bodyweight exercises?

[Toby]

There are two parts to every lift, extension and contraction. It is known that the human body is capable of "lifting" 130-140% of the concentric phase during the eccentric phase. This is a failsafe mechanism - you can always (relatively safely) lower what you can lift. You can use this to your advantage. Get into the start position and lower down on one arm. Do your one rep. Try again - lower under control. If you can't press up again, then use both arms and get back in the start position. Try again - lower under control. Repeat for x reps. I have used negatives in the past, specifically to improve my weighted pullups. Still do some occasionally and it's a good way to break plateaus. As to what sort of program to do - that's an involved question. To give you a start, I follow a program commonly referred to as PTP. 2 sets of 5 reps, 4 compound exercises, 5 mornings a week. It's a strength program. Most strength programs will focus on 5 or less reps per set and up to 5 or so sets. Most will focus on compound exercises.

[IronFist]

There are two parts to every lift, extension and contraction. It is known that the human body is capable of "lifting" 130-140% of the concentric phase during the eccentric phase. This is a failsafe mechanism - you can always (relatively safely) lower what you can lift. You can use this to your advantage. Get into the start position and lower down on one arm. Do your one rep. Try again - lower under control. If you can't press up again, then use both arms and get back in the start position. Try again - lower under control. Repeat for x reps. I have used negatives in the past, specifically to improve my weighted pullups. Still do some occasionally and it's a good way to break plateaus. As to what sort of program to do - that's an involved question. To give you a start, I follow a program commonly referred to as PTP. 2 sets of 5 reps, 4 compound exercises, 5 mornings a week. It's a strength program. Most strength programs will focus on 5 or less reps per set and up to 5 or so sets. Most will focus on compound exercises.

What Toby forgot to say is:

Concentric phase = contraction (when the muscle shortens)
Eccentric phase = extension (when the muscle lengthens) (aka negative)



So for example, if you're doing a pushups, the concentric part is when you're pushing yourself up, and the eccentric part is when you're lowering yourself. Unless you're using pulleys or machines that change things up, the eccentric part is almost always the part where gravity is pulling you or the weight back down.

So yeah, if you can only do one rep of one armed pushups, you could do your one rep, and then do some negatives, meaning get in the top position and slowly lower yourself down. You won't be able to go back up, so after you reach the bottom get back in the starting position and do another negative, etc. Make sense?

[monkeyboxing]

Hmmm... do you think it would be possible to increase endurance/strength concurrently by doing endurance exercises (standard pushups) on one day and doing strength exercises (one armed pushups/negative reps) on other days?

[spiraler]

Yes, but not much of a chest developer. I just wouldn't do them exclusively.

actually i can attest to that, i always had problems with developing my lower chest, trying to get the defining line under my pecs, the lower chest, i found that holding a handstand against the wall with the body straight yet slightly arched worked wonders for that area. not really good for the upper chest but good for the shoulders and upper mid back, at least thats what i feel contracting during the exercise.

[spiraler]

One more thing, scrapper seems more designed for endurance than strength. Also, spiraler, your link doesn't work.

see other related arts>tao. its a forum thread.

[Toby]

... my lower chest ...

Is that like your lower abs?

i found that holding a handstand against the wall with the body straight yet slightly arched worked wonders for that area. not really good for the upper chest but good for the shoulders and upper mid back, at least thats what i feel contracting during the exercise.

Have you ever tried doing pushups to work your back and biceps? I find it mostly a bicep exercise myself ...

[Vash]

****, Toby called it before me.

*hangs head in shame*

[Toby]

10 fucking characters

[Mo Lung]

Hmmm... do you think it would be possible to increase endurance/strength concurrently by doing endurance exercises (standard pushups) on one day and doing strength exercises (one armed pushups/negative reps) on other days?

You can do that, but at some point one will start to reduce returns on the other and vice versa. In all honesty, for a martial artist, having a good balance of strength and endurance is ideal, so a lot of people train concurrently. If you want maximal gains in one or the other, you'll need to reassess at some point.

I told you guys it was getting Extrodinaire in here. Perhaps they've both merged into one super troll?

[spiraler]

Is that like your lower abs?

Have you ever tried doing pushups to work your back and biceps? I find it mostly a bicep exercise myself ...

lower chest.... under the nipples in the man titty region.



yeah i agree, it does rip the hell out of the bicep, i feel it along my mid back region, a prob area for me, it tends to tighten up a little to much.

[IronFist]

Um... Toby... I'm scared.

[Mo Lung]

It's ok - we've briefly slipped into reverso world.

[Toby]

IP check? I'm guessing it's Eyebrows' brother.

[Ho Chun]

There are various ways to do push ups. Wide grip push ups will work the chest and biceps more. Hands in close, running your elbows along the sides of your body will work the triceps. Try doing 10 regular push ups then flip over and do 10 good crunches (crunch up and squeze the abs) then flip back over and repeat. Do a total of 30 push ups and 30 crunches. Make all of them slow and controled.

There is an exercise on www.noweightsworkout.com called an "arm grab". This exercise will increase your punching power by 50%. The Chinese exercises are all meant to increase fighting strength, so a arm grab is putting tension in the same manner as your punch, much like swinging 2 baseball bats when you are in the "on deck" circle, then you put one bat down and you're swinging the 1 bat with more speed and getting more power.

The arm grab is pushed out in line with your sternum. When you punch in line with your sternum, your pectorul muscle becomes hard. That's why kung fu people punch at the sturnum, karate people punch at the solar plexus.

Hope this helps
www.noweightsworkout.com

[Jhapa]

You could probably do a search on this site and find a bunch.

1 leg squats or pistols.

what is pistols?