John, If You Were Limited to Just One Exercise...

[John Peterson]

Hey Friends,

Quite often I receive e-mails from friends wondering what I would do if I were limited to just one exercise. The answer is simple. I would do at least 1,000 standard Push-Ups each day. In terms of the most amount of benefit for the entire body nothing takes the place of the Push-Up. Naturally, it would be great to be able to do the Atlas variations but even without them one could achieve extraordinary results with a consistent program of standard Push-Ups performed on the floor. As far as I am concerned this is the single most result producing exercise for the entire body. And best of all you need a bare minimum of space in order to do it. But I am curious, what do the rest of think? If you could do only one exercise that would keep you in fabulous shape that required no equipment of any kind what would it be? (please note: there is no one size fits all answer)

Now, what it be if you were limited to just two or three exercises. Bare in mind, once again, no equipment of any kind.

For me personally it would be 1) Push-Ups 2) Atlas Sit-Ups & 3) Squats. (Yes friends, the exact same workout Woody Strode used)

---John Peterson

[bmcel7]

If I were limited to only one exercise with no equipment whatsoever, I would have to agree with you on the standard pushup. In fact, since I do not like to use equipment of any kind, that is the pushup version that I use in my GUTS workout.

You are right you can not beat the woody strode trinity if limited to 3 exercises. But the milo added onto those as in GUTS makes it a perfect workout.

[John Peterson]

Hey Bmcel7,

I could not agree with you more. The Milo is the "finishing touch" that makes the G.U.T.S./Woody Strode Workout second to none. And once gain NO EQUIPMENT is required.

---John Peterson

[Jon Stone]

I love pushups, but if I had the choice it would be hindy squats. Thee best cardio exercise in the world. They keep you in shape and induce HGH release from the pituitary.

[John Peterson]

Hey Jon,

If the Push-Up is performed intensely enough as in Interval Training it too would increase HGH levels as do Isometrics. Years ago Dirk Pearson and Sandy Shaw wrote a great book titled "Life Extension" . Sandy performed Isometrics and was reported to have become so strong that she could bend horseshoes. Bottom line: Although tiger bend squats definitely help to increase HGH levels so will Push-Ups when performed intensely enough.

---John Peterson

[tom]

Joining in on this intellectual what-if:

If it were one exercise and not a limit on time, push ups sound good.

If it were one exercise and practically no time, I would say 10 - 20 full effort leaps, straight up. You will get the biggest and the mostest muscles almost instantly. I include over 10 to accommodate those who do not understand full effort.

Ok, I guess you can combine them - make it a burpee with a push-up on the bottom.

Tom

[dynogoalie30]

My choice if I had one exercise, would be the hindu push up, If I had 2 exercises it would be hindu push-up and hindu squats, and if I had 3 exercises it would be hindu push-ups,hindu squats, and either Atlas sit-ups or Atlas leg raises, I like those exercises, because with getting the most bang for your buck, and by doing them intense, natural HGH would be flowing through the body.

[dynogoalie30]

John, you have a great point, in saying that you would perform 1,000 standard push-ups a day, Ted Skup, in his book , Death,Taxes, and Push-Ups, does 1,000 standard push-ups a day, and he looks like he is in pretty good shape, Im just curious, if he does any other bw exercises besides push-ups, he does look like he is in great shape.

[stingray]

Ted pretty only does push ups. He said that he does run a couple of days a week, but not very fast.
He mentions that a lot of muscles get worked through isometric contraction during the push up, ie. the abs, quads, and the back. The basic push up is really a fantastic exercise, especially at 1000 a day. I think Ted is up to 7 sets of 150.

[The Saint]

Ok so what about with equipment? For a low impact cardio workout that uses every muscle group and builds co-ordination swimming's gotta be up there! I used to swim toooooons when I was a teenager, and I was FIT! I developed an eye infection, a bad one, which I always associated with the chlorine, and it left me over sensitive to chlorine and sunshine. Knocked the fun out of it for me, so I gave it up, but I still love the water.

[Bruno]

I've done volume push ups getting up to 500 or more in a day.

Right now I limit myself to 3 sets slowly and I don't count reps. I also add in tension to make the reps more difficult.