I gotta lay it on the line here. From the time I
was a teenager to the present – the hype
surrounding the bench press has gone wild.
People are now conditioned to believe that how
much weight you can press while lying on your
back counts for something.
And it does.
It counts for a lot of torn rotator cuffs, a lot of
blown pecs and big useless pecs that don’t
contribute a whole lot to being functionally fit
or strong.
Making matters worse – because many people
fall in love with “benching” – it’s almost all they
do. The whole workout is nothing but taking turns
on the bench.
A far, far, FAR better measure of your strength can
be summed up with the following question that the
farmers in Iowa used to ask me:
“Hey feller, how much weight can you put up over yer
head.”
That one used to stump me when I was busy building my
bench press. But it was the right question.
How much you can pick up from the floor, hoist to your
shoulders, then press overhead – sounds a lot like what
a farmer might have to do when he working the hay
fields or doing other chores.
Doing the old fashioned clean and jerk and snatch – although
true measures of overall body strength – are pretty doggone
hard for many to learn. Moreover, they’re just not the best
exercises for a lot of people to do because of age, previous
injuries, overall coordination, etc.
This is why it’s a good idea to begin with Combat Conditioning –
http://mattfurey.com/conditioning_book.html – wherein you
are building FUNCTIONAL strength with nothing more than your
own body weight. Just like animals in the wild.
Bodyweight exercises build strength, endurance and flexibility
simultaneously. And Combat Conditioning starts you off with
the Royal Court – the Big 3 of exercise: Hindu squats, Hindu
pushups and bridging.
Once you’re doing these fairly well – then it’s time to reverse
things. By this I mean that instead of seeing how much weight
you can “put over your head” – you kick into a handstand – lean
against a wall and work on pressing your entire body weight up
and down.
It’s harder than using a barbell with weights. It’s more challenging.
But when it comes to creating FUNCTIONAL strength – it is truly
magnificent.
You can read more about doing these handstand pushups – by going
to http://mattfurey.com/handstand_training.html
Kick butt – take names,
Matt Furey
P.S. I started a whole new series of daily emails on my marketing site –
http://knockoutmarketing.com – wherein I reveal the 51 Bullsh*t Way
to Make a Fortune Online. I think you’ll get a tremendous kick out of
the humor and straightforward delivery of these dispatches.