Question:

I have finally decided to start working out. For me to succeed in this endeavor I need to have a plan to follow to ensure my continued progress. What are your recommendations to beginners on a workout plan? For equipment, my apartment complex has a lat pull down, a bench, and two sets of dumbells, 15 and 30 lbs.

Answer:

Way to go in making the decision to start working out and seeking a plan. These two steps are absolutely crucial.

If you’re looking for a quick starter routine, do this:

A1. Pushups, 3X10-12

A2. DB Squat to Bench, 3X10-12

B1. One Arm DB Row, 3X10-12

B2. Stationary Lunge, 3X10-12

C1. Lat Pulldown (medium underhand grip), 3X10-12

C2. DB Bench Press - See how many reps you can get with your 30 lb db’s. If it’s in the 12-15+range, do 2X12-15. If it’s in the 6-12 range, you can do 3-4 sets.

D1. Bent over DB row, 3X10-12 (reps will depend on weight of DB’s)

D2. Plank - 3X30 sec.

With movements under the same letter, alternate between the exercises with a 30-45 second rest period. For example, for A, perform a set of 10-12 push-ups, rest 30 seconds, and do a set of squats. Alternate between these two movements three times and then move on to B.

Make sure you’re progressing and keep the weight as heavy as possible for the designated number of reps. With the dumbbell movements, you’ll likely have to use higher reps due to your lack of heavier weights. The key is to constantly try to set new records for yourself - whether in the amount of weight (preferable) or the number of reps.

With this method of grouping your exercises, you’re optimizing your rest of each body part and making the best use of your time. (Notice you’re not wasting any time standing around).

You should be able to get through this workout in under 20-30 minutes. This doesn’t mean it will be easy. Do this 3 days a week and you’ll get stronger, and your conditioning should improve as well due to the short rest periods.

If you need demos of the various movements, you can browse this site or check out you tube. Good luck!

Have a specific question related to strength training or program design? Ask Doug!

Technorati Tags: bodyweight-training, exercise for beginners, exercise selection, Program Design

I’ve been itching to experiment with some video on here so here you go! An explosive clap push-up, a standard medicine ball push-up, an explosive medicine ball push-up, and an elevated feet push-up.

Enjoy these push-up variations.

Related Posts

How do I increase my push-ups for the military?

9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 1)

9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 2)

Technorati Tags: bodyweight-training, exercise demo, push-ups, pushup progressions

In Part 1, I wrote my first four ways to increase the difficulty of a push-up. Now I’ll include the next five:

5. Use a narrow grip: This one is simple, but effective. Try putting your hands closer together. This increases the difficulty, while also putting more emphasis on your triceps. A side effect of performing a push-up with a close grip is that it allows you to get more flexion at the elbow join, which automatically increases your range of motion. And we already know from my previous list that a greater range of motion increases the difficulty. That makes the close grip push-up kind a double threat.

6. Elevate your feet. In a conventional push-up, you are lifting about 2/3 of your overall bodyweight. When you elevate your feet, this percentage goes up. Like all bodyweight exercises, the greater percentage of your weight that you’re lifting, the more absolute weight you’re lifting, making the movement more difficult. Start by placing your feet on a something fairly low like an aerobic step. To increase the intensity, slowly add height to the step. As you become more advanced, you’ll progress to placing your feet on a bench. Before progressing to this harder version, make sure that you can keep your legs, torso, and neck in a straight line without letting your hips sink. Once you can perform 10-15 reps with perfect form at a certain height, you can raise your feet to the next level.

7. Place more emphasis on one arm. The one-arm push-up is an extremely difficult variation that most people won’t be able to perform. It requires an extremely strong core along with adequate upper body strength. Until you can do the complete one-arm version, you can progress by simply placing more emphasis one one arm when you go up. An easy way to do this is to come down normally, shift your weight at the bottom so that one hand is supporting a greater percentage of your weight, then come up, pushing mostly with the “working” arm. As you get better, you can put less of your weight on the “non-working” arm.

8. Place only one foot on the ground. This makes the push-up more difficult by narrowing your base of support. This version isn’t going to increase the loading on your upper body, but it will greatly intensify the use of your abs in keeping your body in a straight line. If you’re pressed for time, try this variation is especially useful as you’re killing two birds with one stone in that you’re working your upper body and your core.

9. Place your hand(s) on an unstable surface. It has been shown that placing your hands on an unstable surface during a push-up increases muscular activation. You have a few options here - I suggest starting by using two medicine balls, with your hands at shoulder width. To keep it fun, you can experiment further some more variations. Here are some to get your started:

• Change the width of your grip by putting the balls closer or further apart.

• Place one hand on a med ball and the other on the ground (This puts more emphasis on one arm).

• Place both hands on the same medicine ball in order to get a close grip effect (very challenging).

• Perform explosive push-ups one one ball by exploding from with one hand on the ball with your body on one side, up and over so the hand that was on the ball is now on the ground and your body is on the opposite side.

• Use one or more stability balls instead of a medicine ball.

If you haven’t checked out Part 1, go check out the first four variations there.

Do you have any other push-up exercises that you’ve tried and would like to share? Post a comment and let me here them!

And make sure you check out the podcast below.

Have a specific question about strength training, fat loss, or nutrition? Ask Doug!

Technorati Tags: bodyweight-training, exercise selection, push-ups, pushup progressions, strength training

Think you’ve graduated from using the push-up in your program? You may want to reconsider. There are many benefits of including the push-up in your program including better core stability, upper body strength, and shoulder health.

The reason some lifters think they’ve graduated from this exercise is that the loading just isn’t the same as on the bench press as you’re only lifting 2/3 of your bodyweight.

Not only do these variations take a great exercise and progress it, but they can serve to add variety to your program and keep things interesting. Here are the first four ways to progress the difficulty of the conventional push-up.

1. Explosive Push-up –> Do you remember the clap push-up? From the up position, come down as in a normal push-up and push off the ground fast enough so that you’re upper body comes off the ground, allowing your to clap your hands in mid air. You don’t have to do the clap, and can instead decide to push as hard as possible. These will get you fatigued quickly and are great for upper body power.
2. Use Chains. I see many guys trying to balance plates on their back in an attempt to add external loading. I’ve tried this, and found it to be a pain in the butt. If you have access to chains, you can drape these over your back. You can make them even more difficult by simply adding more chains or moving them closer to your neck. It helps to have a partner help you out with these.
3. Use Bands. Take about a 1 inch band, loop your hands through the ends with the middle of the band behind your back. Get in normal push-up position so that your hands are over the ends of the band, keeping it in place while you perform the push-up.
4. Increase your range of motion. Putting your hands on blocks or using dumbbells will allow you to go down further on your push-ups. You’d be surprised at the difference a few more inches makes in doing your push-ups.

I’ll include the next 5 ways of increasing the difficulty of your push-ups in the next post so stay tuned!

In the mean time, if you’d like to know how to increase the amount of push-ups you can do, be sure to check out my post, How do I increase my push-ups for the military?. It contains a useful link to Bill Hartman’s blog, which goes into some great detail.

P.S. Be sure to check out the audio below.

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Related Posts

9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 2)

Video Demo of Push-up Variations

How do I increase my push-ups for the military?

Technorati Tags: bodyweight-training, exercise selection, push-up progressions, push-ups, strength training

Question:

Hey, Doug! Whenever I’ve gone to the gym to do high interval training, I usually lift (three of the six days per week). I’m in pretty nice shape (15″ toned biceps, 42″ chest), but I want to take it to the next level. For the last 5 years, I’ve used machines, and they seem to have worked very well. That is, up until now. Is there a point where you can “max out” or should I switch to the more traditional free weights?

Answer:

Great job committing to a regular training plan and sticking to it, and congrats on seeing results in the form of increases in strength and muscle mass.

Before I get directly into your question, I’d like to get in to why I prefer free weights over machines by starting with a question of my own..

When moving an object or your own body in real life, is it on a fixed axis where all you have to do is apply force?

The answer is no–you have to use coordination and balance along with your overall strength in order to perform real life movements.

Machine movements have very little in common with real life movements like picking things up, bending down, lifting stuff over your head, etc. Not only does this type of training not train balance and coordination, but it renders your stabilizer muscles, tendons, and ligaments useless because the axis of the machine is acting in place of these stabilizers.

Imagine for a moment learning to walk as a child. You must go through the steps of the learning process–standing up, taking a step, falling over, trying again, etc. etc..

Now imagine this..

Instead of learning to walk in real life, (which is difficult) you are restricted to using four machines to build up your leg muscles so that you will be strong enough to walk. With one machine, you have to extend your knee, with another machine, you flex your knee , with another machine you extend at the hip, and with the final machine you flex at the hip. You could add resistance (instead of gravity) so that you could build strength in your leg muscles.

What’s going to happen when you take the machine away and try to walk?

You guessed it..

You’re going to fall flat on your face.

Sure, you have built up “strength” in your main leg muscles, but your stabilizers are extremely weak and, more importantly, you don’t have the coordination to carry out such a complex task.

The same principle applies to your strength training.

I’ve read some articles that do a great job explaining the importance of using free weights in much more detail (unfortunately I don’t have them with me), but what I can tell you is it important to be able to move your own bodyweight and other weights without the security of a fixed axis. Using free weights forces you to actually develop the coordination and balance that you need in order to carry over in to the real world movements.

Isn’t that just as important if not more important than training purely for aesthetic purposes? If not, it should be, in my humble opinion.

Also by using free weights, your tendons, ligaments, and stabilizer muscles will develop properly, which will allow you to lift more weight, which will get you stronger and prevent injury, which will actually allow you to develop more muscle and to “look the part”.

So go out and start learning some basic free weight movements like squats, deadlifts, lunges, pushups, pullups, and rows. You’ll likely have to begin with lighter weights than you do on your machines until you develop the coordination and appropriate stabilizers to execute these movements safely with more weight–this can be tough to swallow at first, but it will be worth it in the long run. Leave your pride at the door!

To answer your question more directly, in addition to being healthier you’ll definitely have more room to grow in mastering the use of free weights–especially when you’ve implemented an optimal strength or muscle building program.

I hope this helps. As always, questions and comments are encouraged on the blog!

Technorati Tags: bodyweight-training, exercise selection, free weights, functional training, machines, stabilizers, strength training

I try not to write too much about myself on this blog. But, I’d thought I’d share my workout today at the playground. (yes, you heard that right).

The local gym where I regularly lift has been shut down for maintenance for the ENTIRE WEEK. I was so worried about how my clients were going to stay on track this week, I almost forgot about myself!

So here is my Saturday playground routine. The volume was pretty low, but I think the heat came into play, which didn’t help.

Warmup

-High Knees

-Butt Kickers

-A Skips

-B Skips

-Right and left side shuffles

-Backward running

-Single leg hops

-45 Degree walking lunges

-Side to side toe touches

-60 Yard Accelerations to a full sprint

The Workout

1A- Pullups (neutral grip on monkey bars)–> 12, 7

1B- Pushups–> 25, 20

1C-set 1, Stepups–> 15 each leg ; set 2, Split Jumps, 20 (10 each leg)

That’s it, short and sweet. I didn’t exactly have my A game today, but I was breathing hard the whole time and hopefully Monday I’ll be ready to pick up where I left off last week in the weight room.

Stay tuned, as I’m working on a post about general program design for the intermediate weight lifter.

Technorati Tags: bodyweight-training, maintenance, Program Design, workout-report