Hindu Push up - Best Exercise Ever?

Is the hindu push up the best exercise ever?

Well it is right up there. I give you more information on it here Hindu Push Up along with a video to show you just how to do it, but let me just say this. Push ups are excellent exercises. I mean the military uses them in basic training. I know. I did a lot of them and many times because I must have not gotten an order correct. :-)

But the hindu push up is even better. With a variation they also become dive bombers. I will tell you the difference at the site I mentioned but suffice it to say this is an exercise you should consider throwing into your exercise routine.

Brun Fat Faster

How To Burn Fat Faster

Who wants to spend hours in the gym sweating over boring cardio?  Not me, for one, and now it turns out that working out less can actually make you fitter rather than fatter.

Scientists have discovered that working out in quick bursts at maximum effort is as effective as a non-stop low-intensity routine that takes twice the time. This is because the intense bursts of exercise encourage your body to build a type of muscle fiber that uses up oxygen and fat faster, burning extra calories in the process.

Try alternating 4 four-minute bursts of running at maximum effort with a three-minute recovery periods at a lower intensity.  Cut down on the recovery period times as you improve. I have found that, after a good warm up, running 8 speed bursts for 20 seconds followed by jogging recoveries of 40 seconds works really well. The shorter sprinting time allows you to run hard.

However, it takes time to build up to this.

1000 Reps?

Does 1000 reps seem feasible? Not in one workout but in 1 week.

If you are not an experienced weight lifter, I urge you to pass on this article. This is only for someone who is experienced and maybe wants to get past a plateau or is looking for a challenge. All others need not apply and I'm very serious about that.

About 15 years ago I made a New Year's resolution that I was going to do 50,000 push ups that year. Well I did it but it was awfully tough and I swore I'd never do anything like that again. And I won't. I don't have a desire at my age to try this type of challenge again.

But I am an affiliate of Vince (I get a commission selling his products) and he has excellent products, so I decided to at least pass this on as I know there are many experienced body builders who visit here and may not have heard of this and just might be intrigued. I have a few of Vince's workouts so am always interested in seeing his newest ideas.

I do something maybe similar which is to extend my reps throughout the day. That way I end up with a lot of reps (not 1000 :-)) by the end of the day. I have a perfect pull up bar in my doorway and on my pull up days, I start with 5 sets of as many as I can perform. Then as the day goes by I might go up there another 8 or 10 times and knock out as many reps as possible. By the end of the day my arms and shoulders and back are screaming for mercy.

I know it works. I'm just not sure there are many out there who can do this and this is NOT meant to entice you to buy the product. It's just to get your mind thinking that maybe you can come up with some new challenges in your workouts.

1000 Reps

Chin Ups and Pull Ups

Too many people seem to exclude chin ups and pull ups from your routine. It may be because they don't have a chin up bar or it may be because they are unable to perform them. Keep in mind you can head outdoors and use a tree branch. Or get the Perfect Pullup or another brand bar that installs in the doorway. Prices have plunged since I got mine.

Now if you have access to a bar that hangs in the doorway, try this. The chin up really focuses on the bicep muscle and the pull up hits the shoulders hard.

Close the door. Then perform either movement. The door being closed stops you from any sway whatsoever so the focus is completely on your arms and/or shoulders. I don't care if you can only do 1 to start, give this a try and you will slowly be able to work your way up to 7 - 10 of these and then watch out.

Mad Scientist Muscle

Mad scientist muscle. Sounds like a scientific way to exercise. Well it will cost you a buck to try out the program but let me give you the basics.

You are going to combine 2 body part exercises to work the same muscle by alternating reps. It kind of confuses your muscle I guess. An example?

Let's do the triceps. It's my favorite muscle to work on. Start out by doing 1 rep of skull crushers immediately followed by 1 rep of triceps presses. Keep alternating until you can no longer do the skull crushers and then - I like to continue and do as many additional presses as I can to wear out the triceps.

It works the individual body part considerably hard. Will it work for you? I don't know because I don't know how hard you are willing to work. But I would think it's worth a buck to see if it does?

Mad Scientific Muscle

Six Pack Abs

The elusive six pack abs. We all want them but trying to get that kind of result seems pretty much impossible.

First, if you are looking to get six pack abs, be prepared to work for them. You are going to have to eat the proper diet. This is going to be a big part of your routine. You cannot target weight loss in any one area but, when you lose weight overall, you will lose in the abdominal area as well.

Of course exercise also comes into play. I would like you to head on over to Six Pack Abs and take a look at the articles there. I have provided a lot of information and you just need to provide the inspiration. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Six Pack Abs - The Truth

Learn the truth about getting six pack abs.

Exercise on Vacation

Exercising while on vacation can be tough and it might be hard to motivate yourself. If it's a 3 day vacation you can most likely skip it. If you go for a week or so . . . . .

Not everyone likes to run but running is a part of my exercise routine. Running in new areas makes it enjoyable. When we went to Niagara Falls, I was up while everyone else was sleeping and went for a 3 mile run past Niagara Falls. I went behind it and then ran in different areas and saw some areas I thought the family would enjoy.

I got back to the room before everyone else had woke up and took my shower. I didn't take time away from my family and had an enjoyable session.

One exercise you can do for your strength training portion of your workout is the hindu push up. This works the entire upper body. I like to do as many as I can daily when on vacation.

I go on vacation to rest and relax but a little exercise thrown in keeps my motivated when I get back home. Try it.

Running for Your Health

I've always talked about the importance of adding some running into your workouts. Even if you do small spurts of running during your walks, you will benefit.

But I have more reasons now. My wife has a lot of medical problems and it has caused me to miss running at times and I got lax for the past couple years. Once you start to take time off, it becomes easy to find reasons not to run.

I promised my niece I would run a race with her and so I needed to get back out there and pound the pavement. The results make this well worth it.

I went for my physical this week. Even though I cut down on my blood pressure and cholesterol medications, my blood pressure dropped to a good level and my cholesterol took a considerable dive. My heart rate is back down to the mid 50's. The only thing I have done differently is I started to run regularly again.

Add running or at least some aerobic activity to your workout a minimum of 4 times a week and see if it doesn't improve your overall health and fitness levels.

How To Do a Chin-Up If You've NEVER Done One Before

Guest Article By Nick Nilsson

Performing your very first bodyweight chin-up is a GREAT goal to have.
But it's a goal that not many know exactly how to achieve. Learn
how to build the strength to do your first chin-up here!

NOTE: I think chin-ups and pull-ups are essential to any strength building workouts and that is why this article appears here. 

If you've never done a full bodyweight chin-up before, don't worry! With the right training, just about anybody can work themselves up to performing one or more full range chin-ups. In this article, you'll learn all the steps and progressions you need in order get from zero to one!

And it's NOT going to require pull-downs OR self-spotting machines like the Gravitron (I'm not going to take ANY resistance away from you!).


So first off, we need to distinguish between a chin-up and a pull-up. A pull-up is generally done with a wider grip and an overhand grip on the bar. This is actually a HARDER exercise to perform than the chin-up.
The chin-up is done with a close grip on the bar (hands only a few inches apart) with an underhand grip.
The reasons the wide-grip pull-up is harder is that first, the biceps are not able to contribute as much to the movement because your arms are directly out to the sides. Second, the lats (the muscles of the back) don't have as good of leverage with the arms out in this position.


The chin-up places the lats in a better position to contract and allows the biceps to contribute more to the movement. And this is what we want, because to do that first chin-up, you're going to need ALL the muscle power you can get!


The first consideration to look at when it comes to chinning is your overall bodyweight. If you're carrying a lot of extra weight, it's going to make it that much harder to perform a chin-up because obviously, you're going to have to lift that extra bodyweight up, too!


Dropping extra weight is definitely going to help you achieve your goal of that first chin-up, though it's not 100% necessary...it just means you'll have to build up that much more strength in order to perform the exercise.
When it comes to building up strength for that first chin-up, I prefer to do it over the long-term rather than trying to get there all at once.


The only thing I ask is that you NOT try and perform a full chin-up until I tell you to. That's it. I don't want you trying and failing and getting discouraged. So take it step-by-step, build the foundations...I'll let you know when you're ready.

PHASE 1
So the first step you're going to take is one that is very simple and straightforward...you're going to grab the bar and just HANG from it for as long as you can. That's it!


The reason? I find that a lot of people simply don't have the necessary GRIP strength to perform a full chin-up and building it up with a very specific drill like this helps tremendously.


So at the beginning of every single workout and at the end of every single workout you do (NOT just back workouts but EVERY workout), you'll stand under the chin-up bar, reach up and grab it with a close, underhand grip, then just hang at arms-length for as long as you can until your grip gives out.


This is going to help you get used to supporting your entire bodyweight on the chin-up bar and it's going to build up that very specific grip strength we're looking for.


Repeat this drill until you're able to hang from the chin-up bar for at least 30 seconds before your grip gives out. Once you can do that, you're ready for Phase 2.


** One tip I find very useful is to cross your feet when doing any chin or pull-up related exercise. For some reason, this locks your body into the position more and gives you more pulling strength.

PHASE 2
The second phase of training is going to be partial reps in the bottom range of motion of the chin-up.
Now that your grip strength is built up enough that you can support yourself on the bar for a good length of time, we're going to start adding in movement.


Assume your hanging position. Now pull yourself up 2 or 3 inches and hold for several seconds. Lower yourself back to the hanging position then immediately pull back up a few inches again and hold for several seconds.
Repeat this until either your grip gives out or you can no longer pull yourself up those few inches. Remember, it's a VERY short range of motion but we want to hold that position for at least a few seconds to get target stress on the muscles.


You'll do one set at the beginning of every workout and one set at the end of every workout you do.
I've found this high-frequency approach to work extremely well because it allows your body to gradually adapt over time. You don't set giant goals that you get spooked about and don't think you'll ever achieve - you set small, achievable, repeatable goals that build on each other to get you to the end result.


Once you can do at least 10 reps of this partial-range and pause training, then it's on to Phase 3...

PHASE 3
Now we move on to Negative Training. You may have heard of this before...now you're going to put it to use!
We've built up a foundation of grip strength (which is HUGE) and a foundation of pulling power in the strongest range of motion of the exercise (the bottom few inches). It's time to test yourself against gravity.


Set a chair, bench or box in front of the chin-up bar. Ideally, it should be a height where you can stand on it and put yourself into the top position of the chin-up (chin just above the bar) while still standing on it.
Because what you'll be doing next is gripping the bar, getting into position then lowering yourself down slowly. This is called a "negative rep."


But here's the key that a lot of people miss when it comes to Negative Training...


The idea is to not just passively lower yourself down...the idea is to ACTIVELY FIGHT GRAVITY all the way down!
So when you take your grip on the bar and take your feet off the bench, I want you to try your darndest to pull yourself UP, even though gravity is pulling you DOWN.


This generally will result in a slow downward rep, with you fighting it all the way. When you get to the bottom, let go of the bar, climb back onto the bench and repeat.


In your negative set, perform reps in this fashion until one of two things happens...
1. You grab the bar, take your feet off the bench and can't slow your descent at all, dropping right into the position within a second or two.
2. You get to 6 reps of this negative training in your set.


What do those guidelines mean? In the first one, it means your muscles aren't actually doing any more work and there's no reason to continue. In the second, when we hit 6 reps, that's plenty when it comes to negative training. If, on that sixth rep, you can still control your descent, you're doing well!


So here's the deal...in your workouts (again one set at the beginning and one set at the end of every single workout you do), do this negative training. This will probably amount to 3 to 5 times per week, depending how frequently you're in the gym.


Keep going in this fashion until you are able to do 6 negative reps and on the SIXTH rep, you can still pretty well control your descent and don't just crash down.


Now, for one calendar week, NO chin-up training. You're going to give your muscles a break from the specific training and allow them to recover.

PHASE 4
The last step before hitting chins on your own is the Flexed Arm Hang. Now that your muscles have recovered from the Negative Training, we're going to set that bench back up and get you into the top position of the chin.
Take your feet off the bench and HOLD that top chin position for as long as you can. Hold it until your arms start to straighten and your lats start to give.


Now FIGHT that all the way down until you're hanging at arms-length on the bar. That's it! Just one set and one rep, done ONLY at the beginning of each workout (when you're strongest), not at the end.
Repeat this procedure (one set of hanging at the start of each workout) until you can hang for at least 30 seconds before you start to lower down.


Once you can do that, it's SHOW TIME!

YOUR FIRST CHIN-UP
Give yourself a few days off from the Flexed Arm Hang phase before doing your first chin. You want to be fully recovered and feeling strong!


Grab the bar (at this point, you will be so used to grabbing the chin-up bar that there will be NO fear associated with it, as there may have been before). You'll KNOW you can do this.
Tighten your grip, tighten your muscles, then PULL!


Because of all the background work you've done, I have a feeling you're going FLY right up!
Heck, when you get the first one, if you feel good, try a second one!

And finally, if you do go through this chin-up program and WHEN you do your first chin-up, send me an email and tell me your story! I want to hear from you!
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Nick Nilsson has a degree in Physical Education and Psychology and has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including "Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass", "Metabolic Surge - Rapid Fat Loss," "The Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of," "Gluteus to the Maximus - Build a Bigger Butt NOW!" and "The Best Abdominal Exercises You've Never Heard Of", all designed to maximize the results you get for the hard work you put into your training.
Be sure to grab your FREE copy of Nick's 30-day "Dirty Little Secret Program for Building Muscle and Burning Fat FAST," available at Betterrun!


I regularly chin myself up until my chin is even with the bar. I hang there for as long as I can, doing straight leg raises. This gives me a good abs workout and strengthens my biceps as well.