What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
I've got a pushup variation for you here today, that comes with three promises.
Number one: you're going to feel this in more of your chest than you ever have before.
Number two: you're likely going to do less reps to failure because it's a harder pushup.
But we're all going to be able to do it.
I promise.
Number three: you're going to get a better pump from one set of this than you are in
any other pushup variation in a single set.
Now, it's based off the mechanics of pressing.
Now we know that whether we're doing a bench-press, we know that as the bar goes up it doesn't
go linear.
It goes up, and back.
Up, and then more toward our head.
Well, even if we take out a hammer press these machines are actually built this way, to have
the arc push up, and away from you.
That's the natural arc of pressing.
Well, just because we have a machine that moves and doesn't allow force doesn't mean
that when our hands are fixed on the ground, like in a pushup, that we can't manipulate
our body to accomplish the same thing.
So this pushup does that, but it does even more than that.
It's how, and where you focus the press that makes all the difference.
So let's get down on the ground and start showing you how to do this.
First key is where you're placing your hands.
I want you to take your thumbs and line them up with the bottom of your chest.
That is going to be the position of them throughout the entire exercise, at least as it relates
to where they are on the ground.
Now, with your hands there you're going to take your elbows and spread them out, away
from your body.
This is key.
Now we know that in a regular press, a bench-press, a dumbbell press; your elbows should be away
from your body.
But they should only be about 30-40 degrees.
Here, you're just going to max them out as far as they'll go – because there will be
a limit because the hands are fixed on the floor – and at that point, that's where
you're going to stay for the rest of the exercise.
Now, it's how you press, and what you do with your body that makes the difference.
As you press, the key is not going to be pushing straight into the floor.
Your force is not going to think about pushing your hands down, into the floor.
You see me doing it here, or at least supinating it toward you guys, but that's not what we
want to do.
Instead, what we want to do – and it's subtle, but it makes a huge difference – don’t
push your body off the floor by pushing your hands into the ground.
Push your body off the floor by squeezing your biceps toward each other.
I mentioned this before, the other day, in a different chest video – but it applies
here even more so.
The lift is being caused by a squeezing of the biceps together.
That pinches my body off the floor, if you want to think of it that way.
Don’t push your body off the floor.
Pinch your body off the floor.
Now, as we do that though, we want to see if we can replicate the arc of pressing.
We can do that by simply rocking our body.
So now, as I press up I want to rock back on my toes, and allow my body to move backward
a little bit.
So that puts my hands relative to my body, a little higher.
As I come back down I'm going to target, again, hitting my thumbs to my lower chest.
As I push away, I rock my toes, and I allow my body to slide backward.
So it's rocking.
It's not a rocking and lifting my ass up off the ground as far as I can, because I've got
to make the exercise easier.
I'm trying to translate my body and let it slide back as much as I can, realizing that,
yes, my body is lifting at that point, so there's going to be an elevation.
I just don’t want my ass to lead the way.
So as you can see here, guys, I am now really, really working my chest.
I'm working my entire chest.
We get that upper chest activation too, because we're getting it to essentially incline press
at the end because of the relationship of our arms to our body.
But the key, as I've said, is the pinching motion to get the entire chest squeezing,
and activating, and contracting, and doing the work.
We let our front delts and our triceps do way too much of the work, far too often.
With those elbows out to the side though, they're positioned to do just that.
Those biceps are now lined up, right at each other, as opposed to having our hands out
in the traditional, and the biceps aren't at all inclined to want to move toward each
other.
This way they're going to.
Yes, your triceps are working here, but you feel it far more if you are initiating and
driving that contraction with your chest.
You'll feel it much more in your chest.
So guys, I say all the time – because I really, really mean it – 'It's not the exercise'.
There is no magic exercise.
However, it's the magic of how you perform the exercise that makes the exercise as effective
as it can be.
There's a reason why a lot of people have built their bodies with just calisthenics,
and bodyweight exercises, because it is possible.
But they've learned how to elicit as much as they can out of every, single contraction,
out of every, single rep, and made every, single one productive.
You can do the same thing.
Now with this pushup, I promise you, you're going to get more out of it.
Again, you might have to leave your ego aside because, yeah, you're used to doing 50, 60
pushups.
Not necessarily on this pushup.
It doesn't matter.
It's what you're driving into the muscle, and how your muscle is being treated that
matters the most here, and we're going to treat it not-so-nicely, but in a good way.
We're going to get more out of it.
All right, guys.
If you've found the video helpful leave your comments below.
If you're looking for a program that really cares about how you do the exercises, I want
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by clicking on the link below this video, and I'll do my best to coach you through every,
single workout.
Again, let me know what you want me to cover here, on this channel and I'll do my best
to do that for you in the days, and weeks ahead.
All right, guys.
See you soon.