If you’re someone that goes to the gym every day, you’re going to know exactly what I’m talking about. How many people do you see doing push-ups in the gym? Well, usually none. Guys are always doing bench-press or using some sort of machine to build the chest. It’s almost the same with pull-ups, but not as extreme. You will occasionally see a few guys busting out some wide grip pull-ups, but again, it’s pretty rare. So what the heck has happened to these traditional exercises to develop the chest and back? People believe they aren’t as effective, but I’m here to say otherwise!
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.
Like I mentioned above, the boot camp program I use now relies mostly on pull-ups to develop the back. There are some pull-up exercises that were familiar to me, but there were many that were very unique. As much as I hated doing them, I knew that if I followed the program like it’s set up that I would get results, so of course I made sure I completed all the exercises. The first week was tough, and I could only do about 4 to 5 pull-ups for each set, but as each week passed by, I noticed my rep count increased! When I reached day 90, I was able to do 15-20 pull-ups for each exercise!
Then there are the push-ups. Oh boy, that first workout, Chest … Back, nearly put an end to me! It involves doing nothing but non-stop push-ups and pull-ups for about 45 minutes. After I got through the half-way mark, I seriously thought I was going to pass out. My arms felt like jello from doing all those push-ups, and I could only do 2-3 push-ups for each remaining exercise. After a few weeks of doing that workout, I was already seeing changes in my chest that I have never noticed before! At the end of my 90 days, my chest was more developed than it has ever been.
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.
Want to find out where you can get p90x?, then visit Josh Spencer’s site, iwanttogetripped.com and read his P90X review to see if this workout routine will work for you.
