by Kerry Taylor
The other day I was having a conversation with an old teammate who had finally hit his stride with training just before Covid-19 hit the country hard. Since then, like many, he had to pivot what he was doing to try to continue to make progress and not lose momentum. So he tried to purchase equipment, and there was nothing to be found, and if it was, it was for an absurd price. So he was left to do what many of us had to do, is use what we had at home and our own body weight. He had mentioned after a while he was bored because there was only so many push ups or squats you can do. My response was, “You can do millions of variations to allow you to continue to make progress and add variety to what you’re doing”. The body is an amazing machine that can do so many things, sometimes you have to think outside the box. With the all the variations out there and variations off those variations, the possibilities are endless. I will attempt to show you what is possible with looking at a simple push up.
½ Reps
Think of doing a pulse in between each rep. These will sneak up on you, I warned you.
Paused Reps
Pausing during concentric or eccentric phase of the exercise takes all the momentum and stretch reflex out of the exercise.
Adjusting the Eccentric or Concentric Pace
Slowing down or speeding up the exercise in either direction will light up the area you are trying to challenge. The eccentric portion is the lowering or going with gravity, the concentric portion is moving the load or going against gravity.
Being Explosive
Being explosive is generating and moving with as much force as possible, which sometimes will lead to elevating you from your surface.
Changing Angles
Increasing or decreasing the angle can make an exercise easier or more challenging.
Increase Reps
This is a simple one and what usually comes to mind for most, to simply increase your reps and see what you can can out. If you are used to doing 10 reps all the time, adjust and start doing 12 - 15 reps instead.
Decrease Rest
Rest is where we recover, so depending on where your resting points are, try and lower it. If you are taking rest in-between exercises, reduce that time frame. If you’re performing multiple drills one after another and take rest once you complete them all before you perform another set, reduce that rest period.
Combine Tweaks
Combining tweaks like 1.5 explosive push ups or pause push up x 5 - explosive push up x 5 - 1.5 push up x 5. Talk about challenging and getting to another level. Phew!!
Isometric Holds
Holding at a phase of the movement for a certain amount of time and then performing the exercise will pre-exhaust the muscle. Thus challenging you to do what you can usually do with ease. Similar to a pause push up but, we are only going to hold for 10-30 sec once prior to completing our repetitions.
Hopefully these examples have shown you what can be done to one simple exercise by adding a little tweak. It will allow you to continue to progress with just using your body weight. These tweaks can also be added to other exercises besides body weight drills. Add these into your training and unlock some more of your strength and abilities. Until next time, continue to live life, 1 degree above the rest!