dead lift, the power clean
for over all body power. These are great strength builders, but how
effective are they really? And do they promise all the hype of real
strength building?

I will tell you there is a better way of building overall body strength that
will transfer to all athletic sports and everyday life. It’s an exercise that
our bodies are made for. You don’t need a lot of weight for a total over
all body workout.

If you look and think how the body has been used for centuries you will see
that some things modern day trainers look at as full body workouts are
damaging to the body.

The squat is considered the “King of exercises” but how often do you really
need to put 300lbs on or shoulder in real life and stand up? The fact is that
if you ever did need to stand up with 300lbs the chances are you would fail.
Why? Because, in the real world 300 lbs that you are lifting would never be
balanced, it would be awkward and most men that could squat 300lbs would
have a tough time standing up with 200 lbs on their shoulders.

Squatting is big in football, for instance a lineman is usually coming out
of a squat no one else. There is more pushing than anything else. The
pushing will require overall body strength and a big part is the core and
not one of the 3 exercises I mentioned will strengthen the core to a point
of real function.

Same goes with the dead lift, deadlift 400lbs now grab a 250lb rock and lift
it up. The rock is a lot lighter but there is no nice bar to grab your body needs
to call on muscle memory to lift something compact, awkward with a whole
different body dynamic.

The power clean is another story, most people don’t do it right. Most people
are doing it like an explosive reverse curl. Olympic style weight lifters do this
correctly most others do not.

The body does not know whether you are lifting sandbags, logs, weights, digging
ditches or moving furniture it’s all weight.

But the one thing you can do to build a functional strong body from head to
toe is the simple method of shouldering and carrying an unbalanced object
for time or distance up hill and downhill. I say it will build strength from head
to toe because carrying will strengthen the entire body and the core muscles that
are required in all sports and in everything else that will need total body strength
and the head meaning it takes mental toughness to carry a weight for time or
a predetermined distance.

The great thing is a weight as little as 40 or 50lbs will enough for most men
try carrying a 50lb sand bag, rock, log for a ¼ mile or more switching the object
from shoulder to shoulder. I like to use a 70 or 100lb heavy bag for walking hills
and climbing steps and walking wooded trails. And if you want to build heavily
muscled traps and shoulders try shouldering and carrying and let me know how
them shoulders and traps feel.

Shouldering and carrying an awkward object should be a big part of any strength
training program. Balanced objects fool you into thinking you are stronger than
you actually are. Just like bodyweight exercises that require more muscles to do
pushups than it does to do bench presses.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

www.wildmantraining.com

P.S. Yesterday did 845 dips in 30 minutes. I’m a little sore today. So try some
shouldering and go for your record number of dips!

http://www.wildmantraining.com/products/manual/

Remember you read it here first. Locking out and a full range of motion
could be the reason for most injuries over time. First question, when you
walk do you lock out at the knee with every movement? Second question,
do you walk using a full range of motion?

When you stand do you stand knees locked? When you walk are your
elbows locked or do they have a slight bend?

I have been training for over 30 years and have had my share of soreness,
and injuries. My injuries always came from the traditional way of exercise,
doing what everyone else did. Take heavy squats for example. Squat down
stand back up and lock the knee until you are ready to do the next one.

This pressure on the knee will cause knee problems in the long road. Take
two exercises I love, dips and pushups. For some reason everyone thinks
that if you are not going below parallel you are doing the exercise incorrectly.

Doing dips and going below parallel becomes a shoulder ripper, meaning
the lower you go the more you stretch the better chance of a torn muscle
and a great chance of strains that will keep you from training.

I got away from all that crazy “What everyone else does philosophy” and
started doing what is right for my body and for long term physical fitness
and health. And when I started training more explosive or with more speed
and not locking completely out or going beyond parallel my body healed
got stronger and my muscles got harder.

A benefit from coming just short of locking out is the muscles stay under
tension longer the longer the muscle can stay under tension the stronger
it will get. Muscle kept under tension will strengthen quicker and build
a body not as likely to be injured.

Try not going below parallel try not locking out and keep the muscle
under tension longer and feel the difference in your joints and the
rest of the body.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

I’m a big believer in using what you have to build a strong and productive
body in all environments. I also think that we need creativity to stay
motivated to continue to make gains and to keep the mind fresh.

In the video I’m doing some dips using chains from a piece of equipment
in a park. I rarely do dips on anything other than a dip rack, but these
were tough. Because the chains move my body is forced to work more
muscles to stay up without falling.

If we want to continue to grow physically and mentally we need to change
the things we do day in and day out. We need to be creative. We need
to step out of the box and do unconventional things.

Nobody wants to be just a regular guy. We want to be the best we can be
and we can never be the best we want to be if we are like everyone else.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube

Years ago I didn’t know the different kinds of strength I only knew
that strength and physical fitness always interested me and I was
drawn right to it. The only strength athlete was my dad a truck driver
over the road furniture mover short and thick, could lift almost
anything he got his hands on and could go for hours despite
smoking 2 packs of non filter cigarettes a day.

It wasn’t until years later that I realized there were different types
of strength, strength that can move a heavy object one time and
the strength to move a heavy object many times.
I went for the one rep max strength and over the years done more
damage to my body not to mention gaining weight and losing a lot
of athletic ability because of the weight gain and focusing on one rep
strength.

When I started to realize the benefits of “Conditioned Strength”
Strength that can I will last when you are tired and can still continue
to keep going and even become stronger at the end, to me that is
the real benefit. Strength in the beginning of a task that can’t
last is of no use to me.

When you are breathing heavy and your muscles decide they can
no longer go and you need to stop you have left yourself in a bad
situation a situation of quitting.  For instance you will benefit more from
being able to do 100 pushups than being able to bench press 300lbs
one time. If you able to do 100 pushups I can guarantee you
are physically fit yet a person that can bench 400lb one time
is probably and almost always is not fit.

These men almost always focus on the strength and not the
“Conditioned Strength” of exercise and I can almost always promise
these guys couldn’t run a few short sprints. But to be able to do 100
pushups requires a full body effort including the anaerobic system the
400lb bench presser is using usually low reps usually 5 reps or less with
a lot of rest in between sets.

A lot of men don’t understand this type of Conditioned Strength  unless they
are using their bodies on a regular basis to lift, pull, drag, carry at a high volume
sitting in an office it really doesn’t matter but a laborer has and needs the strength
to continue all day to get the job done.

Our country wasn’t built on men that were one rep men these men were
strong all day long think about the cave man walking carrying sprinting
wrestling “Conditioned Strength” one rep strength would be useless

I try to educate people on the benefits of bodyweight training and
natural body movements for functional fitness I believe you can and
will do better with less equipment and more creativity than complicated
training programs created by experts that have never really trained. I
loved having the meat head gym ego I loved strength and still do except
now I love “Conditioned Strength” because it has changed my life for the
better. I loved having 18 ½ “arms and a 21” neck at 5’7 and 240lbs I
looked huge and intimidating. That is what most men think, get big and
scare other men. But I can tell you this, just looking like you are athletic
lean and carrying yourself with confidence will give the same confidence
except instead of looking you are being.

I do not think there is anyone who can teach the benefits of functional
fitness better than me considering my whole life has been earning my
living with functional strength and if you include the 30 plus years of
training my body has probably triple the work and stress put on it if
not more than the most experienced fitness expert.

Toughness Builds Winners

Johnny Grube