Push up question

[DJ]

John,

As I was doing push ups yesterday a question about the isometric hold that goes on during the movement came to mind.

How hard of an isometric contraction do you make during a push up? Do you make the contraction just firm enough to avoid any body sag or do you really crank up the intensity for the isometric body hold (for lack of a better description)?

I just thought it was an interesting question.

Thanks,

DJ

[Nathan]

Hey Dj,

You are right it is a very interesting question. I personally don't usually add any tension to my push-ups. So I would say the contraction I make is firm enough to have perfect form. Anyway this is what I do and All the best.


---Nathan

[John Peterson]

Hey DJ,

The idea is to maintain perfect form. So maintain just enough Isometric tension to keep the core in perfect alignment. Any more than that is unnecessary.

---John Peterson

[gs300tx]

If you really want to try somethign different, try this. When you are doing your push ups , on the last set, take your self to the edge of failure, and then maintain the push ups posture with arms bent at 90degrees for as long as you can.

[stingray]

Interesting question. I use just enough effort to hold form. This works pretty well for things like upping reps. The most effective way I've found to increase my single set pushup numbers thus far is:

Perform a pushup every 5 or 10 seconds and 'rest' (isometric hold) in between reps in either the up, mid, or low pushup positions. Do as many reps as you can in perfect form. Just keep going. I've worked up to just over an 8 minute set.

And yes I've experimented with pyramids, reverse pyramids, GTG,... The above has been the most effective for me - thus far.

Wow. I just stumbled across this little nugget while looking for answer to why I can do 100 Atlas push ups, but when it comes to using the Perfect Push-up (knockoff) they seem much harder and I can only do a set of 40-50.

Can someone clarify this method for me? Is the idea to do only one push up for 5-10 seconds and then hold it? How long do you do an isometric hold?

[GB]

Stingray,

I use isometric holds when coaching people on how to do pushups on the Ts. Although I don’t use holds very often doing regular pushups I think this could be helpful for those wishing to combine iso-holds with regular pushups.

Here’s what we do. The holds are in 2 or 3 positions, top, ½ way down and at the bottom of the movement. To start with we hold each position for a count of ten and then when this seems to be “easy” increase the count up to 30.

No added tension is added during the holds, just holding the position. Over time for most people this strengthens all the muscles involved especially those little “stabilizing” muscles.

Hope this is helpful.

GB

[ben alexander]

When I do my pushups, I always tighten my abs to keep my core in alignment. I don't know how to describe it, but I just hold it. It's the lightest of tension, but it makes the difference, as I seem to be able to do more pushups this way.

Likewise, when I perform isometrics, like GB, I just think "Tense muscles" and the mental effort seems to activate the right amount of tension. You don't want to be giving yourself a heart attack by tensing full power!

Ben