restarting strength. weights or body weight or both?

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rocket_ace
rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
coming back to strength training. had thought at first I'd start conditioning myself w/ bodyweight exercises (like w/ the 100 pushups program), but have just started 3x a week full body circuits. But I'm feeling like I'd like to improve my pushups - always been a goal I felt lacking in. But, how can you do both? should I mix them up or stagger them? Or else should I do weights for a while couple weeks or months, then shift to body weight for a time, etc?

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  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Most push exercises (especially with free weights) will help with pushups. If you're really doing a full body workout, your pushups should improve as your lifts improve.
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    coming back to strength training. had thought at first I'd start conditioning myself w/ bodyweight exercises (like w/ the 100 pushups program), but have just started 3x a week full body circuits. But I'm feeling like I'd like to improve my pushups - always been a goal I felt lacking in. But, how can you do both? should I mix them up or stagger them? Or else should I do weights for a while couple weeks or months, then shift to body weight for a time, etc?

    I'm always restarting. :laugh: As I'm neither big nor have a lot of upper body strength, I sometimes find it helpful to build myself up with weights for a month before doing heavy duty body strength exercises, like regular push ups. But exercises like the Captain's Chair (abdominals) or triceps dips I can do from the start.

    What you do also depends on your goals. Getting big has never been one of mine. If you want size, weights are better.
  • rocket_ace
    rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
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    hey thanks guys. but should I do pushups at the same time as chest press? or should I go back and forth?
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    Doesn't matter. What's the difference between a push-up and a bench press? The amount of weight you're moving perhaps, but that's about it. A bench press is just an inverted push-up. You don't HAVE to do both. If you really want to do both, I probably wouldn't do them on the same day.

    .
  • rocket_ace
    rocket_ace Posts: 380 Member
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    "doesn't matter" - I love it - simplicity itself - and obviously you are totally correct now that I think about it!... I guess I'll just periodically fit them in from time to time (so that I can see progress, and in case any side muscles need work) but otherwise concentrate on my full body circuit routine. :)
  • mfpcopine
    mfpcopine Posts: 3,093 Member
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    Doesn't matter. What's the difference between a push-up and a bench press? The amount of weight you're moving perhaps, but that's about it. A bench press is just an inverted push-up. You don't HAVE to do both. If you really want to do both, I probably wouldn't do them on the same day.

    .

    Sometimes an individual will be able to do an exercise on a machine or with weights with better form than the body weight version.
  • moustache_flavored_lube
    moustache_flavored_lube Posts: 849 Member
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    If you have access to weights I would lift weights. Stick with major compound movement lifts and do full body routine at least 3 times per week
    Warmup (Row machine is very efficient full body warmup)
    At least 3 sets (somewhere between 5 & 12 reps) of each of the following. Start with the larger muscle groups and work your way to the smaller muscles.

    squats
    deadlifts
    bench press
    shoulder press
    curls
    pullups (think this body weight exercise is better than lat pulldown)
    Abs
    Stretching

    Days you can't get to the gym do bodyweight exercises
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    One could always progressively work towards more advanced BW exercises and just say to heck with the weights.

    Your workouts will get cooler and cooler, and your ability to move yourself will greatly improve. And its free.

    http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/08/23/batman-bodyweight-workout/
    http://www.beastskills.com/tutorials/
    http://www.alkavadlo.com/
    http://www.youtube.com/user/portaldo
    http://www.gymnasticbodies.com/forum/index.php
    http://www.youtube.com/user/BarStarzz
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    My vote's for weights with BW work to supplement, but it's just a matter of what you like better.
  • dbrightwell1270
    dbrightwell1270 Posts: 1,732 Member
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    The newest New Rules For Lifting (Supercharged) book advocates doing pushups instead of bench press. The reasons are that pushups work the same muscles, you can increase the difficulty by changing the position (i.e use a balance, raising your feet, etc.) In doing pushups you are working core muscles that are not worked when you're lying on your back, and that if you do bench press for prolonged time, you are more likely to develop shoulder soreness/injury. The book doesn't say to completely eliminate bench press. It says to deemphasize its importance and to use it for a few weeks at a time but not as a main staple.

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