weight training vs push ups

[ero-sennin]

I train my chest once a week using weights. I do 6 sets of bench press, 4 sets of dumbell flys and two sets of push ups. Reps are done untill failure and are usually between 5-8, with a 2 minute rest between sets. My chest is a little sore for the next couple of days. The session lasts about 45 minutes.


I know some people prefer to simply do push ups for an hour. I'm sure most of you know about scooby the bodybuilder from youtube [Only registered and activated users can see links] On his site he says even if you're a hardcore bodybuider, if you do push ups for an hour your chest will be destroyed the next day. I've tried doing this. When I didn't have access to weights I did push ups for an hour, 1-2 minute rest between sets. Reps were untill failure, about 6-12 reps. With good form on fists with elbows going straight behind rather than to the sides. My chest was fine the day, I didn't feel as if I got as good a workout. :think

So what do you guys do for a chest workout? What about weight training for the chest and then doing push ups the other days of the week? Would that have any benefits or would the muscles be over trained? At the moment I do a couple of sets of 2 finger push ups and one arm push ups till failure everyday, in addition to my chest workout once a week.

I know some people claim to do over 500 push ups a day. Boy am I a long way off that. But if I could, would this be more beneficial than training the chest once a week with weights? I've been weight training longer than my brother who used to train his chest just by doing push ups everyday (I think he did about 3 sets of around 12). The first time he tried to do a bench press he was able to do more reps than me with the same weight. He weighs slightly less than me too, although a little taller. I'm wondering if doing push ups rather than weights made him stronger than me even though he weighs less and didn't use weights before.

[ChrisPontius]

Doing pushups will make you great at doing pushups, lifting weights will make you great at lifting weights. How about just doing some boxing exercises?

[MasterFlo]

Just mix up the chest excersises, too much of one type of workout will really hurt the next day. I do about 5 different ones for my chest, they're obviously easy to find. And don't listen to people who tell you not to do weights, try it out and see if it works for you. I saw a huge improvment in speed and power of my hooks after using the chest fly alot.

[ero-sennin]

Doing pushups will make you great at doing pushups, lifting weights will make you great at lifting weights. How about just doing some boxing exercises?

I'm not a boxer, although I have done a little bit of martial arts and still train. I'm pretty sure most boxers/MMA fighters do train with weights so it must have other benefits besides just making you good at lifting weights.

[cockneyhardman]

I'm not a boxer, although I have done a little bit of martial arts and still train. I'm pretty sure most boxers/MMA fighters do train with weights so it must have other benefits besides just making you good at lifting weights.

personally i think doing endless pushups is a waste of time
do you need endurance in your chest?
what muscles in your body fatigue when boxing?

[RDJ]

By doing bag work and shadowboxing you will gain muscular endurance exactly where you need it. Pushups are nice during warmup, or a circuit for example, but don't expect anything.

[BlackWater]

What are your goals?

[ero-sennin]

whats up guys,

Blackwater, see my last post, page 3 on el pumas strength and conditioning thread. I've given a detailed description of my current training and my goals on there. [Only registered and activated users can see links]

[BlackWater]

By what your saying you are aiming for the same goal that every good athlete wants to be. Good Athletes find success by training their whole bodies not just individual parts, so instead of focusing your training days by chest/back/legs work your entire body everyday.

This is a very widely used and successful strength routine made by Mark Rippetoes


Workout A
3x5 Squat
3x5 Bench Press
1x5 Deadlift

Workout B
3x5 Squat
3x5 Standing military press
3x5 Power cleans

You train on 3 nonconsecutive days per week.

So week 1 might look like:
Monday - Workout A
Wednesday - Workout B
Friday - Workout A

Week 2:
Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B

[Iceveins]

Doing pushups will make you great at doing pushups, lifting weights will make you great at lifting weights. How about just doing some boxing exercises?
:lol:

[Scott Bolinger]

You need to work all the muscle groups How you do it is up to you. Some people commit to a 3 day a week weight lifting , in which you do a full body exercise. Some do a 5 and 6 day weight training program were every other day your working the upper body and on the off days from that your working the lower body. Some trainig programs your on a 4 or 5 day training program and each day is dfffernt and your working specific muscle groups.

I personallyy prefer weight lifting and medicine ball work out routines over just pushups.

[boxbible]

The majority of power comes from the legs. It's because they're 4 to 5 times the size of the chest muscles.

But, a whole body workout, three times a week, sticking to the basic, compound movements would be much better if you're early in the game and don't know much about weight training.

There is a concept called the ladder of intensity which means as you go from novice weight training to experienced weight lifting, you start with basic stuff and advance to more complex routines.

This means that you start off with simple basic excercises which the novice body will respond to and when these alone are no longer sufficient to shock the body into more gains, then you add other excercises and split body parts and so on.

Start off with the basic freshman package: squats, calf raises, bench, lat pull-downs, shoulder press, rows, abs... (one workout, three times a week)

intermediate package: add stiff-legged deadlifts, biceps curls, triceps puchdowns

sophomre package: start splitting workouts between pushing and pulling muscles (five workouts a week eg... M.T,W... Fri, Sat (Thu & Sun off)

senior package: freestyle weightl training

And go and read about weight training so you understand the difference between doing heavy bench presses and a thousand pushups. There's tons of good books out there.

[sam1222]

i love push ups and pull-ups/chin-ups. there's no better exercise for building strength in the chest,arms and shoulders. i work them into my routine no matter what i'm doing, whether its weights or boxing training. most people dont like them cos their hard to do. do 1-200 every day and you'll see a difference mate.

[Bodi]

Agree with the above posters who question why you focus so much attantion on your chest. If you are adament that you want to proceed down this route, dump the weights and normal pushups. Focus on one arm pushups, hindu pushups, clap, double clap, and triple clap pushups, power overs, add a weighted vest, raise your feet, place your hands on medicine balls, or suspend a pair of gymnastic rings from the roof so they hang about 12" off the floor and do pushups on them.

If you follow the above protocols, I guarantee that your chest will develop like never before, in addition to the associated core and wrist benefits.

[Mr. Blobby]

Use weights for sure. Problem with press up is that your chest will become acustomed to your body weight and you won't gain any more strength. Yes I know you can target doing more and more reps but why waste time doing 1 hour of press ups when you can get the job done in 15 minutes bench pressing the heaviest weight you can bench.

[Bodi]

Mr Blobby, read my above post. If you add weight via a weighted vest, or do one handed pushups (adding weight as you improve), your body will not get used to the weight as you are constantly increasing it just as you would when lifting weights.

Bodyweight exercise shoulnd't be taken literally, it doesn't mean that you can't add resistance. You can do pushups with a weighted vest, a heavy backpack, or one of my favorites is to hook an iron woody band over your back and loop each end through your hands, by doing this you are adding progressive resistance in the same manner as a powerlifter does by adding chains to the bar whilst bench pressing.

When performing bodyweight exercise, think outside the box, don't limit yourself to your own bodyweight.

[boxbible]

You can do pushups with a weighted vest, a heavy backpack, or one of my favorites is to hook an iron woody band over your back and loop each end through your hands, by doing this you are adding progressive resistance in the same manner as a powerlifter does by adding chains to the bar whilst bench pressing.

Wouldn't bench pressing be a much simpler and faster alternative to all this stuff? :think

[RDJ]

The bench supports the body so that only the chest and shoulders are in action, that's not the same for pushups where much more muscles have a stabilizing function. Just an observation.

[MrSmall]

The bench supports the body so that only the chest and shoulders are in action, that's not the same for pushups where much more muscles have a stabilizing function. Just an observation.

Incorrect

[RDJ]

Incorrect

I know, there's probably more involved, the core gets some as well and obviously I forgot the triceps and such. The point I was trying to make is that there's a difference between lying on a bench and balancing on your hands and toes.

[Bodi]

Wouldn't bench pressing be a much simpler and faster alternative to all this stuff? :think

Whats faster than geting down on all fours and banging out a set of pushups? Bench press isn't, thats for sure! And anyway, when you are training you shouldn't be looking for the easiest or fastest way. You should focus your pool of exercises for maximizing benefits that carry over into your given endeavor.

Also, think of it as associated benefits. As a fighter, or athlete of any kind for that matter, intermuscular co-ordination is one of the key areas that you need to work. By isolating muscles on the bench press, you may well get strong on the bench press, but when you try to apply that strength in and athletic endeavor, you simply won't be able to maximize it because your muscles aren't used to working in harmony.

RDJ's points are correct, he is thinking along the lines of what is best for a fighter.

[RDJ]

Also, think of it as associated benefits. As a fighter, or athlete of any kind for that matter, intermuscular co-ordination is one of the key areas that you need to work. By isolating muscles on the bench press, you may well get strong on the bench press, but when you try to apply that strength in and athletic endeavor, you simply won't be able to maximize it because your muscles aren't used to working in harmony.

This is why I think climbing and jumping beats pushups and squats. I know they serve different purposes in a training routine, and I know their injury risk that's why it may not appeal to everyone. But I think the best functional strength routine (non sports specific) would be something like Parkour.

[Primadonna Kool]

ha ha ha ha ha at this topic.

[Bodi]

RDJ, you and I think alike!

Parkour is fantastic. As an athlete, you should be prepared for every posible eventuality, you need to be fast, strong, agile and well balanced, Parkour fits that bill perfectly. I don't know if you are aware of Crossfit? If not, you might like to check it out.

[RDJ]

Parkour, swimming and demanding manual labour. I think that would be close to perfect for me when it comes to conditioning, besides the sports specific stuff of course.

Side note. It's funny, some of the exercises like putting chains on a bar and such (increased resistance) are things I once did for work. Chains are used to hang things on, and you usually attach them to a ceiling, this means climbing up machinery with a chain around your neck that gets heavier as you get higher, stuff like that. Manual labour is very dynamic. Carrying heavy equipment up stairs, machines that are heavy to operate, etc. I always regarded it paid workouts, just take a backpack full of food every day and see your functional strength increase.

I know about crossfit and like the idea a lot. I think their implementation is too much geared towards strength though.

[boxingtactics07]

It's a fact that while both are horizontal push movements, the pushup engages more muscles; even if they only act as stabilizers/dynamic stabilizers. They can both have their place in a workout plan though.

[Bodi]

RDJ, I too am a manual labourer, and you are correct about the carrying heavy loads up stairs and such like. A personal favorite of mine is the wheelbarrow, for a full body workout and building mental fortitude, not many things beat shoving a wheelbarrow up and down hills all day!

[ringsider]

Stay away from the weights....unless you want to be a body builder. Especially the bench pressing, remember as a fighter you do not punch with your chest muscles......do the push ups and work the heavy bag.......:good

[Rock0052]

I train my chest once a week using weights. I do 6 sets of bench press, 4 sets of dumbell flys and two sets of push ups. Reps are done untill failure and are usually between 5-8, with a 2 minute rest between sets. My chest is a little sore for the next couple of days. The session lasts about 45 minutes.


I know some people prefer to simply do push ups for an hour. I'm sure most of you know about scooby the bodybuilder from youtube [Only registered and activated users can see links] On his site he says even if you're a hardcore bodybuider, if you do push ups for an hour your chest will be destroyed the next day. I've tried doing this. When I didn't have access to weights I did push ups for an hour, 1-2 minute rest between sets. Reps were untill failure, about 6-12 reps. With good form on fists with elbows going straight behind rather than to the sides. My chest was fine the day, I didn't feel as if I got as good a workout. :think

So what do you guys do for a chest workout? What about weight training for the chest and then doing push ups the other days of the week? Would that have any benefits or would the muscles be over trained? At the moment I do a couple of sets of 2 finger push ups and one arm push ups till failure everyday, in addition to my chest workout once a week.

I know some people claim to do over 500 push ups a day. Boy am I a long way off that. But if I could, would this be more beneficial than training the chest once a week with weights? I've been weight training longer than my brother who used to train his chest just by doing push ups everyday (I think he did about 3 sets of around 12). The first time he tried to do a bench press he was able to do more reps than me with the same weight. He weighs slightly less than me too, although a little taller. I'm wondering if doing push ups rather than weights made him stronger than me even though he weighs less and didn't use weights before.

Have you considered doing dips at all? Personally, I think you get more out f of them than pushups and it's considerably easier to add resistance if you want to- just put on the weight belt with the chain and loop it through whatever weight you want. Rotate between that, bench, or pushups, along with some Olympic lifts like Power Clean and Jerk or Hang clean, and squats is a pretty quick and dynamic way to get the whole body portion of your workout done. The Olympic lifts are key because they tie together the rest of your workout by making your whole body work together.

Also, don't worry about going to failure- just work off of sets of either 5, 8, or 12 reps at a weight you can handle for 3 sets until your body has a baseline conditioning level that's good enough to handle doing fewer of the Olympic lifts- like 3 sets of 3 on heavier weight with one light warmup set.

[boxingtactics07]

Since your only goal is to get a better chest, this simple routine will work for you:

Day 1: (beginning of week)
8X3 @ 80% 1RM dumbbell/barbell bench press
8X3 @ 80% 1RM dumbbell/barbell bent-over-rows

Day 2: (towards end of week)
8X3 @ 80% 1RM weighted dips
8X3 @ 80% 1RM weighted chinups (palms facing you)

[boxbible]

Stay away from the weights....unless you want to be a body builder. Especially the bench pressing, remember as a fighter you do not punch with your chest muscles......do the push ups and work the heavy bag.......:good

Pushups are practically the same as bench presses only less effective... :nut:nut:nut

[boxbible]

Incorrect
RDJ is more correct...

A training program should incorporate all these different forms of resistance training.

As a rule, you want to start your cycle with general exercises and work to a peak with more sports specific exercises.

So, you would start with traditional weight training routines which include many supported and fixed path movements that you do on machines or with barbells.

Then bring in the open loop exercises including many body weight type exercises but with appropriate resistance and dumb bell exercises as well as multi-directional exercises for each joint being worked to bring in the stabilizer and antagonist (opposing) muscles.

Finally, the resistance exercises should be done in a sport specific manner, meaning you do exercises that exactly mimic the movements of the sport, but with appropriate resistance.

In this fashion, you can incorporate all the advantages of the various types of exercises available to get a totally balanced workout which will promote greater strength gains than using say, only weight machines, or only body weight exercises, or only punching the bag, etc...