My Five Year Old is Stronger Than You

I have been doing prochnost' strength training for a while and have been getting a lot stronger.  Prochnost training is a great training system for skinny people (who lack the genetic ability to bulk up significantly) who want to get strong and be more capable.  Western training focusses on aesthetics, while prochnost' training focusses on building functional strength.

My kids have seen me training, and they often join in.  My kids are very strong, and are able to do many impressive feats of strength.  I love how humble they are.  They think everyone can do the things they can do, but very few other kids or even adults are as strong as my kids.

My five year old often feels like he is missing out when he watches his siblings do incredible things.  I didn't want him to feel bad so let him do some balancing on my push up bars.  

This is probably the skinniest five year old you will ever see, yet he can lift himself up and hold in this L-sit for an extraordinary amount of time.  This is great exercise for strengthening his shoulders as well as building his core strength.  He is doing this for fun and he is gaining great benefits.

I am a little jealous because he can hold this for longer than I can!  I don't know a lot of adults who can do 'L Sit' at all, let alone hold it longer than my five year old.  I am jealous of him, but also very proud.

Five year old doing 'L-sit' 

He giggles when he starts to wobble

As well as that he is trying to copy his siblings by doing various other holds and things.  He can't quite do what they can do, but he is only five and he is getting stronger every day.  

I am really proud of what he can do.  I sure wasn't doing this at his age!

Strength training for a five year old should be fun

My five year old is still a bit young to do any push ups, or at least I don't want him to do very many push ups yet.  I don't want him to do them and get injured, or not be able to do them and feel like he is worthless.

He watches me and his siblings do push ups and wants to join in.  He also watches us train to do elbow lever, and straight arm planch, and he feels left out.  I don't want him to feel left out just because he is still little so I try to find ways that he can feel included.

To help him feel included he holds onto push up bars with straight arms and someone holding his feet.  This is not push ups, it is a static hold.  For a skinny five year old this is pretty impressive.

Five year old building strength and having fun

  

This is helping him feel included, but it is also building strength and paving the way for him to do some of the more impressive exercises once he is ready.  I don't see any point in pushing things when he isn't ready.  At the moment he just needs to feel confident and important, he is also developing an enjoyment of strength exercises.  Exercise has been normalised for my kids, they find exercise fun. 

Do you train with your kids?  If you do you should be very careful not to over do it physically or you risk injuring the growth plates in their bones.  If you are not careful in the way you word things you may body shame them or make them feel inferior, which is the last thing you want as it will stop them from wanting to exercise.  Training for kids should be fun, they should be set up to succeed, and they should always have the option to stop when they have had enough.  

In this way they tend to reach their potential a lot faster because they enjoy this and actually want to train.  As they get older they should see exercise as normal and fun, and should never join the hoards of overweight and obese people that are so common in our country.  As they get older they will always be healthy and strong.

I hope that seeing a skinny five year old who can do this will help inspire someone to do some strength training.  Don't aim to be the strongest person in the world, because you will fail at that.  Don't aim to get shredded, because most people who aim for that fail due to lack of time and motivation.  Train to get stronger than you currently are.  Strength has a purpose, aesthetics does not.

Aim to be stronger than you currently are, be more!  Be strong - byt' sil'nym (быть сильным)!

One Leg push up challenge

Push ups are an excellent body weight exercise that use a wide range of muscles throughout the whole body to some extent.  There are plenty of push up variations around to stress some muscles more or less than others.  Some variations I like and others I don’t like.  This post is about a push up variation that I like but I rarely see it being used: the one leg push ups. 

In any push up, the wider your arms or legs are the more stable your base of support and the less inclined your body is to tip or rotate.  Most people who do regular push ups do not think about maintaining stability as it is not usually an issue.  As such, these muscles that assist in core strength and back stability are often neglected unless you work on them in some other way.  

Lifting one leg decreases your stability and makes your body want to slightly rotate or tilt one way or another.  One leg push ups mostly work the upper body, but your core also gets strengthened as you need to work slightly harder to keep everything stable. 

One leg push ups 

Doing one leg push ups works stabiliser muscles, this builds core strength and provides a functional benefit that is useful in a range of other situations.  They also make regular push ups slightly easier.  It also works lower body muscles, the higher you lift your foot the more those muscles are worked.

The first few times you do one leg push ups you have to really think about remaining stable.  It doesn't take too long before your stabiliser muscles just do their job and you no  longer have to think about it at all.

To do a one leg push up, get in the regular push up (often called high plank) position.  Feet together, hands not overly far apart, back straight.  

Push up/high plank position 

From here lift one leg and try to keep it straight.  Everything else should remain where it was, only your leg should have moved.  Try to have your leg as high as you can make it go as you will get more benefit from this. 

Lift one leg, do some push ups 

Push ups with one leg in the air 

Do some push ups with your straight leg in the air, try not to tilt or roll in any direction, maintain control.  Try not to let your pelvis rotate, try to keep it in the same position it would be for regular push ups.  Only your wrists, elbows, and shoulders should be moving.  All other joints should be held as they are.

After you have finished that side you should be in the high plank position with one leg in the air.  Lower that leg with control and put your foot on the ground, nothing else should move.  

Now lift your other leg into the air, keep it straight.  Get your foot as high as you can.  Nothing else should move yet, just your leg.  

Now you do the same number of one leg push ups on that side.  You need to do the same number on both sides to ensure that you are working muscles on both sides evenly.  If you find you have a weaker side, always do that side first.

Other leg in the air 

Doing pushups with the other leg in the air - my elbows should be in more and my leg needs to be straighter

The one leg push up is only slightly more difficult than regular push ups.  As it is not overly more difficult but it does have added benefits it should be included in your normal routine.  My son has started a one leg push up challenge with me.  I don’t really remember agreeing to this, but somehow he has a lot of power in this challenge. 

One leg push up challenge: 

At various times throughout the day while I am at home my son will come and tell me it is time for push ups.  We then both do five (only five) one leg push ups on each side.  It’s only ten push ups in total.  Meaning it isn’t difficult to maintain control and maintain our form.  It also means the time needed for rest after each set is very short. 

Even though it is only ten push ups in total per set, the fact that my son pops in dozens of times throughout the day means we are doing a lot of one leg push ups over the course of a day.  The number we do in a day fluctuates.  If I am at work there are very few opportunities for us to do push ups so we don't get to do many.  If I work from home or on weekends we do a lot more sets.  

Maintaining good form, low numbers per set, and fluctuating numbers of sets in a day, has meant that we have both gained strength quickly and our form is rock solid.

You should do a similar challenge and see how quickly you improve.  One day do as many one leg push ups you can, go to failure.  Write that number somewhere.  Every day after this, no excuses, do sets of 5 per leg (10 in total) over the day.  If five is too many you can do three per side or even two per side.  Don’t go to failure again, only do 5 per leg, don’t go above this number no matter how simple it feels, but do many of these sets over the day.  Don’t have a ‘rest day’, but do have a day where you do less sets.  Maintain control, if your push ups start to get sloppy - stop.

Once per week, and only once per week, do as many one leg push ups as you can.  Go to failure, and write down that number.  Do this for one month (or at least four weeks).  You will find that you quickly increase the number of one leg push ups that you can do.  

If you have been doing push ups for some time and have plateaued in the number you can do, try this.  Do sets of no more than five, and do lots of sets through the day, and you will see an increase in the maximum that you can do.  You have nothing to lose, and you will increase strength beyond your previous personal best. 

This is the essence of prochnost training.  Be strong - byt' sil'nym (быть сильным).

Fitbit charge 4 review

A year or two ago my wife got me a Fitbit charge 4 watch. I have had it for a while now, and used it extensively, so figured I should do a review on it to give people a better understanding before buying one. 

To prevent the screen from getting ruined I put a special little cover on it. This hasn’t stopped it from working or made it less sensitive, but has protected it from scratches and drops of deck stain etc.  

 

The band didn’t last very long before it broke, luckily replacement bands are cheap and easy to find. I got one with lots of little holes so my sweat can get out and sunlight can reach more of my skin. 

I recharge it once a week or thereabouts, which is easy to do.  When the battery runs low it sends me an email.

My Fitbit charge 4 has some features that I like, and some that I dislike. 

Fitbit charge 4 

Some features I like are that it measures my heart rate and oinks at me when my heart rate is high for too long, it tells the time like a normal watch, it acts as a pedometer counting my steps and estimating the distance walked, it can roughly tell me how long I sleep each night, and it emails me each week to let me know how that week compared to the previous week.

Some features that I dislike are that it has a ‘stalking’ function where it can track my every step using an intrusive GPS, it has a ‘constant irritation’ function where it can alert me every time I receive an email, a 'threatening email' function where it sends me increasingly threatening emails telling me to recharge as the battery level goes down, and some ‘eye strain/meditation’ functions that tell you to watch some tiny dots for two minutes to calm yourself.  

I am happy to say that most of the functions I dislike, such as the stalking function and the constant irritation function, can easily be turned off. I can also put it on ‘sleep’ or ‘do not disturb’ which prevents it from oinking or lighting up when I don’t want it to.  It still emails me about the battery going flat, I guess this could be useful but I find it irritating.

Overall it has a lot more features that I like than those that I dislike.

The heart rate monitor has its down sides, but overall I think it is good. It quickly and reasonably accurately tells me what my heart rate is in beats per minute. If my heart skips a beat, or beats twice, the Fitbit somehow ignores this and evens them out. It draws a little graph of my heart rate across the day, but my heart rate needs to be at that level for more than a certain amount of time otherwise it is not included. I have had plenty of times where I wake at night and my Fitbit tells me my heart rate is 140+ beats per minute, only to check the graph in the morning and find no mention of anything over 110 which is rather frustrating.

If my heart rate is above some number that it decides is in the ‘fat burning zone’ it will oink at me and encourage me to keep going, presumably it thinks I am exercising at these times. This number changes from day to day due to some algorithm it has. Sadly my heart often races for no reason, so this oinking often happens while I am just sitting still, or even when I am sleeping, so the encouragement serves more as a reminder to concentrate on my heart and slow it down rather than encouragement to exercise.

screenshot of Fitbit heart rate

The heart rate monitor also tells me what my average resting heart rate is across each day. This is completely inaccurate and should be ignored. For the above screen shot it told me that my resting heart rate was 77 over that day. I was resting for the majority of that day and my heart rate only once dropped below 78 once for a very brief moment during the entire day. 

 

As you can see, my average resting heart rate would have been a lot higher than 77 that day. 

The heart rate monitor also tells me I am super fit for my age, which I am not. I assume the algorithms are aimed at fatter people and even though I have entered my height and weigh the algorithms cannot work for skinny people such as myself. This is one of the many reasons why skinny fat people like me need to train differently.

Fitbit charge 4 with cover and new band

The watch tells me the time and the date, and is easy to see. Other than that I have no real comment, it is a watch that does what a watch should do.  I think it can also act as a stop watch.  It estimates how many calories you have burned, which is meaningless because in my opinion no one should ever count calories.  

The pedometer tells me when I have not walked enough steps each hour, or not enough each day, and I think I can change the number of steps that is considered enough. The pedometer is not overly accurate, to be honest it isn’t too bad and I don’t think any pedometers are ever completely accurate. An example of its inaccuracy is that I have been woken at night by the kids calling out for help, I have walked all the way up and down the hall as well as into another room to wash my hands, all to have it only record 9 steps. I have had other times where me rocking back and forth has been recorded as hundreds of steps. It seems a little inconsistent, but over a day I think it evens out near enough for my purposes.

The function designed to tell me how much I sleep isn’t accurate and doesn’t tell me anything that I don’t already know. I know when I sleep, and I know when I am awake. I put it on sensitive mode that is meant to be more accurate, yet sometimes I can get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be at work (working from home) for half an hour before it records me as even being awake. As long as you take it as a trend rather than an accurate number of minutes or hours slept then I think it is useful enough.

The Fitbit makes graphs for all kinds of things.  I like graphs, so I like how it does this.

I think if I paid extra I could get more graphs, more stats on health related things, and access to training videos etc.
 

My verdict

Do I like my Fitbit charge 4 watch: Yes

Do I need a Fitbit or similar:  No

Which brand is the best: I have no idea.  There are a few different brands that make a similar product.  This suits my needs really well, but you may need it to do other things that this one doesn’t do.  

Are they worth the money: Probably not if you buy one new.  Second hand they are cheaper than a watch so I think they are worth the money.  I wear mine pretty much all day every day.  I use it as a watch and I find the heart rate monitor very useful.

 

1,000 push ups a day challenge

Not long after I began doing 30 day exercise challenges a friend told me about someone he knew who completed 1,000 push ups a day for an entire month.  What a monster!  I desperately wanted to do this myself, but was too weak so I set myself a goal to give this a go.  

I knew I wasn't ready then so planned to try some day.  At that time I was struggling to do 25 push ups in a set and 100 across an entire day, so completing one thousand push ups in a day seemed unimaginable to me at the time.  

Once I got a lot stronger I decided to see if I could complete 1,000 push ups in one day.  At the time I could do 50 to 75 in one set.  I decided to try on a day when I would have time, and I wrote on the blackboard the numbers I did in each set so I could add them up over the day.

I started doing push ups before breakfast, and started strong.  By lunch time I was pretty wrecked, and still had a lot to do to reach my goal that day.  While my sets started out as 75 this declined until the sets at the end were only 25, and towards the end I was struggling to even do that many in one go.

While I started before breakfast, I didn’t reach one thousand until after dinner that day.  I was in tremendous pain, and shaking so badly I struggled to bring a cup to my mouth so I could have a drink.  

The next day I could hardly see out of my left eye, I was trembling for days, and in big pain for a week or two afterwards.  I clearly wasn’t ready.

About a year later (of doing back to back 30 day two minute exercise challenges) I was much stronger and decided to give this another go.  I could not sleep one night, so I tried to do one thousand push ups.  Including rest time it took me just under an hour to complete one thousand push ups that night.  

I was hurting for days afterwards but I pulled up better and recovered much faster than the first time.  I am not sure if I was ready at that stage either.

Skinny fat before 1,000 push ups per day

About a year of back to back exercise challenges later,  about two years from the start, I was a lot stronger and I decided to commit to a personal challenge of an entire week of one thousand push ups per day.  

I decided on a start and end date that would give me a reasonably quiet week to do these, then for no particular reason I started a few days early.

Before starting the challenge I felt highly optimistic.  This was going to be great!  I was finally ready.  I could hardly wait to see the transformation that my body would go through.  I have seen the before and after photos of people who have done this and they are incredible, some even look like an entirely different person (there is a reason for this) and others look pretty impressive.

When I started my 1,000 push ups per day challenge I was in constant pain, the pain seemed to intensify over the first week of the challenge.  I started to dread doing push ups and began to think of excuses to end the challenge early.  This negative self-talk reached a point where I almost talked myself out of attempting the final day.  That's right, I had completed six days and almost talked myself out of even attempting day seven.  Motivation is key to doing anything like this.

I started to feel really tired and exhausted all day every day.  Being really tired, with a renewed hatred of push ups, experiencing endless/increasing pain, not really wanting to do this anymore, realising that no one other than me would know or even care if I gave up, and then fearing that I had already completed so many consecutive days and did not want to start again at zero, made the week more difficult than I had anticipated.  

No matter what happened I had to reach my minimum of one thousand push ups per day.  I struggled through the week and completed over 1,000 push ups each and every day.  Some days I completed significantly more.  

I am now one of the few people who have achieved one week of 1,000 push ups per day, and one of the even smaller number who have done such a thing for the first time when they were aged in their 40’s. 

You can see my 'before' photo above and my 'after' photo below.  They look much the same.  

Other than lighting, wearing different pants (same belt), and my arms being at a slightly different angle, the difference is only really noticeable if you look closely and convince yourself that you can find a difference.  I am skinny, doing 1,000 push ups every day did not make me bulk up, I did not get ripped, but it did help me get a lot stronger.  

It's frustrating how difficult it is for skinny fat people to bulk up.  I knew other people's before and after photos had mostly been photoshopped, but I had expected a lot more noticeable improvement than this.  I am stronger now, so it was well worth doing.

Here is the shocking twist: Successfully completing this challenge left me feeling really lame and pathetic. 

After 1,000 push ups per day for 50 consecutive days - looks much the same

This challenge, like all my previous exercise challenges, was pointless.  Most people are not as skinny as I am, if they put in half the effort I put in they would be able to complete this challenge.  I look much the same as before, and no one would ever believe that I achieved this.  I may as well claim I paddled a canoe to the moon or something!  See what I was saying about negative self-talk?  Negative self-talk didn’t end even when I had completed the challenge.

The morning after my week of one thousand was over I was really irritated that I still had to meet my regular push up minimums, I felt like I had earned a break.  It was incredible just how hard done by I felt, especially considering that no one made me do any part of this.  

I was doing this week on top of my usual thirty day exercise challenge.  I begrudgingly did my push up minimums that day, then went on to complete over 1,000 push ups that day.  For no particular reason I continued to complete 1,000+ push ups each day after that.  I toyed with the idea of reaching 2 weeks, or 3 weeks, or even 30 days, but none of this really seemed possible as it was so difficult just getting through one week. 

I kept going, and reached 30 days of one thousand push ups per day.  Then I did another day because some months have 31 days and I wanted to be able to say that I had completed an entire month of one thousand push ups per day.  

I am now one of the small number of people in their 40’s who have completed an entire month of 1,000 push ups per day.

Then for some reason I didn't want to stop, so I continued until I reached fifty consecutive days of one thousand push ups per day.  Very few people in their 40's can honestly say that they have achieved this.  I did a few more days on top of this and reached two months, 62 continuous days.  After two months I stopped, enough was enough.

Push ups are great for skinny fat people

One of the frustrating things about being skinny fat is that I have achieved something that few people can do, and am still not ripped.  I kept doing one thousand push ups per day, and eventually stopped after 62 days.  I figured this seemed like a natural stopping point as it was two grueling months.

No one would ever think by looking at me that I have done 1,000 push ups per day for 62 consecutive days, but I have, and you should do this too.  Or at least you should set a personal challenge to do one week of one thousand push ups per day.  Don't tell anyone you are doing this, just set the challenge and do it.

If I can do one thousand push ups per day then so can you.  I am skinny and weak, and I did sixty two consecutive days of one thousand push ups per day in my 40’s.  

I was involved in an accident years ago after which I was told by a doctor that I would never walk again.  I walk.  I was later told by a leading specialist that my body would degrade so badly that I would have to retire by age 50 due to pain.  I am putting in the effort to get strong now.  Prochnost' training is helping me be stronger and push back this date so I can lead a less painful and more enjoyable life for as long as possible.  

I put in a little training time each day, but make sure that it is every day (no lies, no excuses), and look what I have achieved.  Most people in this country will never do 1,000 push ups in a day, they will never do a week of one thousand push ups very day, and they will not do 62 consecutive days of one thousand push ups per day.  I certainly don't have hours to spend at the gym, and I doubt you do either.  If I can do this, then you should give it a try too.  Just aim for a week, and see where it takes you.

I may not look like I could ever do something like this, but  doing it increases my strength dramatically, so it has been worth the effort.  

A month after stopping 1,000 push ups per day

After ending my 1,000 push ups per day I then did about 250 per day.  After doing this for a month, the photo above shows that I still look pretty much the same.  Perhaps I have slimmed down a little, but that may just be the lighting.

This has made other things in everyday life easier and less painful.  Strangely enough I still struggle to walk upstairs, and if rain is coming or the weather is about to change I am in a world of hurt.  I am now a lot stronger and in less pain most of the time, so it really is worth it.

You should join me and do a personal challenge of one week of completing 1,000 push ups per day.  

Just start with one week and see how you go.  That seems difficult yet achievable.  If you get through that, perhaps aim for one month.  You will never know that you can do this until you give it a go.

If you do try to do one thousand push ups per day let me know how you go in the comments.  If you succeed, or even if you fail, perhaps your story will inspire someone.  If you are skinny fat then all the more reason to do something like this!  

Prochnost training - Try harder. (стараться), be more (более)!

100 Second Dead Hang Challenge

A while ago I saw a youtube video where a guy entered a dead hang competition.  He paid $10 to enter, he then had to hang off a chin up bar for 100 seconds to win $100.  One hundred dollars for one hundred seconds, this guy was young and ripped so thought it would be simple.  He failed.  

I looked around and found similar competitions, some were 100 seconds and others were 2 minutes.  Most people looked far stronger, younger, and more athletic than me, and most of them failed.  I found that surprising because I was pretty sure I could do it.

They all yelled and hooted and hollered and jumped about regardless of if they failed or succeeded.  The crowd always yelled and carried on like pork chops.

I wondered if a skinny fat guy like me could dead hang for 100 seconds.  I haven't tried something like this in decades, so it was time to give it a go.  If I failed then I decided I could work up to it.

We have a set of monkey bars in our yard that I had been using for chin ups and other exercises.  I could dead hang off them which made it a lot easier as I could do this in my yard without having anyone watch me fail.  The only way to improve is to try harder, and you usually aren't trying hard enough unless you sometimes fail.  

Dead hang using a skinny bar - I'm hurting

I got my 12 year old son, went to the monkey bars, and the two of us gave this a go with my son calling out the time.  

I learned a few things.

Firstly I need someone to call out the time every ten seconds.  Ten seconds feels like an eternity.  Without someone calling out the time it feels like I have hung there for hours and I want to give up.

Secondly I could complete 100 seconds of dead hang on either a fat bar or a skinny bar.  It was difficult, really difficult, but I did it.

Thirdly the showboating that I saw in all of the videos seems really off putting.  I know it is meant to pump up people and get them in the zone, but I hate it.  I could do this because it was quiet and I could focus.  Had people been yelling and cheering I would have found it far more difficult and am not sure if I would be able to do it.

Fourthly I was unable to do 2 minutes the first time I tried.  I kept trying each day and after a few days I was stronger and was able to do a little over 2 minutes.  It is incredibly difficult, but I can do this on either a fat bar or a thin bar.  If someone as skinny as me can do this, then most people should not find it impossible.  

Fifth and probably most importantly, my 12 year old son can dead hang for 2 minutes.  He struggles badly, I mean he is really feeling it and hurting badly, but he can do it.  If a skinny 12 year old can do this then you should be able to do it too.

Dead hang using a fat bar - struggling through

I need to keep my strength up, that way if I ever see a 100 seconds dead hang challenge I can enter and win some money.  Far more important than winning money, I would love to successfully complete this among more athletic people who were unable to complete it, that would be pretty sweet.

If you have access to a chin up bar, time yourself holding a dead hang and let me know in the comments how long you could hold.  It is harder than I thought, but I was still able to do it.  

Give it a go, if you can't do it then train.  If you can do it, then train even more.  Do prochnost strength training, try harder, and be more (более)!

Non-rotating push up handles review

Push ups are without doubt a great body weight exercise, they are also highly under-rated. Push ups build strength in a lot of muscle groups, can be done almost anywhere, at almost any time, you don’t need to get changed and drive to the gym, you don’t need any equipment, you can do as few as you need to, you can do variations to focus on certain muscles or to increase their intensity, the list goes on and on.

I am amazed at how this relatively simple exercise is so often overlooked by people trying to get stronger. A few year ago I started doing a one hundred push ups per day for thirty day challenge, and it changed my life. After the first 30 day challenge I have been doing back to back 30 day exercise challenges and haven’t missed a day in over 2 years. You can read more about it here.

About a year or so into my challenges I wanted to get push up handles. I had seen rotating push up handles, and while they look great I can’t justify the expense. I had also seen non-rotating push up handles, and push up stations, which ranged in price from about $6 to about $160. I bought the cheapest ones I could find.  

After using push up handles for about a year, as well as doing push ups without the handles during this time, I thought I would tell of my experiences, as well as my thoughts about buying them.

To be clear, I have never used the fancy rotating push up handles so cannot comment on them. They look pretty amazing, but I don’t know how long they last before breaking, or if they offer any benefit over non-rotating push up handles. If you want a blog post on those you can give me some to use for a year, or you can write a guest blog post.

Push up handles

While push ups are free, the handles did cost money. I spent about $8 for a pair. They are metal and have squishy things on the handles which make them nicer to hold. After using these for over a year they look much the same as the day I bought them, so I expect them to last a long time.

Advantages of non-rotating push up handles

Push up handles allow for a greater range of motion and I can get deeper if I want to. I can get lower and work right to the end of my muscles. They can also be good for stretches.

My left wrist can be a little temperamental, this is the result of an old injury and is mostly an issue in cold weather or if rain is coming. The push up handles keep my wrists at the proper angle, and seems to reduce/eliminate pain. To be clear, wrist pain is usually caused by improper technique. If you are having wrist pain from push ups you need to do something about it or you risk injuring yourself.

They protect my hands if I am doing push ups outside on gravel or concrete. This sounds silly, but sometimes if the weather is nice the kids and I do many push ups and variations outside. I was originally stopping from scratching my hands, now I can do more sets.

Probably the most impressive advantage I have noticed, is that I can do other exercises with them that I am unable to do without them. I can do elbow lever, and bent arm planche using push up handles, but I am unable to do these exercises without them. I am training to do various other things, using the handles is the first step, once I am stronger I plan to be able to do these exercises without the handles.

Disadvantages of non-rotating push up handles

The biggest disadvantage is I may not always have the push up handles with me. I can always do push ups without them, so this isn’t a huge issue.

While mine were cheap, they did cost money. While they are small and simple to store, they are one more thing that I now own.

Other than that I can’t think of any disadvantageous to the push up handles.

Other types of push up handles

There are various different places that make non-rotating push up bars, from what I can tell they all do the same thing. Some cost vastly more than others, some look prettier, I think that mostly has to do with their brand rather than being able to add anything. If I had tools and was a little handy I would make my own from scraps.

As mentioned I have no views on the rotating push up handles because I am yet to use them. They may be great, they may be utterly dreadful, I don’t know.

I have seen “push up stations” which are push up bars with a colourful mat. The mat shows you different spots to place your handles for different exercises and to focus on different muscles. I think this is a bad idea. I use those different configurations but I don’t need an expensive mat to show me what to do. Perhaps your arms are longer or shorter than the person that these mats were designed for, in that case this mat will enforce you holding your bars at the incorrect spacing for your body and putting yourself at risk of injury. I would avoid these stations as they appear to be an expensive gimmick over function.

Cheap push up handles

My verdict

Do I like push up handles: Yes

Do I need push up handles: No

Which brand is best: It doesn't matter because they all do much the same thing

Are they worth the money: Yes for the cheaper ones. No, not even remotely worth the money for the more expensive types

My 12 Yr Old is Stronger Than You

I normally don't put any photos of my kids on the internet.  I hope that this will be ok as you can't really see their faces well enough to identify them and put them in danger.

My twelve year old son is stronger than most adults I know, and he is getting stronger every day.  He can do thing that most adults in this country have never done and will never be able to do.  

My son has been skinny since he was a baby.  He will likely never bulk up.  Yet he is stronger and more capable than most adults in Australia.  He loves exercise, and loves strength training, and will never be overweight or obese as he gets older because being strong and fit has been normalised for him.  What a great start to life.

He thinks nothing of his strength and ability because even though he is skinny he has always been strong.  He has true strength.

An old swing set being used to train for back lever

Benches are good for strength training

You can train for strength almost anywhere

Not many adults would even try this!

Ignore the mess, this is impressive for a 12 year old

As well as some of his more impressive feats of strength, he also trains for endurance, balance, and capability.  He is skinnier than most kids his age, yet he is vastly more capable than most kids his age.  I am very proud of him.

One of the things I love about training with my kids is that they think because they are young and thin that everyone is stronger than them and can easily do what they can do.  They are humble.  They have no concept that few adults can achieve this, and very few children their age are fit and strong enough to attempt such things.  

They are happy to do what they can, and don't get upset when they try something new and fail.  If they don't fail, then they will never push themselves further.  If they have no fear of failure, then they won't push too far and risk injuring themselves.  When they succeed, they are glad, and then they start to think of what the next challenge can be.  Exercise and strength training is fun to them.

Ever since he was tiny he could balance and hold up his body weight.  This has paved the way for more difficult body weight exercises.

He has been doing this for years

Prochnost training - strength, balance, and control

Push up handles coming in handy

I hope seeing my twelve year old doing these impressive things will inspire someone to do a little strength training.  Don't try to do better than someone else, you should aim to improve yourself.  Be more!

We have push up handles, monkey bars, and an old swing set that I let my son use when I am there to supervise.  Sometimes we train together, sometimes we don't.  I won't let him use my free weights or dumbbells as they are not great for growing bones if not done properly.  Body weight exercise is much safer.

Other than that he does push ups and other bodyweight exercises that require no equipment, and look at what he can achieve.  This is a twelve year old who is incredibly thin, if you put in some effort perhaps some day you can be as strong as my 12 year old son!

Do some strength training, be more.

Human Flag for skinny people

If you are skinny fat and building strength, one of the biggest hurdles you will face sill be motivation.  Even if you gain muscle and strength you will never bulk up, which makes it really difficult to stay motivated.

One of the greatest builders of motivation is doing something that most people can not do.  Another of the great motivation builders is to do something that looks really impressive.  The "human flag" is one such exercise that ticks both of these boxes.

When I was in my twenties I used to be able to do the human flag, it was easy enough and I thought everyone could do it.  Now that I am older, and weaker, I tried to do the human flag again and found it impossible to do.  It was so hard that I wondered if I would ever be able to do this again. 

I did a little research, and it appears that very few people can achieve human flag, and most who can are incredibly athletic monsters.  I had no idea, I used to think if someone skinny like me can do it then everyone could do it.  Turns out I was wrong.  

The fact that very few people can do this made me really want to do human flag again.  It is impressive to see an athletic person do this, it is mind boggling to see a scrawny bloke like me do it.  This made me want to train and do this again.  We got a set of monkey bars for the kids a few years ago, so I have somewhere to train without having to leave my yard.

I did some more research, and most of these athletic monsters trained for hours each day, for between six months to two years before they could achieve this.  Hmmm, I don't have hours each day to train, and I didn't want to wait two years to be able to do this again.  

I set a timeframe of six weeks to achieve this, and got stuck into training.  I only trained for a few minutes every day because I didn't have much spare time.  I just made sure to train every day.  Every single day.  No excuses.

Human flag - a bit wobbly and my feet are too low but I was getting there

Most people assume that lack of core strength is what stops them from being able to do human flag, but most people have enough core strength.  Most people lack the upper body/arm strength required for human flag.

I have been doing a lot of push ups so thought I had the upper body strength to pull this off, and I thought that I lacked the necessary core strength.  I was partly right.  

I lacked upper body strength AND I lacked core strength.  I also lacked leg strength for some reason.

This was going to be tricky when I don't have more than a few minutes each day to train.  My six week timeframe to achieve this was starting to feel overly optimistic... 

To increase my core strength I started to do side plank dips.  I used straight arms so my shoulders and arms would be in a similar position to where they would be in the human flag.  Doing a few of these each day, every day, and I built core strength pretty quickly.

Straight arm side dip planks helped tremendously, but my legs and my arms were still too weak.

I was already doing a lot of push ups, and I started doing chin ups each day.  I was only able to do five chin ups at the start.  After a few weeks was able to do ten and eventually got up to about twenty in one set.  I need to write a blog post on how to increase the number of chin ups, because it is different to building numbers of something like push ups.  I am told that you need to be able to do 10 chin ups with proper form to have enough strength to do human flag.  I am not sure if this is true or not but getting stronger upper body has to help.

Chin ups helped build my shoulder strength and bicep strength, but I also needed more triceps strength.  It is absurd how much your triceps are used in human flag.

I started to do diamond push ups.  These hurt my triceps a lot, so were clearly making them stronger.  Together with regular push ups and chin ups my arms gained the strength that was needed to do human flag.

Strangely enough my legs were also weak.  I have some leg weights from back when I used to do kung fu.  I put them on for a few hours each evening after work.  I even tried to do the human flag while wearing my leg weights and tried to do some chin ups while wearing the leg weights.  This made my legs strong enough to do human flag.  Chances are your legs are already strong enough, I am not sure why my legs are so weak, but they were weak so I made them stronger.

As well as all of that, I also got in and tried to do the human flag every day.  We have monkey bars for the kids so I would go down after work each day and quickly give it a go on each side.  As I got stronger I got closer and closer to being able to successfully pull off this exercise.  Sometimes I could hold it for 1 or 2 seconds.  

My aim was 3 seconds, which felt like a lot more than I was capable of.  I had set my timeframe and had to achieve it, so I kept training.

Human flag training - almost there!

After five weeks of training, I was almost there!  This video shows how close I was:

A few days later I successfully did the human flag!

It took me a little under six weeks of daily training, but I was eventually able to do the human flag on the pole of a street sign in front of some strangers.  

I overheard comments that were seemingly in awe.  I couldn't quite hear what they were saying as I was struggling not to pass out at the time.  Someone far larger than me and rather athletic looking saw what I did and then tried to do the human flag, he failed miserably, he couldn't even get his feet off the ground.  That's what I was after.  

If I can do this in just under six weeks, then you can do it too!  Don't feel bad when you first try and fail.  Without failure there can be no progress.  Try to remember that many (untrained) larger and more athletic people have also tried this and they have failed.  The difference between failure and success is training.

If you are skinny you should train to do the human flag. 

There is something nice about being able to complete an impressive exercise that few people can do.  There is something even nicer when people twice your size give it a go are unable to do it.

Do prochnost strength training, try harder, be more!

My 10 Yr Old is Stronger than You

My kids are incredibly strong.  They can do things that many adults have never been able to do.  My kids are also skinny, which makes their strength more impressive.  

I normally don't put any photos of my kids on the internet.  I hope that this will be ok as you can't really see their faces well enough to identify them and put them in too much danger.  I also don't show details such as birth dates or names on the internet.  

My ten year old daughter can do things that most adults in this country have never done and will never achieve.  The best part is she has no idea how strong she is, she humbly assumes that everyone can do things like this.  

True strength is light as a feather

One of the great things about my kids is that they are happy to get in and give things a go.  As long as I am there encouraging them then they are happy.  I tend to be shy, more self conscious, and reluctant to train out where people can see me.  

My daughter can do elbow lever, and sometimes on a good day she can do a bent arm planche.  She is happy to do a little bit of street training when we are out for a walk.

People see my kids doing these amazing feats of strength and endurance, and often some of the more athletic men will give it a try as they don't want to be out done by a child.  So far I have never seen one of them succeed.  

There is something about a large muscly man being out done by a ten year old that brings a smile to my face.  There is something about a humble ten year old who honestly assumes that everyone can also do this that makes me proud.

I sometimes see other people tell their kids to do this too.  Most of their kids are larger and stronger looking than my kids, but they have not trained, so they also fail.  I have no doubt that other kids could do this kind of strength exercise if they were trained.  I trained my kids, so think I could train theirs too.  

Instead of training or playing outside, their kids tend to sit around and play computer all day, so they will likely never be able to do things such as this.  Given the cost of being overweight to this country, it is too bad that more kids don't get outside and play and do a little strength training like this.

There is something I like about park bench training

Playgrounds are good for strength training - but scary

This was scary as the end of the pole is broken and sharp!

Impressive strength for a ten year old

Hopefully seeing a ten year old doing impressive feats of strength will help to inspire someone to do some strength training.  

The best time to start strength training is when you were young.  The next best time to do strength training is now.  Get in and give it a go.  Don't worry if you can't do it, don't worry that your progress is slow, just try.

Do some strength training, be more!

Healthy BMI for skinny people

I  have always been thin and have never had extra weight to lose.  My healthy weight hovers around the healthy/underweight line on Body Mass Index (BMI) charts.  For me to get into the middle of the healthy range I would actually be really unhealthy.

At some stages I have been ‘skinny fat’ (where I look skinny but carry extra fat around my organs), other stages I have just been ‘skinny’ (not much fat, not much muscle), and other stages I have been ‘thin and strong’.  

I am reaching a stage in my life where my metabolism is slowing, I am gaining some impressive old man strength, and I now carry a little body fat (far less than most men my age).  I am still thin, but I am strong for my age.

A while ago I lost a lot of weight rather quickly.  It was not intentional and it worried me.  I wasn’t eating differently, I wasn’t exercising differently, and I didn’t know why I was quickly losing weight.  Then I gained back some weight, I lost that and then lost some more in a very short time frame.  This worried me so I went to the GP and was told not to worry, it was probably due to stress.  I asked for a blood test, which didn’t show anything that could have caused this fluctuation in weight.  From here my weight kept yo-yoing rather sharply, and I stayed a bit under my normal healthy weight. 

My weight slowly went down until it reached a worrying low, then it slowly increased for quite some time.  All of this was with the same food and exercise as before.  Eventually my weight levelled off and remained reasonably stable. 

Earlier this year I went to hospital for the first time in my life.  At that time my weight was above the green line on the BMI chart meaning that I was within the ‘healthy’ BMI range.  I wasn’t far above the line, but I was above it nonetheless.

Image with permission from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABmi-chart_colored.gif

While in hospital I was asked by numerous nurses and doctors if I have an eating disorder, and I was watched carefully at meal times to see what I was eating.  The first few times I was feeling too poorly to think much of it.  As I started to feel better and I kept being asked, and it started to irritate me.  I was in the ‘healthy’ BMI range, and people were asking if I have an eating disorder and not trusting me when I said no, that seemed odd. 

I wondered if everyone is asked if they have an eating disorder.  I decided to find out. 

I asked some of the other patients who were in the ‘overweight’ BMI range if they had ever been asked if they had an eating disorder.  I also asked some of other patients who were in the ‘obese’ BMI range the same question.  I was always careful in my wording, and they usually got a laugh when I told them why I was asking.  Their responses surprised me. 

None of the people in the ‘overweight’ BMI range had ever been asked, while only some of the people in the ‘obese’ range on the BMI chart had ever been asked if they had an eating disorder.  I was in the ‘healthy’ range and was being asked several times per day! 

It still gets under my skin that they question someone in the ‘healthy’ BMI range if they have an eating disorder, but no one ever asks anyone who is at the upper end of the ‘healthy’ range, or anyone who is in the ‘overweight’ range, it is only once people are within the 'obese' range that they are asked. 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says about 67% of adults in Australia were overweight or obese (36% were overweight but not obese, and 31% were obese).  Under one third (31.7%) were within the healthy weight range and about one percent (1.3%) were underweight.  Even though I am thin enough to be asked repeatedly if I have an eating disorder I am one of the people in the healthy weight range.

If you are reading this and are considering telling me that I could gain weight if I ‘just eat more’, please don’t bother.  When I was younger, if I ate high fat and high sugar my metabolism would increase and I would lose weight.  If I exercised more I would gain weight (muscle) and if I lazed around I would lose weight as my muscles atrophied.  If I gain weight by eating more I gain fat around my organs, which is rather dangerous.  The only way I can gain weight in a healthy way is to gain muscle.  Providing advice when you have little concept of genetics or metabolism will do more harm than good.  Besides, if you went around telling overweight people that they would lose weight if they ‘just eat less’ you would probably lose your voice before the end of the day.

Obesity, and to a lesser extent being overweight, increases the risk factors behind many diseases and is often associated with more severe outcomes of many injuries and diseases. 

According to the ABS, over one thousand people die annually in Australia from obesity related causes.  The World Health Organisation states about 2.8 million people die annually worldwide from obesity.  According to TheWorldCounts.com obesity kills 4.72 million people annually, which is about 8% of global deaths.  I’m not sure which statistic is correct, and I don't really care because they are both far too high.

Image with permission from https://renewbariatrics.com/australia-obesity-statistics/

If 2/3 of our country are overweight or obese, and being overweight causes health issues, and the estimated cost to the country runs into the billions, and obesity rates are increasing, then we have an issue with people who are overfat.  

The crazy thing is, our medical system and our society in general is so desensitized to seeing overweight and obese people they don’t think anything of it until they get very large.  Whereas a person who is at the lower end of the ‘healthy’ scale is treated with constant suspicion.  

Not surprisingly, given the number of people who are overweight and the health issues that can be exacerbated in people who carry extra weight (as well as the monetary cost to society), most health advice offered is aimed at people losing weight.  Very little advice is aimed at people with low weight who are trying to be healthy, and most of that advice is entirely wrong.  

Once I realised this, I changed the way I exercised, and everything changed. 

I don't really care about my weight, and I don't worry too much about my diet.  If I do exercise it is with the intention to gain strength and ability.  I now doing prochnost’ strength training, and ignore all the nonsense that I hear about training to bulk up and/or lose weight.  I also ignore the often contradictory advice given to skinny fat people to cut or bulk first.  The best part is I am stronger now than I have been in well over a decade.  

I wish I knew about prochnost’ strength training back when I was in my early 20’s, I would have trained better, achieved far better results, and not felt inadequate due to being strong but underweight. 

If you are skinny fat stop feeling inadequate.  Get stronger.  While you may never bulk up don't worry, train for strength, not size.  Do some 2 minutes per day exercise challenges.  Pretty soon you can be stronger than people twice your size!