PrisonerFitness-The True Power Book Chapter 5 Armor-like Chests and Steel-like Triceps (Part 1)
Basketball, baseball, kiss my baby
Some of the push-up movements I describe below require the use of some external objects, in order to enhance the effect of the exercise. Using an external object to control your range of motion is not necessary, but can be very helpful, especially if you're working out alone. This is also a fitness technique used extensively in prisons.
All you need is a basketball and a baseball, and these "equipment" can be purchased at almost any store. In the past, people used to use heavy exercise balls instead of basketballs. In fact, basketball is not only cheap, but also effective. If you don't want to use a basketball or baseball, you can use an object of similar size instead. Bricks are a good choice; three bricks stacked up are about the height of a basketball, and one brick laid flat on the ground is almost as tall as a baseball. Whatever object you use, make sure it's safe enough that it won't hurt you. Remember not to use anything that is fragile or has jagged edges.
WhenWhen you use an object to control the range of motion of a push-up, it is important not to collide with the object. You should lower gently until you lightly touch the basketball, baseball, or other object of your choice. So, how hard should you touch these objects? The prison described him as a "kiss baby." For example, your upper chest should contact the baseball at the lowest point of the movement. The force you use to contact the baseball is the same force you would use when kissing your child's forehead—not too hard, not too soft.
Pausing for a moment after reaching the lowest point of the movement can eliminate any inertia and increase muscle strength and control. This is why I advocate holding for 1 second at the bottom of the movement. Alternatively, the "kiss the baby" technique can also be applied to weight training exercises such as the bench press or shoulder press. If you can't let the bar gently "kiss" your body at the bottom of the movement, but instead have to bounce back or stop suddenly, the weight on the barbell is too heavy. How does it count as being too heavy? Simply put, if you can't fully control the weight within a certain range of motion, it's too heavy.
Palm, fist, wrist or fingers?
I recommend that bodybuilders keep their palms flat on the floor when doing most push-up variations . Many bodybuilders pride themselves on being able to perform push-ups with unique hand positions—using their fists, fingers, thumbs, or even the backs of their wrists for support. I ask all of my students to practice push-ups throughout their lives—using the hand position that is most comfortable for their joints. For most people, the most comfortable position is the classic position of palms flat on the floor. The exception, of course, is for people with wrist injuries, for whom it's easiest to do push-ups with your wrists locked and your fists on the ground.
Fingertip push-ups build strength in your hands and forearms and are a useful addition to your fitness routine, especially if you're doing a lot of grip training. To do fingertip push-ups, you need to do it step by step. Start with the first type - wall push-ups, and then gradually replace your palms with your fingertips. After you are fully accustomed to it, start the next type, and progress little by little. For most people, a few sets of classic fingertip push-ups (with hands fully extended) every week or two is enough to make their hands stronger and stronger than the average person. That's enough for you. Even if this doesn't satisfy your appetite, don't be tempted to try this move with fewer fingers. The safest bet is to practice the push-up series with ten fingers until you can do one-arm fingertip push-ups—few people reach this advanced stage. Believe me, when you can do fingertip push-ups with five fingers as support,Your fingers will be as hard as steel bars.
Doing push-ups with the back of the palm or the wrist joint as the fulcrum is absolutely torture, and it will affect the strength of the muscles - before the muscles have exerted their full strength, your wrists are no longer able to support the body. If you're not a top-notch karate expert, there's absolutely no need to strengthen these areas for attack—I wouldn't even try it.
Push-up Series
Most push-up exercise systems include very few variations. Often, the only advice a fitness professional gives to a bodybuilder is to increase the number of reps or lift the legs as the exercises become easier. The tripod is on top of something - getting higher and higher. This is wrong, absolutely wrong! Once the bodybuilder has adapted to a certain movement, doing socan only increase endurance.
In all strength training, upgrading is the most important. In terms of muscle size and explosive power, if the movements you perform remain the same, your gains will also remain the same—no matter how many times you practice them, there is no point. The system introduced in this book consists of ten different push-up movements, which I call the Tens, each one more difficult than the previous one. The first three movements of the Six Arts are relatively easy for most people, and trainers recovering from injuries can use them as a therapeutic series of exercises. At the same time, the first three postures can also help beginners or overweight people get started easily and gradually improve their physical fitness. The remaining formulas become more and more difficult until the most difficult variation - the final formula. I recommend that bodybuilders work step by step—from beginner to intermediate to advanced—and work their way up to the reps I give.
You can make subtle adjustments to each move to make it more suitable for you. Specific instructions can be found in the "Slow and steady" section. After fine-tuning, one action becomes several actions. So the push-up series includes not just ten moves, but hundreds of different variations. After explaining the ten movements in detail in the form of pictures and texts, I also listed a two-page upgrade table at the end of this chapter. If you want to learn more, read the final section of this chapter, Variations, which includes descriptions of more than a dozen other variations or alternatives to the push-up.
Tomorrow the editor will provide detailed instructions on the ten push-ups.