Guest blogger: Stew Smith
Here’s a question from PerfectPushup2008 YouTube channel: I wanted to say to say GREAT DEVICE!!!! I bought 4 and kept one and mailed the other three out to (1) Iraq & (2) Afghanistan (family in the Military). I have two question regarding 8 counts and push-reps/sets.
"First 8 count: My brother-in-law and nephew went through Great Lakes (mid 90s) and the 8 count was no longer being used due to stress on the knee while performing positions 5 & 6 on the 8 count. Has the Navy reinstated them or are they just used in BUD/S (at Coronado)?"
Answer: Here is the problem. The caliber of people joining the military are about 75% deconditioned people and the others are average fitness levels. So it is smart for the Navy to take out advanced elements of fitness like 8 count body builders and 5-10 mile runs. Compare the 8 count pushup to the 10 mile run - you would not ask a deconditioned person to run 10 miles without expecting injury of some sort. Same holds true for the 8 count pushup - it is an advanced form of exercise that should be done by intermediate / advanced fitness levels. YES - you will see it again at BUD/S - but likely not at bootcamp - unless they find out you are a SEAL wanna-be.
"Second: I was told that it’s best to perform pyramid sets of any type of push-ups"?
There are two great methods to producing a solid foundation of performance fitness for pushups. See article below for ideas of creating pyramids and supersets with a variety of exercises. Notice the Perfect Pushups used in the Swim PT supersets in the pictures...
http://www.stewsmith.com/linkpages/legPTsuperset.htm
These workouts will help you get your scores up to the 15 pullups / pushups 75 and situps 75 zones after a few / several months.
The other way to peak from your foundation is to do what I call max out sets. Pick 3-4 exercises like pushups, situps, pullups and a run or bike or swim for 3 minutes
Max out on your pullups, pushups, situps with 2 minutes each exercise then do a recovery cardio for 3 minutes. Do not stop until you reach 100 pullups / 200 pushups / 300 situps or other ab of choice...
That workout usually takes you from 15 to 25 pullups / 75 to 100 pushups / 75 to 100 situps in about 6 weeks...
Stew Smith CSCS
www.stewsmith.com
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Thursday, February 26, 2009
Stew Smith on 8 Count Bodybuilders and Push-sets
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3 comments:
A couple of weeks ago, I did 20 minutes of the 8-count Body Builder instead of a planned 6-mile run. (The weather was horrendous.) By the 12th minute, I was slinging sweat ALL OVER my nice rug in my big red guest room. I kid you not, mates. First, either buy the DVD or make sure you know the way to do it properly. It took me a loooong time to get into a good rhythm, but that shouldn't surprise anyone if you've read some of my earlier comments. I'm kind of thick-headed with regard to getting the right FORM; but once I learn, I'll never forget. Like riding a bicycle. Anyway, we digress. What's funny is on the video (and this is videos in general -- it has nothing to do with the Perfect Pushup) the model is doing it so effortlessly, you're thinking to yourself, "Hell, that looks like something Gomer Pyle would do. ANYBODY can do that." Yeah, right. Try it. Try it for five minutes. TRY IT FOR TWO MINUTES. I promise you that within two minutes you will see why Alden says on the video, "If you don't have much time, DO THIS WORKOUT." That's pretty close to an exact quote. Well, he means it, sports fans. That workout will wear your butt out in a matter of minutes. I don't care if you're a Navy SEAL or a damn world champion tri-athlete. It will flat kick your tail. I'm back to doing good old Perfect Pushups, the old-fashioned way, as described in the product insert.
I DID 500 YESTERDAY!!!!
(Please do not ask me how long it took. It took LESS than half a day -- that's my final comment.)
"I DID 500 YESTERDAY!!!!"
AWESOME JOE!!!!
Stew's comment:
Joe G. --
I personally know that is tough...At BUD/S you will typically do 100 8 counts as a standard warmup. And you will build up to a few hundred. One BAD day a few students got punished with 1000 8 counts...and they got to rest at every 250...
Ouch...it is a hardcore exercise and usually 2 minutes is enough for a good set of 8 counts as a workout OR if you are in better shape a great warm up.
Stew
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