How to do Pushups and Close Pushups

The Pushup is one of the most classical exercises on earth. They are the bread and butter of the military. It is one of the first exercises that comes to your mind when you think of bodyweight exercises.

However, most people do not give them the respect they deserve. They think that it might be a great exercise for cardio circuits, for a finisher and for warm ups, but that there is no way Pushups could help you get bigger and stronger when you are past the beginner status, right? Well, I am here to tell you that they are completely wrong. The first reason why they think so is that they do not even know how to perform a strict pushup, not even the regular variation. They do them only half way down, with they elbows flared out to the sides and with shitty form.

The strict pushup is done by keeping the elbows close to your body, and going all the way down till your chest touches the floor. Once you have mastered the regular pushups, you should slowly progress to close pushups, by reducing the distance between your hands an inch or two once you get used to the new hand width.

Close pushups are awesome. They will blast you triceps and shoulders, and they are a prerequisite to one arm pushups. Don't rush things to avoid injuring your elbows, since you need to give time to your tendons to get used to the greater ROM (Range Of Motion).

In this video I'll show you how to progress from a total beginner level to the close pushup.

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Train hard!

Gabri

If you want to read this post in Spanish, click here.

How to do Australian Pull Ups

The Australian Pull Up is a splendid exercise for your back and arms, and a good one to start building your pulling power. It is also a good way to gain strength when preparing for your fist pull up, and it will teach total body tension, a good technique for pulling and proper posture for your shoulders and shoulder blades.

Besides, it will keep your shoulders healthy by balancing all the horizontal push you may do (push ups, bench press…).

They are also known as inverted rows and fat man pull ups, but don’t get me wrong, they can be as hard as you want them to be, going from a vertical pull for total rookies, all the way to one arm Australian pull ups to advanced trainees.

In these two videos I show you how to go from vertical pulls, which are the easiest version, to the regular Australian pull up, which is an intermediate level version. Even if Australian pull ups are not the hardest exercise you can find, it is important to do them with great technique and don’t underestimate them.

Once you have mastered this movement, you will notice you have a better mind-muscle connection with your back, an important thing to get bigger, and you’ll feel stronger. A strong back lays the foundation for a strong push, so you can expect your push power to increase as you train properly your back.

Here’s the video where I show how to do them on rings:

And here you can see me doing them on bars:

Don’t hesitate to ask me any question you may have, be it on this blog, on my Facebook Page, or on my youtube channel.

Train hard!

Gabri

                                       To read this post in Spanish, click here.