FITNESS UPDATE: Pushups

 One of the weakest aspects of my "Insanity" workouts is the pushup. When it comes time to do any kind of pushup in the routine, I am toast. I can't do as many, as fast as Sean T demands, and I wind up having to do them off my knees, or slower, or not as deep. Or I just hit point of failure long before the set is done.

I have a long, on-again, off-again relationship with the pushup. Almost always I have been able to squeeze out at least ten, but doing any more than that has required a period of regular exercise, doing them every day, and complimenting the work with other exercises for the arms, chest, and shoulders.

There are many different ways that people do even the most basic pushup. This is a pretty good video of one very effective method.

Some years ago there was a Facebook mem going around that said "One 'like' = 5 pushups" I posted it, and got  enough likes to do 150 pushups. I turned on my camera and was able to crank out 50 before failure. I promised that I would train up to 150.

Someone sent me a link to a website that had a training regimen (no "regime." Learn your vocabulary, all you fitness gurus) that promised to get you top 100 pushups. It started from whatever number you said you could do now, then gave you a place to start and a progression that would get you there if you trained five days a week.

(I can't find that website any more)

For me this began with doing four set of 16, 20, 20,and 16 (I think) with timed rests between sets. Each day it added more pushups. I got to the point where I could do about 40 reps per set (give or take with each set), but that workout near killed me. I decided to take a rest day, and never got back to it. But 40x4 is 160, so while it wasn't in one set, I did reach my 150 in a single session.

I am nt sure if this is the same website, but it promises the same result: 100 pushups.

In time I learned different kinds of pushups. 

• There are "Hindu pushups" that involve going through a couple of yoga positions. 
• There are pushups that alternate with swinging your arm and body up sideways. 
• There are "moving pushups" where you "walk" sideways in pushup position, doing a pushup between "steps." 
• You can do pushups on your fists, and fingers, and with your hands together, making a "diamond" with your thumbs and forefingers. 
  
• You can do pushups while in a "downward dog" or "pike" position (there is a difference) in a variety of ways, and get a different result from each one.
• There are "man-makers," in which you are holding on to dumbells on your way down and up, then pull one of them up like a "row" when you get to the top. 
  
• You can swing the dumbell up in front of you when you get to the top,  instead of "rowing" it up.
• There are "pushup jacks" Where you spread you legs like doing a jumping jack when you go down, and bring them together again on the way back up.
• There is the "in-out abs" pushup, in which you start in a squat with hands on the floor, kick your feet out and do a pushup, then jump your legs back into a squat.
• There are even pushups that you can do while squatting and by going to to one elbow after another.

Each of these different kinds of pushups hits different muscles and muscle groups. Some give more of a cardio burn than others. but all of them have in common the shoulder, chest, and triceps work that defines "pushing."

So when I can't do these pushups in the routines, I felt that I am cheating myself of the full potential benefit of the program. So I decided to start doing more pushups, more often, on my own time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are a few videos with a variety of push-ups in each of them:

 

 

 

 

Now, at my night job, I try to do at least three sets of 20, or to failure. I try to mix up the type of pushups. Lately I have been doing the "swinging the arm up" type, the "walking" type, and the "Hindu" style, in addition to the regular ones. I also try to throw in a set at home when I am bored, or distracted or have just completed some small task, like washing the dishes or completing a portion of my day-job work, or didn't get a chance to do them at my night job.

So far my top number of reps without stopping is 29, but if I miss a few days, that number goes down. I guess I just don't have a strong enough "base layer" of fitness to be able to keep up that level fitness without constantly working at it.

So I will continue to fight the card that nature gave me, and may I will get to 50 reps soon. Maybe I will even get to the 150 I promised! Won't that be a sight!

FITNESS UPDATE: Insanity progression

Well, I made it through the first stage of "Insanity," the Beachbody workout program that I have been doing for the past couple of months. It only took me six weeks to get through the four-week stage of the program, being as I could only work out 3-5 times a week instead of the 6 days a week the program has scheduled. I don't know if this negatively impacted my progress. I do know that I did see some progress, because the "Fit Test" showed gains on most of the moves. Also, I was able to do some of the exercises better at the end than the first time around.

During the "recovery week," the program provided a specific workout to do five days in a row. It took me two weeks to get in five workout days, and I decided to alternate the ":recovery" workouts with the "upper body weight training" workouts, because I want more upper body weight training. 

I don't think this is fighting against the intention of the program too much for a couple of reasons:

1. The recovery workouts, both in this period and once a week during the regular program, are low on the cardio, as is the UBWT. 

2. Those recovery workouts focus on building strength, as does UBWT.

The one big difference is that the recovery workouts really focus on building leg strength, while the UBWT, of course, is about the upper body.

Leg strength is really important in building cardio, it seems. Most of the exercises involve variants of running, jumping, hopping, and squatting. I have found that my ability to complete a set is dependent on my cardio and my leg muscle endurance being both better, and at an equal level. I can tell when my lungs and heart are not done but the legs won't move any more, and when the legs can still do more, but I can't breathe and my heart is about to explode.

I am still using the Indian Clubs to augment my shoulder-arm workout. In fact, as I get stronger, I use them more. Although their weight combined is barely equal to my daily weight range, I can feel the resistance and it does add marginally to  my fatigue, but particularly in the shoulders.

I also notice that the way the clubs are held affects the exercize. When held at the bottom of the handle, the clubs can be swung, creating the opportunity to exercise my fingers and sword-gripping muscles (hand and forearm). Also, when at arms length, they feel heavier. If I choke up on them, I am still holding the same weight, but the stress is different. In some moves where I am supposed to pretend I am punching something, I adapt to striking them with the clubs. SCA-style.

More to come...

FITNESS UPDATE 7/23/2019

So, again it has been a while since my last post. I can let the cat out of the bag now. The objective for which I was training was the TV show "Knight Fight." I had been invited to be on the show and, despite my torn rotator cuff (more about that someday) figured I would be the "(my age) comeback kid." I worked out like a fiend to get in shape, even feting back into the full-contact arena at Sword Class NYC. In the end, however, they decided to cut me before my episodic was to be shot, and I would up watching it from Emblem Sports Bar with the members of the NY chapter of the Armored Combat League (including several fighters who were on the show).

But then I got cast in some plays, and was not making it to the gym as often, so my fitness diminished. I made up for it a bit by bicycling to the rehearsals, and the rehearsals did include a strong dance element, which was good. But when spring came back around, those jogs around the lawn were tougher than hey had been at the end of last summer.

So about two months ago I made the decision to get back on the fitness track. I did not feel like I was in the "top 5" of the worst shape of my live (the bicycling and dance were keeping me active) but I was definitely "fatter" than I have ever bee. Those 34-waist pants have not closed around my waist in a few years now. My serratus anteriors had disappeared. I had that fat roll under my arms that connects the back to the chest that football linemen have.

Now, I still have that torn rotator cuff (looking at surgery very soon), so there are certain things I cannot do with my right arm. But I still have those "Insanity" workout DVDs, so I have been using them.

More to come.