Pushup Variations – How Many Can You Add To Your Workouts?
Jul 10th, 2011 | By Todd Bowman | Category: Exercises, Total Body Workouts
Are you tried of doing the same exercise over and over? Doing pushup variations or other exercise variations can get rid of the monotony of your workouts and still obtain the same, if not more results.
This concept has grown in popularity in recent years among personal trainers and avid fitness people alike. It’s called muscle confusion. The idea is to vary up your workout ever 3 to 4 weeks to avoid hitting a fitness plateau.
This seems to mimic nature in that each day our bodies and musculature structure would be performing various tasks. One day we might be lifting rocks. The other days we might be hunting a wild bore and skinning it. The next day we might be building some sort of shelter or simply in the garden harvesting fruits, nuts, vegetables and whatever plant life we could procure.
The idea is that each day our muscles are pulling straining and working in all different angles, ranges of motion and weight. If you can mimic this in a fitness club or gym setting you’re going to be much stronger, healthier and fit than the guy who does the same gym workouts day in and day out without seeing any results.
The popular superhero exercises we’ll be tackling today are the superman pushups and superman lunges. Both are “superhero” variations of our standard exercises. Not only do they add variation, they also add more difficulty.
It’s important when doing any kind of muscle building routine to change up the amount of weight, the range of motion, the slowness or fastness of each rep and even the exercise routines themselves. This will always keep your muscles guessing.
Body weight exercises are great for doing this.
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In this video, Craig Ballantyne shows us how to do the spiderman pushups and spiderman lunges. Different variations of pushups as well as the lunges. They also come in a different name, which you may already be aware of.
If you think you know it all, think again. I’ve workout and lifted weights at dozens of gyms since I started back in 1997 and I learn something new just about every time I go into the gym. I’ll see somebody using a machine or a free weight (like a dumbbell or barbell) in ways I never even thought of.
Remember to always be open and ready to learn new ideas and tips regarding your workout and fitness routines.
Spiderman Pushups
Keep your body in a straight line. As you go down for the pushup, bend one knee to the side. Do the same for the other side. Keep your back straight and minimize the rotation of the hips as you come down. This increases your mobility at the hips.
Having flexible hips is important for other exercises like squats and dead lifts, which are 2 of the most (if not THE most) important fully body compound exercises you can do. So make sure to keep your hips flexible.
I strongly suggest getting involved with yoga to help open up your hip flexor muscles.
It’s a very hard pushup considering it increases the stress on your abdominals as you move from 4 points to three points on the ground.
Spiderman Lunges
This is also known as the spiderman climb. To do this, assume pushup position. Lift your left leg and place your foot beside your left hand. Do the same for the other leg. For beginners that have poor flexibility, you don’t have to do go to the full extend immediately. You can go half way first. Your flexibility and mobility will increase in time and you will be able to place your foot near your hand.
This exercise is going to kick your butt. It will definitely cause you to grow stronger in your pectoral muscles, your shoulders (deltoids), triceps and even your abdominal (core) muscles. This will get you in shape very fast.
It’s also good as a cardiovascular and aerobic exercise. Not just anaerobic.
There you have it, lunges and pushup variations you can incorporate to your workout for more results.
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