Category Archives: Benefits of doing “man” exercises
Progressing toward the elusive perfect push up and pull up
I have many women and even some men tell me that they want to be able to do perfect full push ups and push ups.
And I say “OK!”
Because there is a way to get there! Consistent hard work and a well thought out progression based on what you need to work on will get you there!
So this really applies to any exercise that you want to be able to do, but honestly two of the exercises that most people can’t do, but should be able to do are the push up and pull up (also, most people recently have been telling me they want to be able to do these two moves so I figured I would focus on them).
First, consider all of the muscles used in the move.
For push ups, you use your pecs, shoulders, triceps, core and even your quads and legs. Most often though, people need to focus on core strength and either shoulder or tricep strength.
For pull ups, core and back strength are essential. The grip you use will also determine how much bicep is involved.
Once you identify the muscles used, you can work on those muscles. That doesn’t mean you have to start doing tricep extensions and bicep curls.
You can still do compound movements.
So to work on improving your push up, first assess where you are. Can you do a push up with your hands on an incline? Can you do a push up from your knees? And when I say “Do a push up.” I mean a PERFECT form push up from that position.
Same goes for pull ups. Can you do jumping pull ups? Can you do pull ups where you jump up and slowly lower yourself down? Can you do a pull up and hold? Or can you do a chin up but not a full pull up yet?
Get a clear picture of where you are starting from. If you know exactly where you are at, you can design a program that will get you to where you want to be.
If you don’t have a clear starting point, how the heck are you going to outline a clear progression!?! You won’t know how long it will take you to get somewhere if you don’t even know where you are starting from!!
So once you know what muscles are involved and where you are starting from, you must create workouts that strengthen your weak areas and progress you toward you end goal.
While you will want to do lots of push ups and pull ups during your progression they shouldn’t be the only thing that you are doing.
For push ups, do some core strengthening exercises. Do some crawling that targets your shoulders, core and quads. Do some form of dips, be they full dips or dips off a bench. I mean even get creative with it. Try some chest flies on the slider. Do some ab roller to work your arms and core. Battling ropes can be good. Medball chest passes are a good explosive way to work your upper body.
There are lots of ways to work. Pick exercises that target your weak points!
For pull ups, battling ropes again can be good. Working on different variations of pull ups can help. Try some medball slams into the ground. You can do ones straight ahead or rainbow slams where you slam it down on each side. Do some inverted rows. Some pivot prone pulldowns. Work on your grip strength. Heck even just playing on the monkey bars will definitely help!
And the good part about some of the things that you can do to work on both of these moves is that they will improve your overall posture and strength not JUST progress you toward a perfect pull up or push up.
There are even moves that can benefit both exercises in some way such as the parallel bar press. Just hold your body straight up off of parallel bars or a dip machine. Don’t be a “turtle” aka keep your shoulder blades pull back and down and your spine long. Your neck should be long and not tucked back into your shoulders like a turtle pulling its head into its shell. Just hold. Keep your abs engaged and your shoulder blades retracted. You will feel this in your back and your arms and even your core.
Anyway, there are a bazillion ways to strengthen your body to progress toward a pull up or push up. Don’t just flounder blindly and HOPE you will get there. SET UP A PROGRESSION!
If you need help or want some exercises to help you strengthen your weak points, let me know! 🙂
Being a BADASS
So this relates to my post from earlier and responses I got to it…
All too often people don’t heed advice, like the advice I gave yesterday about warming up with some sort of balancing exercise, because it isn’t BADASS.
BADASS is lifting heavy weights. Or working out so intensely that you puke.
Right?
Uhm…sure. Yea I think getting in a killer workout or accomplishing some impressive feat of strength or stamina is BADASS.
But you can’t be a BADASS if you injure yourself!!!!!!!!
Being a true BADASS means taking the time to warm up your body. It means paying as much attention to your recovery and stabilization and mobility training as you do your actual workouts.
It means not just constantly lifting more and pushing harder.
So next time you pooh pooh something like balancing on one leg because you don’t see how it directly benefits your desire to be a badass…DON’T.
That rehab/prehab/flexibility/mobility/stabilization exercise may just be the key to you developing stronger lifts, more endurance and better overall health and fitness.
Being one of the guys
So I got this great comment from Steph the other day:
hi, i love this blog and find such great feelings of accomplishment from lifting heavy and seeing myself grow stronger, and enjoy reading your insight.
In the next few weeks can you post something about the BENEFITS of being a woman? I feel like in the last few posts you have (understandably) been ranting about the struggle to be taken seriously as a strong and knowledgeable woman. but I think it has taken on a slant of “trying to be one of the boys” and trying to prove yourself as not just some girl. while i understand your frustration at the Ikea Girl and the frustration of seeing some women taking on the role of helpless weakling, I feel like in some areas you are thinking as yourself as having to catch up to your male counterparts- as if maleness were the norm, and being a girl is “other”
i am very interested on your thoughts on this, as i have had similar struggles as a bike mechanic- customers looking over my head to have “one of the guys” look at their bike, or asking one of my co-workers the exact same question to double check my answer… this left me feeling inferior and caused me to be frustrated with my femaleness, constantly falling short of my attempt to be a guy. It took some work to see that I had so many strengths that my co-workers did not that I think customers appreciated – such as taking the time to explain the problems with their bike, etc. I am still struggling with this- especially as i have become more interested in body building. I get so mad at myself that my boyfriend- (who does not work out) can still lift heavier things and beats me everyday on out bike ride to workwould love to hear what you think!!
And her comment got me to thinking because my intention was never to sound like I wanted to be “one of the guys.”
The intention of my last couple of posts is to show that I’m proud to be a female and that a female can be STRONG and still be FEMININE. Strength IS feminine.
I’m frustrated because people still define things like strength, competitiveness and command as MASCULINE qualities.
Which they aren’t.
I’m a woman of strength, power, competitiveness. I’m not afraid to command a room. I’m not timid. But I consider myself to be feminine. I’m not frustrated by my femaleness.
I’m frustrated by others’ view of femaleness.
But the only way to change that is to continue to be strong and spread the word.
To embrace all of the qualities that society deems to be “masculine” as feminine qualities. To be a powerlifting, dress wearing, bad at putting on makeup female. To help other women find strength in the weight room and empowerment through working out.
To embrace who I am and help others do the same.
I try to see the situations I’ve encountered over the last week as opportunities for change – not as blows to myself as a woman. I share the stories to make others aware and to hopefully lead to some change!
So Steph, be proud of your strength. Be proud of your knowledge. They define YOUR femaleness! 🙂
P.S. I also get mad when guys who workout less and are “less fit” than me can lift more than me. I also get frustrated when girls who are taller can naturally lift more than me. AKA I just hate in general when anyone can lift more than me!
IKEA
So over the last week, Ryan and I have made a few trips to IKEA to buy furniture since we sold everything when we moved from Boston.
I love Ikea….the only problem is you have to pick up all the furniture and put it together.
And the picking it up isn’t the problem!
Anyway, yesterday we made pretty much our final trip there to buy the last couple of large things. We walked around their “marketplace” or whatever they call it and went down the aisle to pick up the boxes that we needed.
I of course don’t ever wait for Ryan’s help. I just start lifting the massive awkward boxes onto our cart the best that I can. And if it looks like I won’t be able to get the box or am about to smash myself in the face/foot/you name a body part, Ryan will step in to help me. Otherwise, he just lets me do my thing.
But so yesterday we were getting the parts for a dresser. I had managed the first box, but the second was super heavy so Ryan came around to help me.
All the while this shorter couple is standing behind us waiting to grab their boxes for the dresser. I hurried to grab our boxes so we could move down the aisle to grab the next piece.
As we moved down, I watched the short couple move to grab the boxes…or should I say I watched the husband/boyfriend/male grab the long awkward boxes by himself.
And while that didn’t make me think at first because I would have gone right at it just like him, what got me was the fact that when he struggled so badly that I even wanted to go over and help him, all she did was stand there.
SHE JUST STOOD THERE!?!?!!?!?
He was struggling hard and kept dropping the box as he moved it two feet to the cart and she just stood there!
AH!
Maybe she just stood there because he would reject the help. Maybe she stood there because she didn’t feel like helping. Maybe she stood there because she wasn’t strong enough to help.
I don’t know why she just stood there. But I can’t get over the fact that she didn’t help.
Am I the only weirdo slightly perturbed by this? You can admit it if I am….
Anyway, I turned to Ryan and said, “Aren’t you glad I’m strong and help you move everything?”
He just smiled and said, “Yup” because he has heard this statement every time we move.
I think it is just that every time Ryan and I move, I realize just how glad I am that when I workout I lift heavy stuff!
P.S. This will lead into a post tomorrow, if I haven’t died of frustration before then from trying to put everything together, inspired by my boss at Innovative Results who has created an “awkward weights” workout progression which may be just what some of us need to help make us strong so we can move boxes, furniture or any awkward, heavy piece of whatever.
Narrow-mindedness
narrow-minded – lacking tolerance or flexibility or breadth of view; “a brilliant but narrow-minded judge”; “narrow opinions”
So in a comment a little bit ago, I was called narrow-minded.
It kind of made me laugh because that isn’t something I’d ever considered myself to be.
I mean yes…am I arguing in support of MY viewpoint on this site….OF COURSE!
Anyone writing anything is basically supporting THEIR VIEWPOINT.
But while I may support one very specific viewpoint in terms of what I believe to be the BEST diet and exercise programs on this site, I would argue that I’m not narrow-minded.
First and foremost I tell people to constantly learn, experiment and evolve their diet and workout program. As I’ve said before, one size doesn’t fit all!
You have to find out what works for YOU and you only do that through research or learning, self-experimentation and constantly being open to evolving your beliefs and programs.
I have clients that don’t hold near the same diet beliefs that I do. And I have clients that LOVE running. I don’t try to change their diet views and I don’t tell them to stop running.
I will question their diet beliefs just like I hope people question mine. The only way we can make sure we are constantly learning and getting better is by questioning. I never just want to accept something as truth….I want to know WHY it is truth.
So I question them. If they are going to be eating a certain diet, I want them to know WHY they are eating that way.
And I help guide them to become more educated. I don’t say they are wrong or that they should follow my diet. I help them find their own way.
Because as I said before, it doesn’t matter what works for me. It matters what works for you.
And that client that loves to run…Do I force them to become a powerlifter?
HECK NO!
Am I completely dumbfounded as to why they love running? OF COURSE! 😛
BUT I don’t tell them to stop doing what they love. Instead I show them exercises and/or lifts to help them become fitter, stronger runners.
You have to do what you love. If you don’t love your workouts, you probably won’t stick to them for very long.
If you love running, do it. If you love lifting, do it.
But that doesn’t mean you can just ignore the rest of your fitness. You need strength training to make you a better runner. And you need cardio to help make you a better lifter. You need to give your body some variety in training and plenty of recovery or you won’t see the results you want in the activity that you love!
So maybe I am narrow-minded. I believe I’ve found something that works for me and I want to share it…hence the birth of Man Bicep. I respectfully disagree that I am not, but it is really up to you to decide.
All I can say is I hope that you find the diet and exercise program that works for you and if you need any coaching along the way, I’m always here…Even if you are a vegetarian runner and my arch nemesis….
Workouts – What should we really be doing?
So last night when I was talking about workouts with a friend I realized how deeply it is ingrained in us that not only are certain exercises the key to weight loss success but so is a certain duration of activity.
She assumed I ran a lot and worked out for long periods of time because I’m “thin” and “in shape.”
Most women assume the same thing. They believe that running and long workouts are the key to weight loss success.
But they are wrong.
For one, I rarely ever run and when I do it usually is sprints or really light jogging if I’m going any distance over a mile.
And two, I don’t think any of my workouts have been anywhere near an hour for months now. Shoot, at least a few times a week my workouts aren’t even longer than 15 minutes!
Running and cardio in general is a key piece of the weight loss puzzle, but it isn’t the only piece. Strength training, and diet, are also very important.
If you don’t do strength training, you won’t add muscle.
Why do you want to add muscle when your goal is weight loss?
Because by adding muscle you burn more fat. When you have more muscle, you burn more calories allowing you to lose weight more easily and keep the weight off!
If you only do chronic cardio, when you take time off and eat normally, you will find the weight goes right back on. Also, you will find that your body will get used to the chronic cardio that you are doing and that you will constantly need to be upping the amount of time you spend running to get the same calorie burn!
BUT if you’ve added muscle, you will find that you won’t gain the weight back near as easily because you’ve raised your metabolic rate by adding muscle which needs more calories to be maintained!
Also, strength training will help prevent injuries that may develop from repetitive motions, such as running, that would hinder your progress or keep you from working out!
So while cardio is important, STRENGTH TRAINING, is actually more key to maintaining a healthy “in shape” weight!
Now to workout length….
Workout intensity is what really matters when you are trying to figure out how long your workout should be.
When I go for a hike or a walk, my workout will be longer. BUT if I workout super intensely, there is no need for my workout to pretty much ever go over 45 minutes.
So it isn’t that long workouts can’t be good, but if you are working out super intensely for an hour, you are probably going to either burn out or start feeling the effects of overtraining, which will actually hinder your progress toward your goal (be your goal weight loss or added strength or merely feeling fitter!).
So I guess to sum up what I’m saying is there is no one form of exercise or a certain length of time you have to spend working out to reach your fitness goals!
Variety is key!
(HMMMMM….Variety is key….That sounds familiar….I was going to link to another post here but there are too many preaching this on this site to pick just one! :-))
The Sled
If you’ve ever pushed or pulled a sled, you know it is perfectly wonderful torture.
Tonight Ryan came in to the gym for a workout and I started our workout out with a sled pull (pull the sled toward you by pulling a long rope in) and then pushing it back to the starting position. (This was made even more torturous by the fact that you then had to bear crawl backwards back to the beginning.)
BUT tonight I’m not going to discuss how torturous the bear crawl was. I’m going to discuss the torture and the benefit of pushing and pulling a sled.
If you want to develop strength and power in your legs, you should be doing sled pushes. If you want to strengthen your core and your upper body, you should be doing sled pushes. Sled pulls are great too for the upper body, core and even the legs.
The sled helps you develop POWER and STRENGTH. AND it also helps you develop great ACCELERATION and SPEED.
Corey, one of the owners and trainers at Innovative Results, posted this article about sled training to our Facebook group a few weeks back and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.
It is a very functional tool that can work your entire body.
So why aren’t you doing workouts with the sled?!?!
Add this circuit into your next routine:
5 rounds with a challenging weight on the sled:
Sled pull toward you for 20 ft.
Sled pull
Push it back to the starting position (20ft)
Then bear crawl backwards to your starting position at the rope (20ft)
REPEAT!
One size doesn’t fit all
I was telling everyone at work about my “AH HA!” moment in the shower the other day.
I was thinking about our gym, Crossfit and personal training when I thought….
“Would you go to a doctor that prescribes the same thing to cure all of his patients? NO! So why would you go to a gym that does?!?”
I like Crossfit for a number of reasons, BUT some of the people doing it really shouldn’t be doing it.
Sorry but that is the cold hard truth.
Crossfit is one prescription for a whole bunch of problems and frankly that just doesn’t work.
I usually don’t say anything negative about Crossfit because I do like the movement and a lot of what it stands for.
But it shouldn’t ever have become mainstream.
I’m sorry. Lifting “heavy” is for everyone, but as I’ve said before “heavy” is so very relative.
While I love the variety of Crossfit, a lot of the people doing the workouts SHOULD NOT be doing the moves they are doing. Can they be learning snatches?
YES. But they should be learning proper form and progressing in a fashion that allows their bodies to adapt to the loads.
Unfortunately this doesn’t happen at many Crossfit gyms (which gives the ones that do do this a bad name).
Crossfit is also all about pushing the body past the point of failure.
Which I love.
But the average person doesn’t have the same understanding of their body that athletes and advanced/experienced lifters do.
I know when my form breaks down. I know how far I can push my body past that point of absolute fatigue without risking injury.
Many of the people doing the heavy Crossfit lifts don’t.
I mean, “Do you?” Can you tell when your form breaks down? Do you know which muscles are compensating and how much they can handle? Do you know that your body is prepared to handle the loads placed on it?
If you can’t answer yes to those questions, you shouldn’t be using a heavy weight till failure. You shouldn’t be doing many of the Crossfit workouts.
Sorry.
I guess what it comes down to for me is that Crossfit is a sport – A sport MEANT for elite athletes.
I know many of you will disagree with me, but before you start ranting and potentially leaving comments just take a second to think about what I’m saying.
One size doesn’t fit all.
Is Crossfit really getting you toward your goals?
Or is this another one of those things that people do because it is popular right now, but eventually get injured/tired/bored or don’t reach their goals so they give up?
Is Crossfit really the right program for you?
It may be super cool and “bad-ass” right now, but in the long run, is it the right prescription for YOU?
Battling Ropes
Ingrid is the awesome woman in this photo who lead most of our course. So RAD! (Had to throw in some California slang!)
Yesterday I attended a Level 1 Battling Ropes Certification course.
It was AWESOME!
Honestly, it is one of THE BEST THINGS that most people AREN’T INCLUDING in their program.
Who can do battling ropes?
That is the best part…EVERYONE!
It was one of the few workouts we can all do that really has no risk of injury AND doesn’t need a lot of practice to get the “form” correct.
When we are teaching someone to deadlift, it is a slow and long process. Their joints and connective tissues have to be ready to lift the weight before they can bump up the resistance. So even if they have the muscular strength to do a weight, their body might not truly be ready to handle it. AND form is an important part of the deadlift. You have to learn the form before you can increase the weight you are using.
But that isn’t the case with the Battling Ropes. With Battling Ropes, a beginner or a professional athletes can use the same 50ft, 1.5 inch rope and get a killer workout.
Everyone’s connective tissues can handle the weight of the ropes. AND everyone can DEVELOP correct form as they do the ropes more. At the beginning your body may compensate, but as you get tired your entire body has to work together correctly to produce the force necessary to make waves all the way down the rope. Imbalances will reveal themselves AND correct themselves as people do the ropes more and more.
All of the PROBLEMS that develop or can hinder progress with traditional weight lifting can be corrected using the ropes.
And on top of that, THEY AREN’T EASY!
I can bench press, do tons of push ups, deadlift and squat heavy weights, but one minute on the Battling Ropes and my body is says, “OUCH!”
I just love it!
Battling Ropes help increase your work capacity, teach you how to use your entire body to move EFFICIENTLY and increase your power and strength. They do everything basically AND everyone can do them.
You just start by making the waves go as far down the rope as you can. That may be two feet or all the way down. As your body learns how to move efficiently and becomes stronger, you will get the waves further and further down the ropes and increase the speed at which you can produce the waves.
Start with just a minute. Each time try to go longer! Right now I have two challenges that I want to take down. Five minutes straight of the alternating arm waves (after that I’ll try 10 minutes) and then the 1 mile rope pull. Wish me luck!
If you want to learn more about Battling Ropes and the exercises you can do with them (hopefully I will have some of my own videos soon!), check out these videos by John and his crew. John’s website also has some great info on it! Our gym also has some great videos that I will link to as soon as our site is back up!
Next we will discuss some more natural movements for our body, CRAWLING. Not only forwards, but also backwards. It is crazy how hard the backwards because we never train that movement pattern YET it should be something we train since we have to do it naturally!
P.S. I thought one of the most interesting things about using Battling Ropes is that you don’t get SORE from a workout with them. Because of the constant motion and the use of only concentric and isometric contractions, you don’t get sore the next day. Fatigued, yes, but sore, no.
So I got some weird looks…
So currently I don’t have a gym to train at consistently.
But that is no excuse not to workout intensely!
Sunday I went and ran Stadiums, or as Ryan calls them “Serpentines.”
On Monday, Ryan and I borrowed any random workout equipment we could and did a workout in the backyard.
And then yesterday, I went to the park and busted out a very nice workout.
Yep….the park…er…playground
So what if a couple of people gave me a very strange look?! So what if I was crawling through the grass?!
Monkey bars are a great place to do pull ups and knees to elbows. Heck if you even just go back and forth across the monkey bars it is a great workout.
Ok so this wasn’t from yesterday…it was from Boston when I spent the afternoon playing with preschoolers!
A park bench or picnic table is perfect for box jumps.
There is just so many great exercises that you can do on a playground!
And hey, at least a kid said, “Mommy, I want to do what she is doing on the monkey bars!” (At this point I was doing knees to elbows.)
Who cares if you look “weird” bear-crawling on the ground?!?!
You are running and “playing” just like a kid! Shoot! Get your kids to do the workout with you on the playground! They will think it is so much fun!
It’s better than being one of those people just sitting around WATCHING their kids play, right!?! 🙂
So no excuses! Go out and play in the sun (and get in a great workout while you are at it!)
You can even try this workout!
Bear crawls (forward then back) 25 steps forward and 25 steps back
Pull ups 25
Picnic bench jumps 50
Leg lowers 50
“Walking” Lunges (jumping up and slightly forward each time switching legs) 25 each side
Knees to elbows 50
1 leg skater squats 25 each side
Monkey bars 50 (go back and forth across the monkey bars until you hit 50 reps)
Mountain climbers 50 each side
Pull ups 25
Bear crawls (forward then back) 25 steps forward and 25 steps back
Man Bicep 