A few days ago a reader asked how to do a Hindu Pushup. I decided to write a post on it as the Hindu Pushup is one of the best exercises for building full body strength and power. It is perfect for athletes, bodybuilders and martial artists.

Where did the Hindu Pushup originate?

The Hindu Pushup, as the name might indicate, came from India. It is a variation on the Yoga Asana called “Salute to the Sun”. This is my absolute favorite yoga movement which is intended for the early mornings when you wake up. It gets the blood flowing and strentches the spine, hamstrings, abs and chest.

The Hindu Pushup is done a little faster and the motivation is strength training. The idea is to vary the regular pushup so that you can target more muscles and make the exercise a little harder.

What muscles does the Hindu Pushup work?

The next thing we need to look at is what muscles the Hindu Pushup targets.

As you are well aware, the main muscles any pushup targets are the pectorals and the triceps. The Hindu Pushup is no different. However, it also targets so additional muscles such as the glutes, deltoids, rhomboids, forearms, abs and calfs. It is basically a full body exercise that works in a very large range of motion. This makes it a perfect exercise for martial artists, athletes and sportspeople.

How do you do a Hindu Pushup?

It is quite important to do the Hindu Pushup with perfect technique. It can be quite bad for the spine and neck if it is done incorrectly. For this reason I advise you to go to a qualified yoga instructor and ask them to teach you according to the traditional methods.

This is the best video on Youtube to learn how to do the Hindu Pushup. He has excellent technique and goes through the motion slowly.

Here are some essential pointers:

• In the starting pose your head should be in line with your shoulders and your shoulders should be turned out. Your butt should be high in the air as if a crane was lifting it up. Your heels should be shoulder width apart and feet flat on the ground with straight legs. This is hard.
• Breathe into your stomach
• In the moving stage you should run your chin along the ground and breathe out
• At the final position stretch your abs and neck up. Keep your shoulders down away from your head. Tense your glutes to protect your lower back

Here is the video. Take this exercise very slow and learn how to do it before going too hard.

Are you bench pressing the same weight you were a month ago? Or perhaps you are benching the same amount you were in high school? Might sound silly but a lot of my friends rave about the bench press while never really pushing it beyond the “testosterone teen” levels. This article will show you how I take my bench press to all new weights quickly and safely with a few simple techniques.

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1. Go from flat to incline

The thing about the flat bench press is that it works a lot of your shoulders. I know a lot of you “pure” bench press lovers out there are going to disagree with me but the incline bench is a better option if you want to hit more of your pectoral muscles. While you might not be able to handle as much weight as you did on the flat bench, the incline will work areas of your chest you have long neglected with your addiction to the flat bench.

Once you spend a few weeks pumping out incline bench presses you will find you are able to handle more weight on the flat bench.

2. Drop the weight and do 100 reps

The 100 repetition set is something I like to do every now and then. I remember talking to a strong man in India when I was on holiday and he told me that uses 100 rep sets quite often as a secret to boosting his strength levels.

I took that secret home and applied it to the bench press. All you need to do is get a weight small enough to pump out 100 reps and see if you can do it.

I bet 99% of you can’t.

Many strength trainers are limited in that they think strength does not include endurance. It does. Put your muscles to the test with the 100 rep set and see how you strength improves on the low rep sets.

3. Stop using a barbell, dummy

If you are still using the old barbell for the bench press you are living in the past. Get over your nostalgic habit and switch to a couple of dumbbells.

The reason I find dumbbells to be superior is that they allow a deeper stretch and more mobility. The mobility means you will be working more stabilizer muscles and you will have to put more work into keeping your technique pure. These are all things you will need to push your bench press weight upwards. Continue Reading

Add pushups to your chest workout for bigger pecs

A big impressive chest can be quite a sight. The pectoral muscles are also very important if you are playing any sport that involves the arms such as martial arts, basketball, baseball or football. Some of the greatest bodybuilders of all time have attributed their success to having large, defined pectoral muscles.

Bench press ain’t the only way to grow pecs

Many people think that the standard bench press, fly, cable routine is the only way to get big pecs. And, for the most part, they are right. These are very important mass building exercises and you should never forget them. However, the humble pushup should not be discounted as a beginner exercise because it has amazing potential to boost your strength, power and muscle gains. It has been used by warriors for thousands of years, martial artists in more recent time and bodybuidlers even today.

So, if you are a little bit bored of the old chest routine that you do at the gym then trying supplementing one of the lighter exercises like anything you do on a machine for some of these pushup ideas.

How to do a pushup for the chest

Before I get on to giving you some ways to liven up the pushup I have to make sure you know how to target your chest. It is quite simple really, the wider your hands are apart the more you will target your pectoral muscles. The closer you bring your hands together the more you will target your triceps. It is the same as on the bench press: close grip for triceps, wide grip for chest.

The question then is, how wide should the be apart? And the answer is, there is no answer. It is different for each person. Some people (like me) have bad wrist injuries from years of tough sport and cannot do my pushups too wide for fear of my hand falling off! You should experiment with different widths as well as different positions for your torso. Should your hands be in line with your nipples, shoulders or ribs? These are questions you need to ask yourself.

How to do BETTER pushups

The regular pushup is pretty boring. We all know it. However, I have made some excellent strength and size progress by jazzing up the old pushup. Here are some of my favorite ways:

1. Incline
The first and most popular way is to put your feet higher than your hands. This takes the emphasis off of the chest slightly but will challenge your strength and endurance.

2. Add weight
When you are at the gym on the bench press you add weight each session (or should be!) so why don’t you for the pushup. There are plenty of ways to do it. You could add some weight discs into a backpack. You could strap some weight to a weight belt and do your pushsups with your hands and feet on some chairs. Use your imagination but be safe.

3. Add pace
This is my favorite way and will give you some really sore pecs in the morning! Get a clock and do your pushups in time with the movements of the hands. For example, my friend and I would see how many pushups we could do in half and hour with a goal of getting to 1000. Our strategy was to do puhsups for the first 35 seconds of the minute and then rest for the remainder of the minute. It worked, we nearly threw up all our lunch and pulled every muscle in our upper body but we did the 1000 pushups. When you break a barrier like this one you find that you are able to do other things that you always doubted. I was lifting bigger weights, running further and even pushing myself harder with my study.

4. Super set
After doing a set of bench press stick the weight in the rack and drop to the floor and pump out a fast set of pushups. This is an excellent way to fatigue your muscles and give them something new to be sore about! Do your bench press nice and slow and then the pushups nice and fast and your chest training will take on a new dimension

Concusion on pushups

Many of the old exercises like pushups, pull ups, etc. have been given a bad rap despite being some of the most powerful and effective muscle and strength building tools we have. Don’t let all the fancy machines and workouts at the gym seduce you when what you really need is a simple workout and some dedication and mental strength.