Push Ups and Pull Ups Still Work Great
Back when I was playing college baseball and going to the gym every day, I thought that I would be able to build my chest and back a lot more than I actually did. I figured that by going to the gym every day, I would at least see some improvement each week in these muscle groups, but it seemed that I fell into a plateau and could never really get beyond it. That was until I discovered a basic boot camp style program that incorporates many push-ups and pull-ups to develop the chest and back. These traditional exercises are what helped me get a ton of definition in my chest and back, something I have never experienced!
I hate to admit it, but I was one of those gym junkies who used only bench press to develop my chest and the lateral pull-down machine for my back. Of course I thought this was enough, until about a year into going to the gym ever day, and then I asked myself, "Why does it seem that I haven't seen any more definition in either my chest or back in about 8 months?" It was official, I had hit a plateau, and I'm sure many of you reading this have experienced the same thing. However, I didn't do anything about it until I reached a point after college when I wasn't happy with the way I looked. I really fell out of shape, and it wasn't until I discovered a basic workout program that relies mostly on push-ups and pull-ups to develop the chest and back muscle groups, and I was a skeptic until I tried it out myself. After 90 days, my chest and back had more definition than ever before!
Pull-ups and I have never really gotten along. I mean, I really hated doing them when I went to the gym, which is probably why I never did them anyways. If I would do them, I would do a set of 6 or 7 wide grip pull-ups and then quit because I hated doing them. So you might be asking, "So what did you do to develop the back?" Well, not much to be honest. Like I mentioned above, I would occasionally use the lateral pull-down machine, and would also do some lawn mowers, but they weren't effective because I didn't know how to use proper form.
Pull-ups are amazing as an exercise to develop the back. In fact, with the program I follow you are doing 2 days of the week pull-up training. And these aren't regular pull-ups. Sure, there are some that people are familiar with, but many of them are super unique, each developing a certain muscle in the back. As much as I hated doing the pull-ups, I knew it was what I needed to do in order to reach my goal of a ripped back. The first workout was tough for me, and I could only get a max of 8 reps for each exercise during the first half. What about the second half? Ha, forget it. I could only do maybe 1 or 2 reps for each exercise. As each week passed, I noticed that my back got stronger and stronger, until I reached the point where I was busting out 15-20 reps for each exercise!
Half of the first workout, called Chest ... Back, was nothing but pull-ups, but the other half was grueling push-ups. I never realized how tough push-ups could be until I had to do this workout. When I reached the half-way mark through the push-ups, I had nothing left. I was completely worn out! My arms were shaky, and I was only able to do a total of 2-3 push-ups for each exercise thereafter. I remember being so sore the next day that it hurt to move my arms! That was the worst soreness that I have ever experienced, and it was at that point that I knew I was going to reach my goal of a ripped chest. By the end of my 90 days, my chest was more developed than it ever was before!
Please join me in getting into the best shape of your life. I'm a big believer in a traditional pull up and push up program. Also I'm looking to try out a new super high boot camp program and will report on that once I get through it.
If you worry whether the P90X workout work for women as well as men? Check out www.pressplayfitness.com for one woman's P90X transformation story. If you are a woman really out of shape, you may want to try Debbie Siebers Slim in 6 workout first.