One of the most basic and well known body weight exercise is the pushup. There are many variations of the pushup, but they all target the same muscle groups: the triceps and the chest. Standard wide grip pushups isolate the chest more while “diamond” pushups (hands touching and under the chest) work the triceps the best.
Once your routine includes sets of 15 or so reps of whatever pushup you’re doing, you may want to add to the difficulty in order to stimulate muscle growth. This can be achieved by adding weight (a backpack with weights in it), or by elevating your legs (i.e. doing pushups with your feet on a chair or couch).
Or you can investigate the wonderful “Hindu Pushup”. Hindu pushups are a fantastic exercise that are a little more challenging than the normal push-up. Hindu push-ups are a much more dynamic exercise.
Not only do they work your chest but they work your shoulders and triceps as well, in a much different way than regular pushups: they will challenge you more than regular push-ups. They can be used (as with the Hindu squat) as a conditioning exercise and not merely a strength building exercise.
Hindu push ups are a total body workout that will:
- give you much greater endurance
- increase your overall flexibility and range of motion
- increase your all-important functional strength.
What is a Hindu Pushup (dands)?
Hindu Pushups, like Hindu Squats, have been used by Indian wrestlers for centuries to build upper body strength and endurance. The difference between this exercise and regular pushups is that it involves an arching movement — it’s like an ocean wave — that stretches and strengthens the hips, shoulders and back.
How do you perform a Hindu Pushup?
The starting position for this exercise, unlike the regular pushup, has legs spread wide and butt up in the air. From there, bend your elbows as in a regular pushup, bringing your back down in a circular arc, straighten your arms and end up with your chest up and your hips almost touching the ground. Like the Hindu Squat, the Hindu Pushup has a nice rhythm. You will find it after very few attempts.
Start with your feet wide apart, butt up and head looking back at heels. The legs remain straight throughout the exercise. Lower your hips to the floor and bend your arms. Finish with head up and back arched, with your hips almost touching the floor. Now, keep your arms straight and push the buttocks back to the starting position, reversing the arc you made in the first half of the exercise.
Again, do as many repetition as you can. And, as always, stay within yourself. You will probably find, as with the Hindu squats, that this is a deceptively simple looking exercise. You will find that it challenges strength, endurance and flexibility of spine, shoulders and hips.
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Tags: body weight exercise, body workout, hindu push ups, hindu pushup, hindu pushups, hindu squat, upper body strength
The Hindu Push-up is a good exercise for the abdomen too. This
exercise can be done alongwith the Suryanamaskar, a yogic exercise.
As I had been exercising for long I had never felt much exertion in
the guts, once I was doing Suryanamaskars with a lady, she reported
severe abdominal cramps the next day. On analysis I realised that
when the butt is raised up from the cobra position it puts some
strain on the abdomen. After some practice the Hindu push ups can
be done continuously so they also become a good aerobic session.
Village wrestlers in India do not use mats. A mud pit is dug and
the boys exercise and wrestle in the mud. This is very healthy for
the skin and removes excessive body hair too. The Hindu push up
(Dand), can be combined with the Hindu squat (Baithak)to form a
very effective whole body work-out. In this variation, a person
does a few push-ups comes to the crouching position and then does a
few squats, then returns to the push up position does some push ups
goes back to the squatting position and continues the cycle as per
his capacity. It does not take much imagination to realise what an
effective body weight exercise this variation is. Recommended for a
trial in the next exercise session.
You have some good points there to help keep your back flexed and in shape.
Here is a new shena board that is used for the push-ups.
http://www.revolutionclubs.net/shena.htm