John, What is Your Favorite Push-Up & How Many Do You Do?

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

Obviously the questions and posts about Push-Ups are very popular here. And though I believe it is wise to practice Push-Ups from a wide variety of angles and positions, I must confess that I do have a favorite and that is the Atlas III where my feet are at least 10" higher than my hands. I find that by descending very low I get a really great Upper Body workout that is far beyond any other single variation for me in terms of the pump that I feel as a result. In addition my abs, lower back, glutes, thighs, and calves get a great isometric workout from maintaining very strict form. Though I can perform 100 reps of this exercise I normally perform sets of 50+ and do about 300 in total of this variation. So for pure enjoyment, this is my favorite variation.

if the question were, which variation delivers the most strength and intensity per workout I'd immediately respond by saying the Warrior Power T variations. And that is hands down without even the slightest doubt. But for purely strength, fitness, sculpting, and maintaining maximum flexibility in my shoulders I really like the Atlas III exactly as I perform it with a very deep stretch. Every time I do one I thank God that my shoulder is healed and perfectly pain-free after a very serious injury that I experienced 20 years ago.


---John Peterson

[b38]

Thanks Mr. Peterson! Always appreciate your insights to the exercises! I find that I get into the habit of doing one kind of push-up to the exclusion of others and it is very humbling to start over again.

But that just proves what you always say - the best results come from doing a variety of exercises.

Thanks again.

B38

[ben alexander]

Hi, John. There has been a lot of push up resurgence on the forum which is great. It's still my favorite exercise.. I have a question. I've been experimenting with high volume versus HIT with pushups. Coming from a weightds background, as you know, I was torn between 2 schools of thought: you must get a pump as a gauge of a good workout. Vince once stated that you should stop the exercise once you loose the pump. The other side said the pump is not necessary. Now check this out. As you know, I love to read fitness literature and I recently stumbled upon "kaatsu". Japanese researchers found that using venous occlution (constricting limb blood floor with a type of tourniquet), high repetition exercise (30 reps) caused a never before seen increase in IGF1 and HGH along with accelerated increase in muscle mass. Finally, I get to my question. Although applying a tourniquet while training sounds scary, can isometrics mimic that phenomenon? In other words, can one use isometrics to constrict blood flow and then immediately do a dynamic movement like a pushup? This ka-atsu may just be a passing fancy; the next magic bullet (but turns out to be a blank). But it got me thinking; you always emphasize bloodflow through high volume power cals. How important is this in your opinion? Anyone else, also feel free to join in. Maybe we can get a nice thread going. Lately, the forum feels like it did when I first joined. Lots of great people hungry for knowledge AND willing to share their experiences. I thank you all in advance.


Tromp Van Diggen's pulsing isometrics pretty much achieve the same thing. His theory was that by constricting the muscle as tight as possibel, then relaxing to allow fresh, oxygenated blood into the limb, preudced a superior pump and muscle growth. So applying the same protocols to your isometric workouts should have a similar effect.

I've read of the Ka-atsu studies, but I also remember that they were performed under a physician's supervision. If you tried it yourself, you'd likely pass out from high bolled pressure.

Ben

[Viking Dan]

Tourniquet training is dangerous and unneccessary.

Courtesy of Stimulate More Muscle Growth (http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/stimulate_more_muscle_growth&cr=):


Blood Vessel Occlusion, Metabolite Accumulation, Hormonal Output: You might have heard of "kaatsu" or tourniquet training. It's a training method that relies on lifting light weights (20-30% of your maximum for 15-30 reps) while wearing a special cuff that's tightened up around the proximal end of a limb to restrict blood flow to the muscle.

Studies have shown that despite the light weights being used, the muscle growth response is as big as lifting heavy weights (80% and more). The reason is the blood occlusion, which has been shown to create a deprived oxygen state (since blood flow to the muscle is limited, so is oxygen transport). This leads to an accumulation of lactate which increases the production of both hGH (growth hormone) and IGF-1 (Takareda et al. 2000).

The lack of oxygen (hypoxic state) and increase in acidity has also been shown to increase the recruitment of fast-twitch muscle fibers (Shinohara and Moritani, 1992). In fact, oxygen restriction to the muscle increases fast-twitch recruitment, firing rate, and spike amplitude (Yasuda, 2005).

Finally, exercise with restricted oxygen/blood entry in the trained muscle also leads to the production of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), which increase muscle satellite cell activation and proliferation (two key phenomenon involved in the muscle growth process).

The good news is that you don't have to use kaatsu training (which can be risky) to create this oxygen/blood flow restriction to the muscle. Sustained muscle tension (as in never allowing a muscle to relax during a set) can make muscle hypoxic even without external occlusion (Bonde-Peteron et al. 1975, Mitchell et al. 1980).

A recent study compared several training protocols' effects on oxygen levels during the execution of an exercise. With kaatsu training, oxygen levels were at around 22% of the rested/normal state, compared to 32-35% for normal, heavy training — a difference that can explain the efficacy of kaatsu training.

However, they also found that performing sets without blocking blood flow, but using a 303 tempo and never allowing the muscles to relax during the set (always flexing as hard as possible during every inch of every rep) with 50-60% of the maximum performed to failure, led to oxygen levels of 23-24%. Lactate, hGH, and IGF-1 levels were also the same as with kaatsu training.

The moral of the story is that constant tension exercises can build size and strength despite using relatively light weights and even if muscle damage is fairly low. However, if the muscle is allowed to relax during the set, oxygen and blood will flow into the muscle and you won't reach optimal benefits.

This is btw an agonizing way to do a set and will drop your reps drastically. Normally the negative half of a rep is sort of a rest for the muscle since we can lower about 30% more weight than we can raise. Consciously tensing the muscle during the negative will really hit you hard.

[John Peterson]

Hey guys,

I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would even remotely want to practice a method of training that is so completely unnatural and detrimental to one's health. I assure you friends that the possibility and likelihood of developing severe blood clots with the "kaatsu method" of training would out weigh any and all potential benefit .


Personally, I believe that we need to protect our health first and foremost. I also know if a person takes the time, they can build exceptional strength, physique, fitness, and high level foundational health with our methods exactly as presented.

So please do me a big favor and don't post things on our forum about such unnatural training methods that are in direct conflict to what we teach and endorse and that are very unsafe to say the least. I know that you meant well in posting it but as far as I am concerned, anyone that would practice such a method of training is asking for trouble to say the very least. And if they practice it long enough.

---John Peterson

[Doc Al]

I'm slowing appreciating the value of the pushup, probably spurred on by how much I get out of the Power Ts. I'm delighted to see that the variations I have found most productive are the very ones mentioned by JP himself. When I go to the gym (at work, very convenient) I do as many Atlas III pushups as I can "comfortably" manage, in as many sets as I need to. (I usually follow that by a few sets of Atlas I pushups.) When I'm home, I use the Ts.

In my opinion, these two variations give the most bang for the effort. (Of course, the more variations the better.) And it really doesn't take large numbers to see a benefit. A good thing, as my numbers are modest (but slowly increasing).

[omad0n]

Honestly, I would've thought you'd have said the Tiger pushup John. It just seems like after how it was espoused in the PYTP book it would be right up there. Ah well time moves forward all things, and I'm looking forward to the pushup book to see what other changes it has from the PYTP days.

[John Peterson]

hey omadOn,

It depends upon whether or not you are talking about body sculpting or athletic conditioning. For athletic conditioning The Tiger Stretch Push-Up is hard to beat because it is a dynamic full body exercise that strengthens and stretches every muscle in the entire body. But for upper body strengthening and sculpting I'd say the AtlasIII does offer specific advantages in that regard.

But the good news is that nobody is relegated to only one variation.

---John Peterson

[Nathan]

In my opinion the Warrior Power Ts are the best for both athletic and body sculpting. The reason for this is that not only have I gotten awesome results from using the Power Ts but they have also helped me with my golf game as well. All the best.

---Nathan

[omad0n]

Thanks for clarifying John :) I'm very appreciative that you take the time to answer these things for us. You're right it's wonderful we can do so many differnt variations in our workouts. I don't think I've ever tried the Atlas 3 before, so I'll have to give it a go in my upcoming workouts. After all variety is the spice of life.

[keith james]

Hi Guys

Lately i have been doing pushups with my feet elevated and my hands on pushup stands, this i think is similar to the atlas pushup III that John has written about.

It is harder than the normal atlas pushup, but i would give it a go, for variation.

As John has stated, it is good to be able to vary our workout with different pushups.

Maybe we could do a different one each workout and see what the results are, there are so many possibilities.

All in the best of health.

KEITH JAMES.