My Current Focus: HBP/PE2

Well done!

Very nice steady progress lately.  It looks like completing the reps with extra rest was a great way to build volume.  Excellent work and incredible persistence.  Very inspirational!

Thank you all so much for the motivation, tips and advice. Without you taking the time to pitch in here things would've been much more difficult if not impossible.

I'm finally moving on to PE3 and picking another exercise to focus on.

Turning Point

The turning point for me here was Gordon Franke's post when he analyzed the difference between my form and the athlete's and caught a key difference in forearm angle in relation to the elbow.  As soon as I fixed that I noticed that a whole different muscle group was being activated and I started to see consistent progress after a minor regression in the beginning. Things I tried that did not show much results:

• Grease the Groove
• Extra set at the end
• More rest. More food.
• Moving exercise around to optimize workouts around the pushups.

Keep in mind that I tried all these things while doing the pushups in the original form and not after what Gordon suggested. I think they would've showed more impact had I tried them with the current form.

What would've cut my time from almost 2 years to to a few months?

Routines and persistence are great, but not when you're barking under the wrong tree. My biggest mistake here was setting my mind on what the correct form was (elbows brushing torso on way up and down) and not putting that on the table for discussion.

I was using the wrong form. What I could've done was create a post showing my form from different angles and verify that it's correct before trying all the strategies above. Get OK on the form from the coaches on here then move on to the different strategies above.

Thank you Gordon and thank you all for helping out. Can't wait to get stronger at the next progression.

5 hours ago, Nash Kabbara said:

Thank you all so much for the motivation, tips and advice. Without you taking the time to pitch in here things would've been much more difficult if not impossible.

I'm finally moving on to PE3 and picking another exercise to focus on.

Turning Point

The turning point for me here was Gordon Franke's post when he analyzed the difference between my form and the athlete's and caught a key difference in forearm angle in relation to the elbow.  As soon as I fixed that I noticed that a whole different muscle group was being activated and I started to see consistent progress after a minor regression in the beginning. Things I tried that did not show much results:

• Grease the Groove
• Extra set at the end
• More rest. More food.
• Moving exercise around to optimize workouts around the pushups.

Keep in mind that I tried all these things while doing the pushups in the original form and not after what Gordon suggested. I think they would've showed more impact had I tried them with the current form.

What would've cut my time from almost 2 years to to a few months?

Routines and persistence are great, but not when you're barking under the wrong tree. My biggest mistake here was setting my mind on what the correct form was (elbows brushing torso on way up and down) and not putting that on the table for discussion.

I was using the wrong form. What I could've done was create a post showing my form from different angles and verify that it's correct before trying all the strategies above. Get OK on the form from the coaches on here then move on to the different strategies above.

Thank you Gordon and thank you all for helping out. Can't wait to get stronger at the next progression.

We all have these kind of experiences. My own form nemesis was the planche leans.

Anyway, great to hear you passed mastery.

You could probably have cut down the mastery time to 6-12 months, but hardly just a few months.

Know that you are aware of push up form PE 3 should come with less frustrations. Please, keep us posted that bastard too!

Way to go Nash!

Congrats Nash! I'm glad what I said was helpful. Thanks for putting your experience out there for everyone to learn from.

Congratulations on the persistence. Just do not forget the lesson you have learned!

Hi Nash,

Congrats! It's been a while since you last posted. How is HBP PE3 going?

Cheers,

N

21 hours ago, Neil Gillies said:

Hi Nash,

Congrats! It's been a while since you last posted. How is HBP PE3 going?

Cheers,

N

Thank for checking Neil.

I'm currently in maintenance mode. A disk herniation I developed a couple of years ago (deadlift @ Crossfit) has gotten worse. I'm going through MRI's and going to see some physical therapists soon to see what's safe to do and what isn't. After I sort that out, I'll be back full force. Currently only doing PE2, pull-ups, chin-ups and some lower-back-safe ab workouts.

Will post updates once I resume.

-Nash

Sorry to hear of your injury and I wish you a speedy recovery.

N