What benefit do Hindu pushups give?

[Broadsword2004]

Hey, I have known of these for a long time and for a long time I was all for them until I realized that Hindu pushups and Dive-Bomber pushups are different exercises. I used to read in Matt Furey's adds about how there were guys who could bench hundreds of pounds and squat hundreds of pounds, but failed at 16 Hindu pushups. Dive-Bombers I could maybe believe that, but Hindu pushups?

I was able to do 50 straight Hindu pushups before I was able to do 50 straight regular pushups. Hindu pushups have to be the all-time easiest pushup there is, unless you have a problem arching your back.

Do they produce some long-term benefit or something, or are they just an advertisement gimmick? I known the Indian wrestlers supposedly did them in huge numbers each day (up to a thousand I think), so I am wondering what people's take on these are.

[muaythaiguy15]

Dont believe everything you see on a website. Matt Bullsh*t Furey is selling crap.

The only reason he got in shape was through weights. All those repitions dont build a lot of mass, its more tone. Hindu push ups arent that easy when you get to higher numbers but I dont see a point to it. When in a fight am I gonna use that kind of training. Im not gonna throw a million little pansy punchs, I stick to weights for power and I superset for endurance.

Personally I think anyone who buys 150$ books online that tell you 2 days a week for 30 seconds you can get jacked.

[eXcessiveForce]

There was a school in chicago that did lots of these, apparently the cut off the blood flow to the tricep and it can cause the muscle to atrophy and die.

There were several lawsuits about it. Because many of the high ranks did a lot of damage to themselves.

It has been nearly 10 years ago, but you might be able to find some info on the net about it.

[blitz]

What is the divebomber pushup?

[Broadsword2004]

Damn, didn't know that, thanx for the info. Blitz, the Dive-Bomber pushup has the exact same initial movement as the Hindu pushup: You get into a pushup position with your butt way up into the air, then you "dive" downward and push through so that at the end of the movement your back is arched and you're staring up at the sky. In the Hindu pushup, you leave your arms straight and revert back to the starting position (you do not bend your arms at all). You revert back to the start position then repeat the exercise.

In the Dive-Bomber, you simply reverse the initial movement. In reversing it, your arms must bend and lot and it really works out the triceps and shoulders. It is a hard pushup, much more difficult then the Hindu pushup.

[Tom Yum]

Originally Posted by Broadsword2004

In the Dive-Bomber, you simply reverse the initial movement. In reversing it, your arms must bend and lot and it really works out the triceps and shoulders. It is a hard pushup, much more difficult then the Hindu pushup.

Huge fan of the dive bomber. They also work your entire back, too.

[Broadsword2004]

Hey Tom, I was wondering about that; how exactly do they work the back (not saying they don't, just wondering how)? Don't you need to do pulling movements like pullups, rowing movements, etc....to work the back muscles?

[Thai Bri]

They may stretch the back a little, and there will be some stability requirements in the torso.... But I can't see how they "work the back" to any real degree.

That about cutting off the blood is worrying. Any reference for that EF?

[Tom Yum]

Originally Posted by Broadsword2004

Hey Tom, I was wondering about that; how exactly do they work the back (not saying they don't, just wondering how)? Don't you need to do pulling movements like pullups, rowing movements, etc....to work the back muscles?

On the way down and through (barely touching the ground) you are allmost pulling at the ground, on the way back up you are pushing.

[BoarSpear]

Huh never heard of tricep problems We do a lizard style push up that combines panther walking with the hindu and dive bomber, but you hop 20 ft in each direction while in the down position between reps.

[eXcessiveForce]

at the time i didn't think much of it. It was just a story about the lawsuit I saw on TV. It has been so long ago, really the only thing I remember was that the school was in chicago, and that the chief instructor had immigrated to the united states.


I don't have a clue how I'd come up with any information other than that. Really sorry guys. Since it was dealing with a lawsuit it could have been made up.

I never figured out what mechanism could cause the damage they showed in the pictures though. The accusations could have been false.

[Thai Bri]

In general, though, I do have a problem with those people who work up to ridiculous reps. Whats the point of it if you can do hundreds? The more you can do the correspondingly less useful they become AND the more wear and tear on the joints.

If someone gets that good at bodyweight exercises they need to wear a weighted vest or something. That will help increase strength further without wearing their joints out.

Just my view.

ps - for all Furey's talk of "I know people who can bence press 300lbs but they can't doo 50 hindu push ups"... lets not forget that the people who can do 50 (or 500) Hindu push ups CANNOT bench press 300lbs.

[muaythaiguy15]

Word Bri...word

[>:)]

It does not wear and tear the joints. If you are taking reps of an exercise in the hundreds or thousands it becomes cardio and an endurance regime for whatever muscle set its focusing on.

Basically there are fast-twitch muscle fibers and slow-twitch muscle fibers. Fast twitch is built with power lifting, isometrics, heavy weights, etc. Low reps with huge resistance. Fast-twitch fibers' functions are for explosive power, bursts of speed, muscle tone, etc. Olympic sprinters/Bodybuilders are full of them

Slow-twitch, are muscle fibers that aid your endurance of the muscle. aka, high reps, low resistance. Long distance runner's muscles will major in these type of fibers.

Think of running as doing many many repetitions of the same movement, it doesnt tear away at the joints. They're working on the slow-twitch. Dude who can do 1000 pushups on his fists just means he has very endurable pecs.

[SamuraiGuy]

Yeah dude all these variations of pushups have no relation to how much you can bench press.

I put up big bench numbers at a young age in my highschool weightroom, especially for my size, yet at the time I couldnt do 25 regular pushups (all the way to the ground).

There were some people who could do twice that, even more, etc.....

I'm not trying to brag or anything, but if I was maxing bench, and one of these guys was maxing pushups, who do you think was being watched in awe by all the other kids in the weightroom.

This really doesnt contribute to the discussion, other than to prove that comparing peoples max benches, and max pushups is irrelevant as your not training for the same thing.

Its like comparing how much you squat/leg press to how fast you can run 5 miles.