Ideas for doing weighted push ups

slizzardman said:

You can start off with 30-60s of rest between sets if you need it, I would try 30s and see how that goes. I'd take 2-3 minutes between round 1 and 2.

Ok.

slizzardman said:

The purpose is to not fry your body. We are not capable of back to back maximum efforts, and once you do one you are going to perform at a lower level for a while. That's partially a safety mechanism and partially an energy system thing, depending on what you're doing. Submaximal training always gets better results. It is the basis of the most successful lifting programs in existence, and for good reason. It has always worked, and always will, because it follows the basic rules of how the body works and reacts to stress.

That's interesting. So why have i read pretty much in every bodybuilding article/website that you must "go to failure"?

Warrior said:

That's interesting. So why have i read pretty much in every bodybuilding article/website that you must "go to failure"?

One of the biggest hidden truths in the bodybuilding world is that this type of training is written for people on steriods and have the recovery capacity of about 10 men. This type of training long term will simply lead to over-training and injury. The only question is how long it will take to get there.

I'll admit I haven't read the entire post but has anyone mentioned the possibility of one arm push-ups as per Naked Warrior as supposed to weighted push-ups? You just make them easier by starting at a higher angle and lower as you get stronger (preferably each SSC). As for the tempo question I caught earlier many of the WOD's have example tempo's on them, but the general rule seems to be 5-7 seconds with the majority being in the negative portion (i.e. 2secs up, 4secs down).

You do end up going to failure with the method that Slizzard is prescribing. When he says don't go to failure, he means don't go to failure in any of your sets except your last. If you're aiming to do 5 sets of 5, your 5th rep in every set except the 4th or 5th set should not feel like your last (ie you should be able to do 1-2 more).

This same strategy applies to bodybuilding or weightlifting as well.

rmandawg1 said:

You do end up going to failure with the method that Slizzard is prescribing. When he says don't go to failure, he means don't go to failure in any of your sets except your last. If you're aiming to do 5 sets of 5, your 5th rep in every set except the 4th or 5th set should not feel like your last (ie you should be able to do 1-2 more).

This same strategy applies to bodybuilding or weightlifting as well.

Submaximal training huh? Does SSC count as submaximal training?

slizzardman said:

definitely suggest that you figure out which pull ups are hardest for you and work them by alternating the hardest with the easiest, then the second hardest with the second easiest, with the medium ones last. For me that would be wide grip, chin up, close grip, close grip chins, mountain climber/parallel grip and finally regular pull ups. You may be different, and if so you would need to re-arrange things accordingly.

I think I got them, although right now I don't do wide grip pulls because I don't like them; last time I tried them they felt bad and weird, like I was at too much of a disadvantaged position to be doing them correctly.

I think for me they would be close grip pulls, regular chins; mixed grip chins (hands touching each other), neutral chins (palms facing each other); close grip chins, regular pulls.

I'll have to do the first round with 1 side on the mixed grip chins and the second round with the other side.

Well, i'll try them out tomorrow, monday, see how it goes.

If you have trouble with wide grip pull ups the most likely reason is that your lower traps are weak and/or inactive. I would search google for ways to work on your lower traps, work on wide grip lat pulldowns as an assistance exercise, and develop the ability to perform proper wide grip pull ups.

It's pretty important to have strong lower traps as they are a large part of what keeps your shoulder stable in horizontal pressing. Everyone focuses on rotator cuff, and they are important, but the shoulder socket is on the shoulder blade. You can have the most stable socket in the world but if you can not hold the shoulder blade itself in the position it needs to be in you will not be able to express your strength properly. This ends up causing people to find other ways to perform whatever they are trying to do (like a planche, for example), which tends to lead to plateaus and injury.

slizzardman said:

If you have trouble with wide grip pull ups the most likely reason is that your lower traps are weak and/or inactive. I would search google for ways to work on your lower traps, work on wide grip lat pulldowns as an assistance exercise, and develop the ability to perform proper wide grip pull ups.

It's pretty important to have strong lower traps as they are a large part of what keeps your shoulder stable in horizontal pressing. Everyone focuses on rotator cuff, and they are important, but the shoulder socket is on the shoulder blade. You can have the most stable socket in the world but if you can not hold the shoulder blade itself in the position it needs to be in you will not be able to express your strength properly. This ends up causing people to find other ways to perform whatever they are trying to do (like a planche, for example), which tends to lead to plateaus and injury.

What the heck, i'll give them another go then. I think i could bust out 6 or 7 the last time, don't remember. But if they are way lower in reps than the rest then i don't know haha.

Damn bro! I tried out the little pullups workout right now and i could only do 1 round!

I went with 5 reps and with 30s between sets and i barely finished the first round, no way i was going to be able to do the second one 3 minutes later.

So what do i do? Keep doing 1 round? Or do less reps?

Seriously, man. Do the WOD, scaled to your ability. There's a reason why it's there. It works

Warrior said:

Damn bro! I tried out the little pullups workout right now and i could only do 1 round!

I went with 5 reps and with 30s between sets and i barely finished the first round, no way i was going to be able to do the second one 3 minutes later.

So what do i do? Keep doing 1 round? Or do less reps?

5 reps is too much for you right now, find a number you can do, even if its just one.

Warrior said:

Damn bro! I tried out the little pullups workout right now and i could only do 1 round!

I went with 5 reps and with 30s between sets and i barely finished the first round, no way i was going to be able to do the second one 3 minutes later.

So what do i do? Keep doing 1 round? Or do less reps?

That's good! Keep round 1 at 5 reps and try round 2 with 3-4 reps. Don't try going to 6 reps until both round 1 and 2 are 5 reps. Does that make sense? It will come faster than you think.

Echo doing 5 sets of one if you need to. In a few weeks you'll be doing 5 set of 2, then 3...then onward and upward!

slizzardman said:

That's good! Keep round 1 at 5 reps and try round 2 with 3-4 reps. Don't try going to 6 reps until both round 1 and 2 are 5 reps. Does that make sense? It will come faster than you think.

Alright man, will do.

I don't know if it had anything to do with it, but when i did them last night i was feeling very dizzy from a workout i had done an hour before, i had done the ring curls and wall hspu's but when i did the hspu's i think i fell back to the floor once or twice so i got back up fast and finished the reps, i think this got me dizzy. I was feeling dizzy for like 4 hours after that! But i did the pulls anyway and i felt unusually tired and had some problems breathing while doing them. We'll see if i do better next time feeling 100%.

Yikes, more water and food!!! Hopefully that was all that was going on.

slizzardman said:

Y This will, obviously, make the reps done in this fashion completely worthless for elbow conditioning, but for building your pecs and shoulders this is the way to go. Please understand, I am trying to give you the tools to get bigger muscles. Please do not mistake this with correct gymnastic conditioning, because it is not. However, not everyone cares about the straight arm strength and there's nothing wrong with that.

This is very interesting. I always thought that PPPs rather tax the shoulders than the pecs. How do PPPs compare to weighted Push Ups in terms of hypertrophy?

Depends, I mean to me PPP are harder on the chest than regular push ups and weighted PPP are even HARDER, so I expect to see some interesting chest size gains over the next 6 months from doing weighted PPP.

Thanks for the answer! I was running out of weight on my weighted push ups, so I am quite glad that topic came up

Rower said:

Thanks for the answer! I was running out of weight on my weighted push ups, so I am quite glad that topic came up

Running out of weight? How much were you doing with?

35 kg. I train at home, and that's all the weight I have.

Rower said:

35 kg. I train at home, and that's all the weight I have.

I wish i were able to add that much weight. What were you using, a weightvest?

They don't sell weightvests over here, and ordering one online would be super expensive because of the weight. The best i can think of right now is using a backpack and putting plates in it.

I'm just starting out doing declined pushups with a bench and push up bars, it's pretty much like PB pushups except my feet are a little higher than the bars, they're not at the same height as my hands like in the PB. I'm starting out with a 10kg plate on my back but pretty soon i'll need to add more because i'm reaching the limit very fast.

Have you ever thought about building a Sandbag and using it as a bagpack?

Those are very easy to build und super cheap...

http://www.rosstraining.com/sandbagconstructionkit.pdf

I have used one for almost a year. I did complexes and all kinds of lifts. But it can get quite messy, so that's not really an option for those who train in their rooms.

Just put the sand in doubled up trashbags or contractor bags and squeeze the air out before you tie them! That way you can get all the sand you want into that bag without making a mess.

I have found that making up to 25 lb bags works well with doubled up contractor bags. WIth regular trash bags I would do 5 or 10 lbs. You can think of about 10 oz (1 and 1/4 cup) of sand in a measuring cup being about 1 lb. 8 oz in the measuring cup is 13.75 oz.

That sandbag looks like a good idea, i'll try and make one.

Although, i only need something for pushups right now, because i have a dip belt that i will use for pullups and the like.

For pushups, you think you could put some straps in it or would you just put it on your back?

Also, i'm no where near using a lot of weight for pushups, but i'm thinking, once you get to a decent weight, i don't know maybe 50lb or 75 like you, won't it be a problem or troublesome to put it on your back? Like i said im no where near that weight right now but i just think about it if i get there eventually, because i always workout alone in my house and i won't have someone there putting the sack on me.

slizzardman said:

Depends, I mean to me PPP are harder on the chest than regular push ups and weighted PPP are even HARDER, so I expect to see some interesting chest size gains over the next 6 months from doing weighted PPP.

So, how is it coming along?

I am contemplating to join a gym and start lifting again. Since I don't do (weighted) squats, the only real reason would be to start benching. If it turns out that PPP are just as effective, I will save a lot of time and some money...

I haven't been doing this, been focusing completely on more foundational work, specifically ring strength preparation and slowly working into rope climbing work. I have made a few new takes on the rope climbs that I like a lot, they are very good for beginning progressions that scale pretty much all the way to a single arm rope climb. Very different from what we do at the seminars, but same general concept: Scale slowly!