Are pushups any good ? or not worth doing
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SkipNJ
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This thread just inspired me to get up from my desk at work and attempt to do some one handed pushups. I performed 2 on each side, thats in the strength gain region brah. My core is stronger already. Im gonna add 50lbs to my bench tonight. Hell, I might even skip bench tonight.
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Yesterday, I was working with the Bas Rutten Cd's. I like to do the All Around Fighting rounds last after I've done a few rounds of Boxing and Thai Boxing. On the 3 min. round version, he called out some pushups for 10 seconds. I was able to display my strength and pump a few of those out quickly. I felt such a pump afterwards and was amazed that I was able to do the exercise that displays the most strength after 30+ minutes of shadowboxing. That pump means I'm getting a lot stronger! Right? Right???
cmonreally
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dude posted this in the conditioning forum, so why are we arguing about strength gains? shouldn't we be arguing about muscle endurance/conditioning/cardio gains from pushups? if he posted it in S+P it would be different.
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I agree. Especially since pushups aren't a strength exercise. However, someone comes barging in here saying that pushups are the best strength exercise out there, which is completely silly.
cmonreally
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well when your at his level, 5 pushups before passing out, it might be.
Pushups are a great exercise, but why spend tons of money on a weighted vest when you could just bench press with a barbell you already have. Once again,
Btw, i do high rep pushups (70+) in my weekly routine for muscle endurance. Their's nothing wrong with doing them for muscle endurance, but thinking that they are going to give you a strength advantage in any sport is just stupid.
Barbell exercises>BW exercises> any machine ever made
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I've seen, read, heard more of this rubbish in my lifetime about what's best for you, etc. Nautilus machines are best, freeweights are best, this load of crap this idiot ^^^ spouted, etc...
The bench press has quite possibly the most limited utility of any exercise I know. Pressups, done correctly, work a significant portion of one's body. Conventional freeweight routines do too much isolation of muscle groups, and leave you ill prepared for actual, practical work. I've worked with springs, bells, bands, power-rods, cables, milk jugs filled with sand, you name it. There are two things which have stood head and shoulders above everything else in making me stronger.
1)Real physical labour - on the job you don't have the luxury of a spotter, or taking a break whenever you feel like it. The concrete needs to be busted, the drywall needs to be hung, the container truck needs to be unloaded and those bundles of shingles aren't carrying themselves to the roof anytime soon.
2)Grappling - you don't know what strength is until you've wrestled someone bigger than you by 80lbs. Weights sit there all immovable and heavy... but they don't have strength, they don't make their own energy, and they don't actively push back at you the way something living does.
You'll get plenty of opinions here TS, and plenty of advice. My advice: Caveat Emptor. The people advising you by and large are idiots who parrot about things that they've heard, and muck them up through the grapevine to boot. If weights really were that much better than calisthenics, you'd think that Chimps would lift rocks wouldn't you? But no, they just climb trees and swing around using their own body weight as resistance. And yet which animal can rip a human being's arm clear out of socket? Chimps or body builders?
^You destroyed any credibility you might have had with the animal comparison at the end.
Would a human who swing around on branches all day be able to "rip a human being's arm clear out of socket?"
No.
Genetics, my friend. We are not chimps. We cannot become chimp-strong by living like them.
Sorry.
Also, you're wrong about free weights isolating muscles (squats, deadlifts, bench, seriously?), and wrong about the results (strong is strong). Maybe you haven't done much serious lifting (?)
On push ups:
-BW push ups will make novices stronger...but EVERYTHING will make novices stronger. So that is really rather meaningless.
-I don't think it is practical to load them heavily. I've broken backpacks doing that, and it's just not worthwhile. And once you max out the capacity of whatever you're using to add weight, you're screwed.
On the other hand, good luck maxing out the capacity of a barbell.
-Also, unless you have a very nice set up (super-expensive vest or something), the position of the load is going to vary every time you do your weighted push ups. This introduces a variable that makes it very hard to accurately track progress.
-On that same note, push ups require an incredible deal of form discipline. If you're not doing them correctly and consistently every time, you have no idea if you're actually getting stronger and/or better conditioned. IMO, it is far more realistic to maintain this discipline with barbells or dumbbells.
Would a human who swing around on branches all day be able to "rip a human being's arm clear out of socket?"
No.
Genetics, my friend. We are not chimps. We cannot become chimp-strong by living like them.
Sorry.
Also, you're wrong about free weights isolating muscles (squats, deadlifts, bench, seriously?), and wrong about the results (strong is strong). Maybe you haven't done much serious lifting (?)
On push ups:
-BW push ups will make novices stronger...but EVERYTHING will make novices stronger. So that is really rather meaningless.
-I don't think it is practical to load them heavily. I've broken backpacks doing that, and it's just not worthwhile. And once you max out the capacity of whatever you're using to add weight, you're screwed.
On the other hand, good luck maxing out the capacity of a barbell.
-Also, unless you have a very nice set up (super-expensive vest or something), the position of the load is going to vary every time you do your weighted push ups. This introduces a variable that makes it very hard to accurately track progress.
-On that same note, push ups require an incredible deal of form discipline. If you're not doing them correctly and consistently every time, you have no idea if you're actually getting stronger and/or better conditioned. IMO, it is far more realistic to maintain this discipline with barbells or dumbbells.
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Lol. I just had to quote this so it couldn't be edited.
Indivdude
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Wow.. this has gone on pretty long. Surprised it's been up this long.
To throw my hat in the ring, pushups/pressups are definitely beneficial but you have to know what your goals are and if they fit in with the goals you have. If not, they're worthless to you. If they do, they're infinitely valuable to you. Know your goals and you'll know whether they're worthwhile.
To throw my hat in the ring, pushups/pressups are definitely beneficial but you have to know what your goals are and if they fit in with the goals you have. If not, they're worthless to you. If they do, they're infinitely valuable to you. Know your goals and you'll know whether they're worthwhile.
for maximal strength either you have to have 0 to start from for gains (can't do 6 perfect ones) or need to add resistance, you can go further faster with the Bench + free weights, unless you are targeting arm muscles and finger/hand strength that you can't hit while holding a barbell (finger pushups, knuckle pushups, hand/fist postions you can't hold a bar at, maybe headstand pushups)
for strength endurance, you can crank out as many as you want and make progress in number (E.G. push how long till you 'gas' doing pushups)
for explosive strength, you can do plyo pushups (like the hand clap ones) but you can make the best progress with those if you pair them with a maximal strength exercise for the same muscles (so do them directly after you do your benching with weights, think GSP was doing some of that in the UFC primetimes)
for speed strength, that would be once you can crank out tons, when you start doing them as fast as possible (speed strength = how fast you can go with minimal resistance)
that said pushups just like any exercise tend to give you what you put in to them, if you go with a goal/progression and intensity your body tends to notice, if you do slow half-assed ones your body isn't going to get going anywhere
can you tell I'm reading 'Never Gymless' right now?
for strength endurance, you can crank out as many as you want and make progress in number (E.G. push how long till you 'gas' doing pushups)
for explosive strength, you can do plyo pushups (like the hand clap ones) but you can make the best progress with those if you pair them with a maximal strength exercise for the same muscles (so do them directly after you do your benching with weights, think GSP was doing some of that in the UFC primetimes)
for speed strength, that would be once you can crank out tons, when you start doing them as fast as possible (speed strength = how fast you can go with minimal resistance)
that said pushups just like any exercise tend to give you what you put in to them, if you go with a goal/progression and intensity your body tends to notice, if you do slow half-assed ones your body isn't going to get going anywhere
can you tell I'm reading 'Never Gymless' right now?
push ups are awesome
as are, push up bars/barbeels.
one foot in the air
decline push ups.
push ups with a pack on. (Pull up too for that matter when you can do over 12 pull ups)
have a gf half your weight? I did for a while, she's wrap her arms around my neck, lay on top of me while I did them so the weight was distribueted making everything stronger (I weight 205, she 102) I could do 30, great exercise.
Push ups with a 80 lb boxing bag are good too, kinda hard to balance.
Movie style, with someone resting their legs on your lower back, annoying but a good exercise.
One handed push ups, done one hand then the other without coming down for 2 sets of 25 are awesome.
I should point out I can legit do 130 push ups. or at least could when I did push ups, now I"m lifting and finally getting actual strength gains. But if you can't do push ups you won't have the stability to make use of the strength gains from lifting. Due to bench is a supported exercise. So push ups are crucial for your body to work together right.. just like running is crucial for your legs. Probably could only do 110 right now.
as are, push up bars/barbeels.
one foot in the air
decline push ups.
push ups with a pack on. (Pull up too for that matter when you can do over 12 pull ups)
have a gf half your weight? I did for a while, she's wrap her arms around my neck, lay on top of me while I did them so the weight was distribueted making everything stronger (I weight 205, she 102) I could do 30, great exercise.
Push ups with a 80 lb boxing bag are good too, kinda hard to balance.
Movie style, with someone resting their legs on your lower back, annoying but a good exercise.
One handed push ups, done one hand then the other without coming down for 2 sets of 25 are awesome.
I should point out I can legit do 130 push ups. or at least could when I did push ups, now I"m lifting and finally getting actual strength gains. But if you can't do push ups you won't have the stability to make use of the strength gains from lifting. Due to bench is a supported exercise. So push ups are crucial for your body to work together right.. just like running is crucial for your legs. Probably could only do 110 right now.
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carsayzylum
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Pushups are important and can be done anywhere. There is a huge variety also. Regular, widearm, diamond, elevated, hands turned in, knuckles, fingertips, the list goes on to infinity...
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