Bench vs Push Up

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently. As a result I have stripped down my form and
am rebuilding it. I have taken Stuart McRobert's advice, and am doing very
light weights to start with, whilst I rebuild my form. As a result, my
workouts are not so testing at the moment.

I have thrown in some pushups, as a way to keep my upper body working whilst
I rebuild the bench. I am not that advanced anyway, and so 3 x 20 pushups
with body weight only pretty much constitutes a decent amount of work for
me. However, I was surprised to find that, the morning after doing the
pushups, my triceps, chest and lats had the good ache, in a way that they
just haven't had whilst doing the bench instead.

So, here's the question. Are pushups thought to be more effective than the
bench, if only it weren't for the weight problem, ie you can't add enough to
keep them effective once you're past a certain level? I was just surprised
to find how effective, and tiring, a simple set or two of this basic
exercise could be.

Tire yourself out on any new exercise, even if it's 'similar' to one
you're already doing, and soreness is likely to follow :-)

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a bone
marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a marrow
transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently. As a result I have stripped

down my

Quoted message said:

form and am rebuilding it. I have taken Stuart McRobert's

advice,

Quoted message said:

and am doing very light weights to start with, whilst I

rebuild my

Quoted message said:

form. As a result, my workouts are not so testing at the

moment.

Quoted message said:

I have thrown in some pushups, as a way to keep my upper body
working whilst I rebuild the bench. I am not that advanced

anyway,

Quoted message said:

and so 3 x 20 pushups with body weight only pretty much

constitutes

Quoted message said:

a decent amount of work for me. However, I was surprised to

find

Quoted message said:

that, the morning after doing the pushups, my triceps, chest

and

Quoted message said:

lats had the good ache, in a way that they just haven't had

whilst

Quoted message said:

doing the bench instead.

So, here's the question. Are pushups thought to be more

effective

Quoted message said:

than the bench, if only it weren't for the weight problem, ie

you

Quoted message said:

can't add enough to keep them effective once you're past a

certain

Quoted message said:

level? I was just surprised to find how effective, and

tiring, a

Quoted message said:

simple set or two of this basic exercise could be.

Push-ups are more like a decline bench than flat; that's why you
feel it in your lats. If you want to make the push-ups harder
put your feet up on a bench and/or have someone put a weight on
your back. If you want to know how much weight you are using for
your push-ups, put your hands on a scale with your arms
extended. See if the decline bench compares.

If you want to improve your bench, do dips (not too much weight)
and flat triceps extensions (skull crushers) with an ez curl
bar. Keep doing the bench but keep the weights light. Don't go
below 5 reps. 2-3 sets after warm-up, no more than twice/week.

locker

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently.

Mine socrated.

"Paul Cassel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently.

Mine socrated.

I thought he was referring to Dana.

"spodosaurus" <spodosaurus@_yahoo_.com> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently. As a result I have stripped down my
form and am rebuilding it. I have taken Stuart McRobert's advice,
and am doing very light weights to start with, whilst I rebuild my
form. As a result, my workouts are not so testing at the moment.

I have thrown in some pushups, as a way to keep my upper body working
whilst I rebuild the bench. I am not that advanced anyway, and so 3
x 20 pushups with body weight only pretty much constitutes a decent
amount of work for me. However, I was surprised to find that, the
morning after doing the pushups, my triceps, chest and lats had the
good ache, in a way that they just haven't had whilst doing the bench
instead.

So, here's the question. Are pushups thought to be more effective
than the bench, if only it weren't for the weight problem, ie you
can't add enough to keep them effective once you're past a certain
level? I was just surprised to find how effective, and tiring, a
simple set or two of this basic exercise could be.

Tire yourself out on any new exercise, even if it's 'similar' to one
you're already doing, and soreness is likely to follow :-)

And even if it was the same exercise, switching from relatively heavy
weight and short sets (which I assume the OP was doing) to sets of 20
will also have much the same effect - it will feel almost like a
different exercise.

To the OP - if you raise your feet on something, your pushups will be
harder. Likewise you can wear a weighted vest or backpack, or even
start working towards a one-armed pushup (e.g., keep one arm underneath
you and start working the other out to the side). There are plenty of
ways to make it harder if that's your wish.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

Quoted message said:

--
spammage trappage: remove the underscores to reply

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. Complications in
hospital following this resulted in a serious illness. I now need a
bone marrow transplant. Many people around the world are waiting for a
marrow transplant, too. Please volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

My bench has platoed recently. As a result I have stripped down my form and
am rebuilding it. I have taken Stuart McRobert's advice, and am doing very
light weights to start with, whilst I rebuild my form. As a result, my
workouts are not so testing at the moment.

I have thrown in some pushups, as a way to keep my upper body working whilst
I rebuild the bench. I am not that advanced anyway, and so 3 x 20 pushups
with body weight only pretty much constitutes a decent amount of work for
me. However, I was surprised to find that, the morning after doing the
pushups, my triceps, chest and lats had the good ache, in a way that they
just haven't had whilst doing the bench instead.

So, here's the question. Are pushups thought to be more effective than the
bench, if only it weren't for the weight problem, ie you can't add enough to
keep them effective once you're past a certain level? I was just surprised
to find how effective, and tiring, a simple set or two of this basic
exercise could be.

I think people have referred to this as the "muscle confusion
principle"? I.e. don't always do the same routine even if you are
making some progress -- occasionally hit the same muscles with different
excercises can have a dramatic effect. This was illustrated for me
recently. I always bench with dumbbells but I was out of town on
business on the day I do upper body. I went to the hotel workout room
to find a crappy universal setup (not saying all universal machines are
crappy, but this one was). I was not happy but decided to make the best
of the situation and not even worry about the numerical poundage -- just
try to lift as heavy as I possibly could thinking a crappy workout is
better than no workout. I did a few sets of bench trying to find the
top and eventually found I was able to just barely bench the entire
stack a few times but I had to struggle mightily against it. Anyway, I
ended up being *majorly* sore for several days after that and the next
time I benched with dumbbells, I gained a bit. I may switch things up a
bit more in the future. (for some reason, I've never liked pushups
though)

John Black

"Paul Cassel" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently.

Mine socrated.

Nice touch. I have an MA in philosophy, although not classical Greek, so I
guess I wouldn't be qualified to say either way.

The Crow said:

My bench has platoed recently. As a result I have stripped down my form and
am rebuilding it. I have taken Stuart McRobert's advice, and am doing very
light weights to start with, whilst I rebuild my form. As a result, my
workouts are not so testing at the moment.

I have thrown in some pushups, as a way to keep my upper body working whilst
I rebuild the bench. I am not that advanced anyway, and so 3 x 20 pushups
with body weight only pretty much constitutes a decent amount of work for
me. However, I was surprised to find that, the morning after doing the
pushups, my triceps, chest and lats had the good ache, in a way that they
just haven't had whilst doing the bench instead.

So, here's the question. Are pushups thought to be more effective than the
bench, if only it weren't for the weight problem, ie you can't add enough to
keep them effective once you're past a certain level? I was just surprised
to find how effective, and tiring, a simple set or two of this basic
exercise could be.

How tiring it is really doesn't tell you much. It's almost totally a
matter of neural training, plus a little bit of change in the muscles
recruited. It will quickly become easier after a few sessions. That
doesn't mean that it will be effective for improving muscular
hypertrophy or overall functional strength.

Different pushups will recruit different muscle groups. Putting your
hand close together will place more stress on the triceps. Putting
your hands "back" (under your belly instead of your shoulders) will
place more emphasis on your pectorals. Putting your hands "back" is
also the best position for maximizing the initial load relative to
body weight.

HTH

that was a good one!

http://judoinfo.com/kimura3.htm

Kimura was a bad bad man who did 1000/day. He whupped Helio Gracie -- one of
the few to take the Gracie challenge and win. What's more, Gracie admitted
he never even expected to win. He just wanted to see how he would get beat!

http://judoinfo.com/kimura3.htm

Kimura was a bad bad man who did 1000/day. He whupped Helio Gracie -- one of
the few to take the Gracie challenge and win. What's more, Gracie admitted
he never even expected to win. He just wanted to see how he would get beat!