Push-ups and Pull-ups

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RUNNINxRIOT
RUNNINxRIOT Posts: 32 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So I sprained my hand a while back, and can't do any heavy lifting for a while; but I got to wondering whether it's possible to gain some muscle mass just by doing a routine based solely on pushups and pull-ups. -And if so, what would a routine like that look like? 5 sets of each to failure?

I realize that at some point they could become too easy, but perhaps one could just add some weight to increase the resistance.

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  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    Pull ups and push ups don't hurt your sprained hand?

    Anyway, mix up your hand positions on both. Mix speed and explosion. Don't just do a fixed position/motion every set forever on either exercise.
  • castelluzzo99
    castelluzzo99 Posts: 313 Member
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    If you hurt your wrist, why not include some lower body, like body weight lunges and squats?
  • RUNNINxRIOT
    RUNNINxRIOT Posts: 32 Member
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    I can manage to do push-ups without much of a problem (some slight pain) if I angle my hand right.

    This was meant to be more of a general question too though. If push-ups and pull-ups are done properly, with increased resistance, could that just be done in lieu of traditional barbell/dumbbell weights and such (I'm thinking a full-body workout)?
  • RUNNINxRIOT
    RUNNINxRIOT Posts: 32 Member
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    Pull ups and push ups don't hurt your sprained hand?

    Anyway, mix up your hand positions on both. Mix speed and explosion. Don't just do a fixed position/motion every set forever on either exercise.

    Ahh.. I can definitely mix up hand positions, I always try to push/pull up with explosive power and slowly let myself down. Any other advice on sets/reps maybe? Is a 20 minute workout of these enough to make some gains?

    @Cast... Yes, I could definitely work in some squats too. I'd like to somehow work in just bodyweight and make it challenging though.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
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    I don't know if you can get big with bodyweight. You can get a great pump and get stronger. Guess it depends on body objective.

    For a while I worked up higher reps with 30-sec+ rest periods. Say, 5 sets of 60 pushups and 20 pull ups. I've been switching to lower reps with 8-sec rest periods and declining reps (15-10-5 on five grips). Can easily fit a solid workout in 20 mins.

    Kinda gave up on pushups as strength training, since I don't have anything comfortable to add weight. So I moved to dumbbells with pushups to round out at home. YMMV
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
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    check out nerdfitness.com
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    I can manage to do push-ups without much of a problem (some slight pain) if I angle my hand right.

    This was meant to be more of a general question too though. If push-ups and pull-ups are done properly, with increased resistance, could that just be done in lieu of traditional barbell/dumbbell weights and such (I'm thinking a full-body workout)?

    definitely. There is a reason why they call the pullup the "upper body squat". Just like any other muscle group, once you get to muscular endurance rep ranges you will not be adding much strength or hypertrophy so loading will be required.
  • rybo
    rybo Posts: 5,424 Member
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    Odd that they wouldn't hurt your hand too but yes push ups & pull ups can take u very far. For push ups u can do wide grip, diamonds, archer, 1 arm, clapping etc. Pull ups you have a ton of different grip variations too. You can make em very hard.

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