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I have written about this before my friend.

Do pushups properly, slow and easy, full extension up, and importantly, touching the chest to the floor (not your tummy or groin!) (believe me, many people make just that mistake – weak lower back, abs, too much fat around midsection etc) … or not at all.

Dont even get me started on the horrible jerky “get as many reps as you can as quick as you can” thang a lot of folks do out there in parks and such. Ugh, just fuckin awful – ruins your body, and disrespects one of the greatest bodyweight, if not THE greatest exercise known to mankind, certainly one of the oldest along with the pull-up.

Man, these days when doing pushups, I’ve noticed something that even yours truly “Corrugated Core” hasn’t for years.

That being, a non existent midsection!

“Nothing to tense there”, is what my body told me as I automatically went into clench thighs and tense abs mode during my pushup workout yesterday, which was just two sets of 50 – easy for me, but still a damn good workout to do daily.

It literally feels so light around there “there’s nothing there to tense” – though there is, and its more than a superbly conditioned core. I’ve always had that – well for a while, but it’s THIS month, all the fasts and such, intermittent and what not that I wrote about, other forms of fasting that I’ve been doing thats really ripped a lot of the INTERNAL junk away.

Internal fat is what really counts, and is unhealthy my friend.

The fat around your liver, intestines, internal organs – even a lot of so called skinny people have it.

And THAT fat needs to be attacked – FIRST.

Visceral fat I believe they call it – get rid of that – everythang becomes a lot easier post doing that.

And hard exercise plus what some might consider “extreme” measures are the only freakin way to do it, friend.

Anyway …

It got me thinking

So many people do pushups mostly right, but they wont go all the way down, claiming its not necessary to touch the chest to the floor, or “stop a bit short of full extension on the way up”.

Now, no doubt doing either of this will result in more reps.

But it will also result in an overall easier workout.

Do a set of 20 pushups that way.

Then drop down, give me a slow 20 where you touch the chest to the ground, pause, go all the way up – pause, and then rep another one out.

You’ll be breathing a lot differently at the end of that slow chest to the ground set (and all the way up) – I guarantee you that, and you’ll FEEL it differently.

Why wouldn’t you want to stretch the chest out to the fullest extent possible? Those muscle fibers are no different from any other!

And if someone was sitting on your back, would you “stop short” of full extension, or REALLY press into the ground full extension?

The answer is evident, my friend.

Remember, tendons and ligaments are far more important overall than “muscles alone” – without the former, you wont really have the latter – not in lasting form, anyway – and my book on isometrics focuses on just that.

Thats yet another reason form is so important, why its been passed down since ages, why my Taekwondo teacher in eigth grade who gave me hell on the splits and rightly so – I still remember him nodding approvingly “Good!” as I was the only one in class who even back then did pushups chest to the grass, slowly up and down … no-one else would. Or could.

Then you got those who claim “the pushing up part is more important”

Maybe in some ways, but the lower down you go, the more you pushup back up my friend. ITs that simple.

“Elementary, Watson” – no pun even intended for those familiar with the other biz…

Same thing for squats.

While 70-80% of the motion might feel like a better thigh burn, its ass to grass that really builds the lower – and entire – body in its entirety – as you go through them high reps, focus on doing that every rep, and you’ll quickly see the truism of what I’m saying.

Alright, my friend, thats that for now. To get better at squats – something everyone must do – Squat 101 is your baby, and make sure to pick up Squat 101 – the TIPS! as well.

Back soon.

Best

Rahul Mookerjee

PS – Pushup Central is by far the greatest and best book out there on pushups, as readers have correctly pointed out, nothing even comes close to it. Take a gander, and you’ll quickly see how the product can change your BODY – and life – and right quick at that.