Fast and Furious Fitness

Dear Reader,

Yes, I know it’s been quite a while since the last update, and I apologize. Been extremely busy with a lot of things, dealing with an annoying Internet connection (HA!) and similar stuff. I’ve been hitting my workouts hard as usual, but just haven’t been able to post as much as I’d like to have. . .

Anyway, it’s time to pick up where we left off - and, today, I’m going to cove how a simple change in one of my favorite exercises the “extended arm pushup” makes all the difference as to how the exercise hits your body.

Loyal readers of this blog have noticed that I’m a strong advocate of a) making changes to your exercise routine every now and then and b) “revisiting” an exercise i.e. to perfect execution, form, speed, all of which control how the exercise impacts your body.

And b) brings us to today’s tip: - Instead of looking ahead as I mention on the information page, look towards the floor while performing this pushup. This might sound strange, as I’ve stressed the importance of looking ahead and keeping the neck straight while doing pushups - but remember, we’re taxing the body differently here. The regular pushup, while working the whole body as a whole, taxes the arms, chest and upper/mid back far more than the lower back, which simply servers as a “stabilizing” agent during the process. However, the extended arm pushup is specifically aimed at the lower back, and thus one should think of the arms and shoulders as stabilizing agents, while most of the “lifting” work should be done by the lower back.

You’ll notice that you’ll tend to use the upper back a lot more when looking ahead - and that you bring the lower back into play when your looking “down” while executing this particular pushup. Given that the part of your body that goes “up” during this pushups is the hips and lower back (as compared to the chest and upper back during the regular pushup), it only makes sense to concentrate on those muscles more during this movement.

You’ll see that performing the exercise this way REALLY brings out the muscles in the lower back, and mid-lower back to a degree. Try it and see - it’ll work your back in an entirely different manner than if you look ahead while doing it!

You’ll also find that your “digging in” harder with your toes to maintain your balance - this is because your lower back will be doing most of the “lifting”, and will naturally demand some assistance from the hip/thigh muscles as well to maintain the correct position. Net result - a super overall body workout!

And of course, it goes without saying that this is a GREAT exercise - provided it’s done in good form, which goes without saying for any exercise, really.

That’s it for now - and it’s definitely the end of the “hiatus” as far as posting is concerned. Do write in with your comments, and let me know how your training has been going - and as always - get fit - FAST!

All for now,

Rahul

All,

Before I start, NO, what might have come to mind for a lot of you upon reading that heading, is NOT what is covered in this post. Nothing wrong with “that” either, but let’s stick to training - the kind I write about - here.

Fooling around aside, as you can see, I’m a huge advocate of training the legs, hips, buttocks and lower back. This is evident from my posts, the exercises I advocate, and from what my own experience has taught me. I’ve covered the benefits of said type of training many times in the past, and will likely touch upon those in upcoming posts as well, but for now, let’s focus on another topic - how to protect the lower back, by squeezing the glutes.

The lower back is often an area which gets injured while working out. And this holds true even while doing exercises to specifically strengthen the lower back. For instance, many trainees “strain” too hard on their lower back while bridging, and end up being sore for days. Or, one might “pull” too hard while doing pullups (or while doing “swinging” pull ups which I do NOT advocate, but some do). The examples go on and on. . .

Anyway, the key thing to remember is that ALL the exercises I advocate here (and the ones you should be doing, anyway) are full-body exercises. Which in turn means that you need to be using your entire body while working these exercises - and preferably put the most strain on the largest muscles.

And, the glutes are definitely one of the, if not THE, largest muscles groups in the body. And by very virtue of their location, they can definitely be used to “assist” the lower back during exercises.

Lower back giving out during the back bridge? No problem - concentrate on squeezing the glutes and thighs as hard as you can while maintaining perfect form, and you’ll feel some of the “strain” being taken off the lower back.

And lest you think that the lower back isn’t strengthened by working the exercise in said fashion - think again. The lower back IS getting stronger - and IS getting strained - only, it is being done in a “proper” manner i.e. a manner in which the muscles can handle it, and progressively adapt to greater stress being placed upon it.

That para there had a “secret” that many trainees tend to overlook, especially those that might be starting out. See if you can find it.

Another benefit of squeezing the glutes is that it improves your form on many exercises. For instance, the lower back is often “sagging” towards the end of a tough set of pushups, but if you concentrate on squeezing the glutes during the set, along with the thighs, then you’ll find yourself maintaining good form in the back by default; in fact, your form would probably only give out AFTER your legs gave out, and in that case the exercise would be over anyway, so you end up performing every rep in perfect form. Cool deal. And believe it or not, this works for other exercises as well, pull ups and other pulling motions included.

Concentrate on the entire body - and thus the largest muscles the most - and you’ll do just fine.

And that’s it for today. Get fit - FAST!!

Rahul

All,

The muscles at the back of the body are some of the most forgotten, and “undertrained” muscles for most people.

Most trainees go berserk training the muscles at the front i.e. the muscles that “can be seen in the mirror”, but how many people do you hear about that proudly train their lower back? Their hamstrings? Or their glutes? I bet not too many.

Now, don’t get me wrong - it is important to train the front of the body - but what happens is most folks spend too much time/energy training the front of the body, while the back of the body is neglected. The result? Muscle imbalances occur, said muscles get overtrained, and in some cases, injury occurs (how many times have you heard of people perenially sore front deltoids?). . .

So, without further ado, let me explain why the muscles at the back are important to train: -

1. The largest muscle groups in the body (excepting the quads) are all located at the back of the body. Your lats, glutes, hamstrings - all these are large muscles. Training these intensely makes you BREATHE deeply as they involve a lot of focussed effort, and more importantly, they promote growth throughout the entire body.

2. Training these intensely prevent overtraining in the other “opposing” muscles. It also improves performance in those muscles. For instance, I’ve been a bit burnt out on high repetition Hindy squats for the past couple of days, and therefore have been concentrating more on jumping lunges and Sumo squats, both of which target the groin, glutes, and hamstrings. The result? I tried doing a maximum rep of Hindu squats today, and banged out a 100 of them in good time. That sort of speaks for itself!

I’ve had similar results with pushups - to increase my pushup numbers, I’ll often concentrate on pull ups for a few days. . .

3. Last, but certainly not least, the muscles at the back of the body are very important when it comes to providing a “support structure” for the rest of the body. For instance, a person might be able to bench a tremendous amount of weight, but he will never be “truly” strong unless he develops his back (upper and lower) to the same degree. Similarly, overdeveloped quads and underdeveloped hamstrings are a disaster waiting to happen.

For those who claim they train purely for the “look”, well, think about this: - How ridiculous does a guy with an large chest, but narrow back look? Or, let’s say you have huge thighs, but underdeveloped glutes/hamstrings; your legs will look big from the front, but you will never be able to fill those jeans out completely. Train EVERYTHING though, and you will get that “solid” look to your body that speaks of strength in no uncertain terms!

Long story made short - train the muscles at the back of your body as hard, or harder than you train the muscles at the front. Your body will thank you for it - as will your workout results!

Get fit - FAST!

Rahul