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Enhancing the body weight training program.
(The supplement your push-ups have been longing for)

Dear Martial Artist,

For years I wondered about one training exercise, which is very commonly used in
Martial Arts training halls. No upper body development exercise is used more
commonly then push-ups. Don't get me wrong, it's a great exercise. Everyone has
done it and most practitioners believe in it. Depending on the variation, specific
pushing muscles can be developed. Front of the shoulder, upper and lower chest,
triceps, abdominals and legs are also developed as stabilizers. Let's make it very
clear, this article is not about usefulness or uselessness of push-ups. Rather, it's
about practicing only push-ups for the upper body development and ignoring the
principals of equilibrium, or Yin-Yen if you will.

According to the Yin-Yen principal, where there is a push, there must be a pull. So far
we can see that a person practicing push-ups, doesn't pull, but only pushes.
According to the equilibrium principle when you develop the front of the body and
back of the arms, you must also develop the back of the body and front of the arms.
In other words, one must train the movement which is opposite to push-ups. STOP
RIGHT THERE.

I know what most of you are thinking, and it's wrong. Chin-ups are not the opposite of
push-ups. Without bringing kinesiological analysis into it, just think of it this way:
Standard push-ups push forward, standard chin-ups pull down. If you want an
opponent exercise to push-ups, you must pull back, and not down.

Many years ago this idea lead me to incorporate one particular exercise into my
training, which I call the "Horizontal Pull-ups". This exercise works the muscles that
are antagonists to the movers and stabilizers of push-ups. (Pic.1) and (Pic.2)
demonstrate this technique. Through the years of training and teaching, I became a
strong believer and promoter of this method.

Speed and power of many fighting skills, including punches, blocks, throws and locks
have greatly benefited from "Horizontal Pull-ups". I strongly recommend any
"calisthenics buff" to incorporate this exercise into their training routine.

When an instructor tries to integrate this system into his teaching, he usually faces
two common dilemmas. One being lack of bars or sticks, the other lack of chairs. Both
of these can be solved quite easily. Bars can be substituted for by Bo staff. For
heavier students I recommend the purchase of metal bars, which are sold in most
department stores and are relatively inexpensive.
To substitute for the chairs, I break my students up into groups. My beginners'
students are broken up into a group of three. While two students hold the bar in
place, using their arms, the third student completes the "Horizontal Pull-ups". (Picture
3. demonstrates how one of the two students should hold a bar or a stick. The bar's
height can be adjusted, depending on the student's needs.) Each person takes turns,
until the required number of repetitions is accomplished. You won't believe the
strength of the supporting grip that this develops.

When it comes to my advanced students, I like to divide them into groups of two. The
pupil who holds the bar has two choices. First choice is something that I call a
"Mid-position dead lift", with the bar remaining half way between the starting and
ending positions, usually above the knee level. The second choice is a squat, with
elbows bend in biceps curl. This position is most commonly performed with palms
facing up. Whoever is executing the "Horizontal Pull-ups" can choose to grip the bar
outside or inside the hand of the supporting person.


Whenever my students do push-ups, they also do the "Horizontal Pull-ups". These
two exercises are form the foundation for other body weight exercises found in my
latest book "The Gravity Advantage."


Great luck in your training,

PAUL
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