Push ups, pull ups

[go_home_red]

Howdy. I'm looking for some advice...

I've been doing push ups and pull ups since Oct. 2005--push ups in sets of 25, and pull ups in sets of 5. I've been adding sets since I started, and right now I'm up to 25 sets of each with about 45-60 seconds rest between each set. I'm proud to say that I haven't missed a single day.

My goal has been to gain some definition in my chest/arms/back muscles. That I've accomplished. However, doing 625 push ups has become almost aerobic, and I don't feel like I'm really doing much at this point except treading water. At this point, I wouldn't mind adding a bit of mass--I'm not looking to get huge, but just a bit bigger.

I've grown a bit tired of doing so many sets, so I got a weight vest. The vest holds the weight right where it should be for what I'm doing--between my shoulders on my chest and back. I haven't used it yet, though--I'm not sure how much weight I should be adding, how many reps I should do in per set, or how many sets I should do.

Anyone have any suggestions?

[Darkhorse]

Well, if you insist on pushups/pullups, I would start slow with the weight. If it were me, I would simply pick a total number of reps for each exercise as your target, and do as many sets as it takes to get that total.

Back in the Marines, one of my favorite things I used to do was to have a target of 50 pullups, and 100 pushups. I would alternate between the two.. One set of pullups, one set of pushups. In my mind, I liked to do 10 pullups, 20 pushups each set. I never had a weight vest though, which would've come in handy for sure! I used a DB between my legs. As the weight increased, the reps decreased, meaning it took a lot more sets to reach my target.

I would start off with something managable. Add a little weight (10 lbs) and pick a target that you know you could hit. Start off with a prerequisite such as alternating between 'x' amount of pullups and 'x' amount of pushups.

As the weight increases, your muscles will adapt to the increasing demands you're putting on them and grow. Just be sure you're eating to grow as well!

[Eric3237]

You could try muscle-ups at some point. I do them for fun. It's bascally a pull-up combined with a dip but MUCH harder than either one by itself.

[Scorcher2005]

Originally Posted by Eric3237

You could try muscle-ups at some point. I do them for fun. It's bascally a pull-up combined with a dip but MUCH harder than either one by itself.

I'm having a bit of trouble trying to imagine this...

[Eric3237]

Well if you're interested in them I will explain them . It's a great exercise for someone interested in bodyweight stuff but I'd rather not write a long explanation just to watch myself type...since I do that too much already.

Edit* NM, there's a video on this page Bar Muscle Ups

[Scorcher2005]

I watched the video of both the hanging cables and the bar. Which way is harder?

[Eric3237]

Like gymnast rings? That way is much, much harder. It's a basic gymnastics move but for the average guy if you can manage it on the rings you're good and strong. I'd love to have a set of rings to play around on. But the basic bar exercies is a VERY good exercise and I've actually used that in place of other presses or dips and pullups separately. Low reps at first, obviously.

I'm not preaching bodyweight only of course. Or the vest (which is cool). But you can do some really effective stuff if you use your imagination and get yourself past the basic pullup/pushup mindset. Just think about a gymnast.

You should also consider, Go Home Red (need something to call you), prone rows. The reason being is just doing pullups and pushups could actually lead to some shoulder problems. The prone rows would help balance everything out and be another good back exercise. For this you hang under the bar horizontally with your feet propped up on something. If the weights too much you can put your feet lower or even on the floor and build up higher as you get stonger. From the horizontal hanging position you basically row yourself up much like rowing a barbell. Hell, once you start doing them with the vest that would be a very good row exercise comparable heavy barbell rows, unless you weight 90 pounds or something .

If you're really badass you can do a sort of prone row where you bring your body up without anything to prop your feet, though core action only! It's not the same movement but it's a hell of a workout. There are lots of ideas, btw, on that site I linked for the vids.

And don't forget about your lower body!

[Scorcher2005]

Another good body weight exercise is ...well, i dont know what its called, but it goes like this. Find a good station to do dips at. Do as many as you can, then get a partner to lift up your legs and put your ankles on his shoulders. Then do as many pushups as you can. Also, instead of doing as many as you can, you can pyramid it. i.e. do 1 dip, 1 push up, 2 dips, 2 pushups, 3, 4, etc until you cant go up anymore and go down: 11, 10, 9, etc... Rest and repeat.

Those body rows are a good idea. And about those legs, put on that vest and squat!

And what kind of weights does the vest hold? Plates or what?

Hell, now that i think about it, you can do alot w/ that vest: bicep curls, tricep extensions, shoulder press, just use your imagination!