sstype's pushup WORKOUT

[Jay-X]

Originally posted by Heizen
Because you are acting like big man who doesn't get newbie gains yet put on 8 lbs in a few weeks when you have only been lifting a few months. That was implied when you said I was wrong, and they wern't newbie gains. I am telling you that you are wrong.

no man, you didn't get what i meant; i have just read again my post and, actually, i haven't been clear. what i meant was that those 8 lbs were not the first gains i attained, since i had already got other 8 lbs 'forehand, got it now? i know it's pretty hard, since i'm not motherlanguage, however i hope it's clearer now

 

[sstype]

Alright here is a little update...

I went to my trainer today

FOCUS: UPPER BODY

Did pushups with him adding extra weight on my back.

I then proceded to do 3 sets of wide grip pullups using a Bodyworks 5000 WITH ADDED RESISTANCE, so it was still hard as hell.

I then gripped the bar with vertical parallel fists (for my tri's and bi's) and did 3 sets of those with RESISTANCE.

Then I did an 2 sets of iron crosses. The excersise resembles a gymnyst using those two hanging ropes. Hold a T formation around the handles and bring it down to your torso. That works our the arms as well as the lats.


Overall a good workout...

To help clear up my routine. My trainer agrees that bodybuilders will get bigger faster and have more muscles through protein powders, creatine, glutamine, and possibly steroids BUT

1. its does not do good for our bodies (internal wise)
2. The muscles will immediately start breaking down when we stop working out. They sag. So bodybuilding is something that one must commit for the rest of his life if he wants to maintain an attractive physique.

My trainer wants me to build MUSCLE MEMORY. Internal THEN external muscle. This way the muscle will still stick around even though ya stop working out.

For example, my trainer has not done any serious routines for years. He has grown a belly from all the food, BUT his legs, arms, back, and chest are like freaking BRICKS! So if he really got serious about working out again, he could attain the physique he had in his younger years.

Another reason why ABS are so important in my routine is that they are what make or break the appearance of your body. If someone has an above average upper body but rocking abs and a small waist, the CORE will make the upper body look a lot bigger than it really is. On the other end, if someone has huge chest and arms, but is lacking in the abs department, they will not look as big as they COULD, had their ABS looked better.

Four weeks from now, I will be sure to post some pics up to guage my performance. In the meantime, I will continue posting my workouts for myself to track how I am doing. So feel free to respond or not.

 

[Magico]

Sounds interesting

I also have pretty similar routine, I do pushups with extra weight on my shoulders/back + lots of abs one day, and run appx 2 miles next day and so on.

Considering doing the pushups with my legs on the wall like someone has already suggested in this thread.

Keep us posted please.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Before you started working out, your muscles weren't dense at all. Eventually, through your bodyweight workouts, your muscles become denser, harder, and fill out. This is called newbie gains, and it is possible to achieve with bodyweight exercises. Some people have been known to put on 20-30 lbs during their newbie gain phase.

However, after the first year, your muscles will be filled out and dense. You can't make newbie gains like before, because your muscle tissue is as dense as it is gonna get, and your body has to build new tissue. Those types of gains are SLOW.

Now we're gonna get into resistance training. The human body is an amazing organism, it adapts to anything you throw its way. Right now, your body still hasn't gotten used to the push-up routine, and your muscles are still getting denser and denser. Eventually, your body adapts to your routine, and push-ups become easier and easier. Once that happens, you stop making gains from your push ups. You can up the reps, but you will make minimal size strength/size gains from this. All you will get is endurance (which is useful in martial arts). The key is adding resistance, either by wearing a backpack filled with weights while you do the push ups, or actually getting on a bench and doing some presses. It is only then that you will be able to stress your muscles and force them into growing again.

Next, the problem with bodyweight exercises is that you do not work out all your muscle groups. Your lower back, side and rear deltoid, trapezeoids, serratus wont get much workout. Your quads will get MINIMAL gains from bodyweight squats, and your calves will remain the way they are now. Your arms will not be that great either, as there is only so much you can make them grow from chinups / dips / push ups. Your back will widen a bit from the pullups, but it will never have that thick look.

Why is this a big deal? First of all, you will have a disproportional body.

Second of all, you are missing out on the indirect effect. Arthur Jones, the man who designed the first Nautilus machines discovered this in the 1970s. When a muscle grows in response to an exercise, it will stimulate growth in other muscles. Big muscles will stimulate more growth then smaller ones (hence why squats are so important, as they stimulate a huge muscle group which in turn produces gains in other areas of the body). The more muscles you leave out of your workout routine, the less you will grow. You will notice that people who tend to leave squats out of their workout routines usually never have the size and girth of a guy that has a complete workout routine. Not just that, but they have chicken legs (but thats another story)

With a bodyweight only program, you are working out perhaps 60% of your body. By not stimulating all of your muscles directly, you are not only making minor gains that will make your body look incomplete, but you are also making SLOWER gains on the muscle groups that you are currently working out!

I'm not saying your trainer is teaching you the wrong stuff, but you should educate yourself when it comes to weight training. You should be open to ALL training ideas, not just the ones your coach tells you.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Another reason why ABS are so important in my routine is that they are what make or break the appearance of your body. If someone has an above average upper body but rocking abs and a small waist, the CORE will make the upper body look a lot bigger than it really is. On the other end, if someone has huge chest and arms, but is lacking in the abs department, they will not look as big as they COULD, had their ABS looked better.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG.

Abs DO NOT make your body look bigger or smaller lol. When you put on a shirt, no one can tell whether or not you have abs, but they can tell whether you're big and built, or scrawny like a twig.

If you go to the beach, you will notice that almost every skinny guy has a six pack, but if you called one of them big and built, you'd sound like an idiot.

Then look at powerlifters. Most of them have guts, yet they look huge. Not because of abs, but because of the fact they have 55-60 inch chests, 20-25 inch arms, and like 30 inch quads.

If you want to look big, you have to train the BIG muscle groups. Chest, back, serratus to expand your ribcage, LEGS and then arms. Abs don't make you look bigger, they just make your physique more beautiful to look at.

also, the only reason martial artist stress ab training is because if you don't train them, one kick in the stomach will deprive you of your wind, and make you fall down. Your abs are like your armor, if you work them out, you can get kicked in the stomach all the time, if you dont, one kick will send you to the floor gasping for air.

 

[sstype]

Originally posted by MindOverMatter
Before you started working out, your muscles weren't dense at all. Eventually, through your bodyweight workouts, your muscles become denser, harder, and fill out. This is called newbie gains, and it is possible to achieve with bodyweight exercises. Some people have been known to put on 20-30 lbs during their newbie gain phase.

However, after the first year, your muscles will be filled out and dense. You can't make newbie gains like before, because your muscle tissue is as dense as it is gonna get, and your body has to build new tissue. Those types of gains are SLOW.

Now we're gonna get into resistance training. The human body is an amazing organism, it adapts to anything you throw its way. Right now, your body still hasn't gotten used to the push-up routine, and your muscles are still getting denser and denser. Eventually, your body adapts to your routine, and push-ups become easier and easier. Once that happens, you stop making gains from your push ups. You can up the reps, but you will make minimal size strength/size gains from this. All you will get is endurance (which is useful in martial arts). The key is adding resistance, either by wearing a backpack filled with weights while you do the push ups, or actually getting on a bench and doing some presses. It is only then that you will be able to stress your muscles and force them into growing again.

Next, the problem with bodyweight exercises is that you do not work out all your muscle groups. Your lower back, side and rear deltoid, trapezeoids, serratus wont get much workout. Your quads will get MINIMAL gains from bodyweight squats, and your calves will remain the way they are now. Your arms will not be that great either, as there is only so much you can make them grow from chinups / dips / push ups. Your back will widen a bit from the pullups, but it will never have that thick look.

Why is this a big deal? First of all, you will have a disproportional body.

Second of all, you are missing out on the indirect effect. Arthur Jones, the man who designed the first Nautilus machines discovered this in the 1970s. When a muscle grows in response to an exercise, it will stimulate growth in other muscles. Big muscles will stimulate more growth then smaller ones (hence why squats are so important, as they stimulate a huge muscle group which in turn produces gains in other areas of the body). The more muscles you leave out of your workout routine, the less you will grow. You will notice that people who tend to leave squats out of their workout routines usually never have the size and girth of a guy that has a complete workout routine. Not just that, but they have chicken legs (but thats another story)

With a bodyweight only program, you are working out perhaps 60% of your body. By not stimulating all of your muscles directly, you are not only making minor gains that will make your body look incomplete, but you are also making SLOWER gains on the muscle groups that you are currently working out!

I'm not saying your trainer is teaching you the wrong stuff, but you should educate yourself when it comes to weight training. You should be open to ALL training ideas, not just the ones your coach tells you.

Sorry man let me clarify this. My routine also consists of bodyweight AND using the smith machines for squats, and bowflex-like machines for my legs and upperbody. Not entirely dependant on pushups...again I apologize.

But good response and I agree with you.

We could argue about this forever, but its to early to label this as ineffective, so in a month, i will put some pics up an we can guage my improvements.

 

[sstype]

Ok, an update

I weighed myself in after a week. 162 lbs down 1 lb from 163.

Ok so what did I do wrong this week?


Meal frequency fluctuated. Need to stick with at least 6 meals a day.

Did not get enough sleep. Averaged 6-7 hours for the week. Need to get at least 9 hours.

Skipped pushups on two nights. EVERY night I need to do this.

 

[Heizen]

Originally posted by sstype
Ok so what did I do wrong this week?

You expected big gains out of a inferior program for building mass amounts of muscle. We explained this.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Sorry man let me clarify this. My routine also consists of bodyweight AND using the smith machines for squats, and bowflex-like machines for my legs and upperbody. Not entirely dependant on pushups...again I apologize.

I'd avoid doing squats on the smith, once you start using heavier weights, the chances of you getting injured are insanely high.

Also, stay away from machines if you want to gain solid muscle mass and strength. They make you work through a certain range of motion, and do not involve you stabilizer muscles. Any gains you make will be small.

As for you not making gains,I told you, there is only so much you can gain from a routine like this. Your muscles will get dense and you will get toned, but you wont gain new mass. Whenever you change your mind, PM me and I'll put you on a good routine.

 

[sstype]

alright I worked out at the trainer for a good hour and a half. took my flaxseed oil and I am going to take my calcium supplement. I will be able to have a fourth meal today before I have to sleep. whenever I take a nap during the day (today was hot and humid so I was really tired) it fycks up my eating schedule. I need to attain the discipline to wake up and EAT when i have to.

My trainer tells me that I look a lot better than when I first started. I weighed a good 170 lbs, but most of it was fat and it was all on my stomach and thighs, so it really made me look disproportionate. Now I weigh 162 lbs, abs are very slightly visible beneath a layer of fat, arms are looking more defined and muscular. Need to work more on chest, forearms, and calves. Pushups will continue helping that. I do some weighted calve lifts that will make the calves bigger.

Legs are really coming through nicely though. I do various squat excercises at his place as well as some quad raises with his bowflex machine, NICE and SLOWLY. He had me to this one really wierd excersise where I was facing the machine, handles were on the side. I grabbed them, pulled them down, straightened my arms out like a cross, and then brought them in as if I was doing a front bodybuilder pose flexing the arms in. That really was a workout!


So all in all, it was a very productive workout. Look for me to weigh 163 lbs by the end of this week.

 

[MetalFortress]

"Haha, you are going to put on 12 lbs in 3 months? Natural lifters can hope for that much in a year You better get some mad newbie gains."

It's not uncommon for someone who really knows how to bulk to gain this in less than 3 months. A certified kettlebell instructor and experienced lifter in Albuquerque, NM (Monty Singer) gained 31 pounds in 6 weeks from a full 20-rep squat super-squats routine, and I gained 13 lbs in 6 weeks from a highly goofed up and botched (but still very painful, intense, and effective) version of a similar routine. In both cases, bodyfat percentage remained constant at worst. In both cases, the trainees were not newbies.

Oh, and SS, you look small in your pics. Stop making machines and BW the core of your workout. Do big, heavy lifts that work lots of muscle groups, and do them high volume. Then pepper in the additional lifts here and there to work what hasn't already been worked enough.

 

[Lifeforce]

I'm starting to think this whole thread is a joke.

Seriously, you do almost everything wrong that you can do wrong. Where did you dig up this trainer?

 

[semag]

Hey, you gotta give him props. He's continuing on even tho he gets eaten up on every thread he posts.

 

[sstype]

Originally posted by semag
Hey, you gotta give him props. He's continuing on even tho he gets eaten up on every thread he posts.

yeah, I will keep on lifting despite the critisicm. The worst thing for me to do is to give up when it has only been 1 month. If after 4 months, I do not make significant gains, I will revert back to tradtional weight lifting. But until then, I will continue doing this.

 

[sstype]

ok...update time

I did 3 sets of one legged squats on the smith machine. (this involves the person getting in a lunge postion and bending the knees down to work out each leg)

Afterwards I did 3 sets of quad raises on the bowflex.

Then I did 4 sets of pullups on the bodyworks machine with added resistance cables


Very rigorous workout. My trainer has been seeing improvements all over my body. Shoulders are broader, thighs are less fat, arms are bigger.

He says once I have muscle memory established, then I will go for heavy bulking with traditional weights. I will explode with muscles at that point.

So, wish me success fellas! I will keep ya posted

 

[WORKEROUTER]

SSTYPE, pushups are really only good for the absolute beginner, or for someone who wants to warm up a little before doing heavy benching.

As of now, I DO implement pushups into my routine on chest/triceps day, but they are at the very END of my workout, and I do them weighted (barbell on back). I usually slap a 25 pound barbell on my back and do a couple sets of 10, just to totally fatigue my muscles.

Doing sets of a huge number of unweighted pushups might make you feel real fatigued and all, but it definately won't allow you to achieve what you want.

But if you want to grow awesome mass on your chest and upperbody, then stick to heavy benching (I like dumbbells).

 

[Heizen]

Hahahaha.

So let me get this straight. You preach about pushups being your route to gaining muscle, and now your 'trainer' says you will be using tradition weights? What happened to never being able to attaining your goals with weights without steroids? Or heavy weights being bad for your health? No more 'nice and slowly' being the route to REALLY gaining mass? Me things your trainer knows about as much about building mass with his 'muscle memory' as I know about the history of China: Practicly nothing.

 

[Hendrix]

Pushups are great, you guys should try them!

 

[MetalFortress]

Actually, get your trainer to go grab a bunch of different sized plates. Then get down and have him stick a plate on your upper back, and do pushups with that. Increase the weight as you go.