REAL Strength Basics - Pushup, Chin-up, Sit-up
Most adults in the United States today cannot do even one single pushup, chin-up, or sit-up. The oddest thing is that most people we have dealt with are not even aware of their inability to do these exercises. Often when we ask a client if they think they can do a pushup their response is something along the lines of "Oh yeah, I can do 15 or 20 easy."
Of course we then ask them to show us and to their surprise they quickly discover that they cannot even do one complete pushup. This proves to be so embarrassing to them that they typically get very serious about their training and they apply themselves fully as they work for several months to build a good solid bodyweight strength foundation.
First and foremost our goal for most of our client is for them to be able to do these basic highly functional movements. (what could be more functional than sitting up, pushing up, or pulling up with your own bodyweight?)
What do we consider a good basic level of bodyweight strength?
Men
Women*
Once this basic level of bodyweight strength is attained, more and more of the exercises utilized can be bodyweight based (rather than external weight based) making it progressively more possible to fully capitalize on the principal of adaptation being specific to the stress or. This enables us to aim at higher and higher levels of bodyweight strength until eventually (depending on how far each individual would like to push themselves) a very, very high level of bodyweight strength can be achieved.
Of course we then ask them to show us and to their surprise they quickly discover that they cannot even do one complete pushup. This proves to be so embarrassing to them that they typically get very serious about their training and they apply themselves fully as they work for several months to build a good solid bodyweight strength foundation.
First and foremost our goal for most of our client is for them to be able to do these basic highly functional movements. (what could be more functional than sitting up, pushing up, or pulling up with your own bodyweight?)
What do we consider a good basic level of bodyweight strength?
Men
- 15+ sit-ups
- 12+ pushups
- 3+ chin-ups
Women*
- 15+ sit-ups
- 5+ pushups
- 1+ chin-ups
Once this basic level of bodyweight strength is attained, more and more of the exercises utilized can be bodyweight based (rather than external weight based) making it progressively more possible to fully capitalize on the principal of adaptation being specific to the stress or. This enables us to aim at higher and higher levels of bodyweight strength until eventually (depending on how far each individual would like to push themselves) a very, very high level of bodyweight strength can be achieved.