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!

100 push ups 30 day challenge

Join me for a 30 day challenge where you will complete one hundred push ups per day.  It's easier than you think!  It is also free and requires no equipment.  It only takes thirty days, so give it a go and see the results for yourself.

I saw something on YouTube about a 100 push ups 30 day challenge.  In this challenge an unfit slob of a man did 100 push ups per day, every day, for 30 consecutive days.  He couldn't do 100 in one go, so he did smaller sets that added up to one hundred each day.  Thirty days of push ups doesn't sound all that difficult.

Prior to the challenge he weighed himself, measured his biceps and his chest, and took some photos without a shirt.  After the completion of 30 days he weighed himself, measured his biceps and his chest, and had some comparison photos without wearing a shirt.  

The results were incredible: he lost weight, his biceps and chest were noticeably larger, he looked more toned and less fat, he stood more proud, he had a nicer haircut, he no longer wore glasses, and most remarkably he also looked a lot more tanned. 

I had a few initial thoughts at the time:

Firstly I knew his results were nonsense.  I knew then as I know now that thirty days can not do that to anyone.  

Secondly I thought I should do this challenge.  At that stage I was doing zero push ups in an average month, so doing any would be an improvement and would likely benefit me.  My back and neck were giving me constant pain, perhaps getting stronger might even decrease my pain if I kept at it for 30 days.

I gave it a go immediately and struggled to get to the floor, let alone do any push ups.  After doing a few push ups I could hardly get up off the floor.  This was not good.  

At that stage I decided to do this challenge properly I had to set some rules.  I knew I couldn't do one hundred push ups in one set, so I needed to do several sets of smaller numbers to be able to reach my goal.

I had to write down the minimum number of push ups per day, secondly I had to write the minimum number I would do in each set.  This would ensure that I committed to this goal and did not cheat.  It was only thirty days, so I had to do it properly or not at all.  No rest days, no excuses, just thirty days of reaching my minimums.

I figured I could do more in a set or more in a day if I wanted to, but I had to reach my minimums.  If I didn't reach my set minimum before collapse then they would not count towards my daily minimum.  I decided that I had to reach my minimums no excuses, no rest days, for thirty days.  I decided to do 100 push ups for thirty consecutive days.

Push ups are good for skinny people

The first few days were really painful, I felt achy and fevery, much like I was catching the flu.  My joints hurt, my glands were enlarged, my eyes watered, my throat hurt, and my muscles ached.  Everything hurt.  I wasn't sick though.  This was because I was ultra-unfit.  It was only thirty days, so I pushed on and did my minimums each day.

There were a few days where I had a headache or a migraine, this was not due to the exercise, but was due to pre-existing injuries.  I really wanted to give up at this stage, but I had set rules and had to meet my minimums, so I continued.  Setting rules that you have to follow really help with pushing through when you really don't want to.

I pushed through, mostly doing more than my minimums by 1 or 2.  I started to severely hate doing push ups, and also started to panic each day that I might forget to do them.  Some days I was exhausted from mowing the lawn or whatever, but I still had to meet my minimums so I kept doing them.  Setting minimums and committing to doing them really helps.  I desperately wanted to give up a bunch of times.

I hoped that push ups would get easier as the challenge progressed, but they never did.  The fever subsided after a few days, as did many of the other aches, but push ups were always incredibly difficult.  I found the first 3 or so in every set got easier, but I was in just as poor a state at the end of each set.  

I eventually made it to 30 days successfully.

I was skinny fat.  That means I looked skinny, but carried a lot of fat around my organs.  This is the most dangerous type of fat.  I have injuries that made everything hurt, hurting means I do not want to move or do exercise, and being sedentary made things worse.  

After the 30 days I dropped a belt notch but did not lose weight.  In other words I lost fat and put on muscle, which is a great health outcome.  I found sitting at my desk at work far easier.  As this went well I decided to keep going and do more 30 day challenges.  No rest days, no excuses.

The next thirty day challenge I was stronger so I increased my minimums.  Again I strived to do more than my minimums, but I could never do less.  I was in less pain but push ups seemed just as difficult to do.  The first few of each set were easier, but each set was just as hard as always.  Again I tried to go beyond my minimums, both set minimums and day minimums.  

I struggled through, and eventually reached 30 days a second time.

Push up handles, I didn't get these until a year or so into my challenges

What started as a single 30 day challenge kept going.  I have now completed well over 2 years of continuous challenges.  I don't have days off between challenges so I can easily add up the number of days I have done them.  I am not too far away from day 900 and I dread the thought of starting from day zero again, which helps with motivation on days where I really can't be bothered.

My challenges have changed each block of 30 days.  Sometimes I would have other exercise added in, some challenges did not have push ups at all, but there are always set minimums and day minimums.  

I have now also added in a 'tweak'.  This is where I may decide on my minimums and find I was overly ambitious, or if I am injured, then I can change the exercises for that 30 day challenge.  While I am yet to use a tweak, I am glad it is there.  There is no point pushing through a broken wrist or something as it would have made things worse.

I started these challenges struggling to do any push ups, I can now do over 250 in one set.  I was curious to find out what the average person can do, so I tried to look up the average number of push ups a man my age can do.  The numbers on the internet vary a bit so I have included some of the comparison tables below.

Average Push-Ups for Adult Men

15-19 years old	23-28 push-ups
20-29 years old	22-28 push-ups
30-39 years old	17-21 push-ups
40-49 years old	13-16 push-ups
50-59 years old	10-12 push-ups
60+ years old	to 8-10 push-ups

All Ages	Reps
Beginner	< 1
Novice	16
Intermediate	40
Advanced	68
Elite	100

Age	17-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-65
Excellent	> 56	> 47	> 41	> 34	> 31	> 30
Good	47-56	39-47	34-41	28-34	25-31	24-30
Above average	35-46	30-39	25-33	21-28	18-24	17-23
Average	19-34	17-29	13-24	11-20	9-17	6-16
Below average	11-18	10-16	8-12	6-10	5-8	3-5
Poor	4-10	4-9	2-7	1-5	1-4	1-2
Very Poor	< 4	< 4	< 2	0	0	0

Regardless of which table you choose, I am now well and truly above average.  

While I initially struggled to get to the floor, let alone do any push ups, I can now do over 250 in one set.  This is all from Prochnost' training.  It doesn't matter where you start as your aim is to get stronger.  

I was hideously unfit, and I am now able to complete vastly more push ups than most men my age.  I started out skinny fat and very weak, I am still skinny but I am stronger now.  I never got ripped, but my intention was to gain strength, not to look prettier.  I also don't put in a whole lot of time each day.

My 12 year old does push ups

If you are skinny fat like I was, you should be doing push ups.  If you are not skinny you should be doing push ups.  A thirty day challenge helps to ensure that you get the benefits from all of your hard work, skipping a day here and there leads to poor results and/or giving up.  Commit to thirty days, then achieve this no matter what happens.

If you are really unfit like I was you should do the 100 push ups 30 day challenge.  Complete ten sets of ten push ups each day for thirty days.  If you can do an extra one or two each day, then do that as it will help you.  Perhaps this is too daunting, in which case you should do less push ups a day for 30 days.  Just make sure you set your minimums as they will help you succeed.

If you are stronger then you should complete the 100 push ups 30 day challenge.  Complete two sets of fifty push ups each day if you can do that many.  If you can do an extra 25 or so each set then do that because it will help you in the long run.  If this sounds too easy then decide on a larger number, perhaps you can do 1,000 push ups per day for 30 days.  

Try to remember: if you have extra time and energy one day and do 300 push ups you don't get a break the next day, you still have to complete your minimums.  Doing extra is good, it helps you in the long run.  Your future self will thank you for doing extras.

Do push ups.  Push ups are good for you, push ups make you stronger.  

What is Skinny Fat and how to fix it

“Skinny fat” is sometimes also called "Thin Outside, Fat Inside" (TOFI).  It is a term that refers to looking thin, even having a 'healthy' or 'underweight' BMI), while still carrying too much fat to be healthy.  

Being skinny fat can be rather dangerous to your health, it can be worse than simply being fat. 

Most people in this country are overweight or obese.  They eat garbage and usually lead sedentary lives.  They put on subcutaneous fat, which is fat just below the skin.  This is not healthy if they have too much, but if they only have a little extra then it is usually ok.  As most people look like this no one bats an eye when they see it, and most health ad fitness advice is (rightly) aimed at these people.

Training for human flag

Skinny Fat people put on visceral fat, which is fat around their internal organs.  This can be really dangerous.  People often criticise skinny fat people and tell them to gain weight.  Many skinny fat people try to gain weight by eating poorly and being lazy as this is the advice that people give them.  This is probably the worst thing they can do as they will still look skinny but will gain dangerous amounts of fat around their organs.  

Unfortunately being skinny fat has a lot do do with genetics.  You don't have to stay skinny fat, you can become thin and strong, but you will never bulk up like most people.

Skinny fat people need to ignore advice they are given about gaining weight, and ignore fitness advice, because it is not aimed at someone of their body type.  To be healthy they need to train and eat differently.

I have always been thin

Most web sites or YouTube videos or anything else on the internet on skinny fat fitness is almost always aimed at young women.  This is great for women in their early twenties, but not much use to men or even women who are not in their early twenties.

Other sites I have seen have pictures of men who I would never consider to be 'skinny', they are regular guys carrying extra fat but are not obese.  Explaining how someone like that needs to train to get ripped is of no use to someone who is skinny fat who wants to be healthier.  Training the same way he is training will put you at a disadvantage as you will achieve poor results.  If you are skinny fat you need to train in a way that is right for a skinny person, that way you will achieve better results much faster.

Most skinny fat people train and exercise the wrong way.  I sure used to.  This is largely because they are aiming to get bigger, and the advice they receive is only suitable for larger people.  Much advice is about exercising to lose weight or to gain bulk.  Skinny fat people don't need to lose weight per se, and they won't gain bulk no matter how they train or what they eat, but they should exercise as they can get incredibly strong.  

A thin person who is stronger than someone twice their size is rather impressive.  I now train differently, I train for strength, and I am achieving far better results from it.

Push ups are great for skinny people

I have always been thin.  At some stages I was 'skinny fat', other times I was underweight and weak, other stages I have been thin and fit.  I used to do a lot of fitness training when I was younger, but it was all the wrong kind of training for my body type.  This always left me feeling like a failure, and often resulted in me giving up exercise and becoming skinny fat.  

Once you are skinny fat it is hard to get in shape as everyone tells you to 'just eat more' and mocks you when you do any exercise or start looking at what you eat.

Skinny fat people need to train and exercise differently to be healthy.  They need to train for strength and for health.  That is why I am writing this blog. 

I am getting older, and have a few injuries, and have very little time to train.  I started getting skinny fat and feared that this is what I would be for the rest of my life.  I have recently (in the past few years) learned how to train for strength as a skinny person.  I do a form of Slavic strength training called prochnost'.  

After starting prochnost' training I quickly lost fat around my organs, I got more toned, I am in less pain, and I am now stronger than I have been in well over a decade.

My kids are also skinny, and they are very strong.  I have been training with them and they have become incredibly strong because we are training using the correct technique for skinny people.  We are training carefully, as they are kids, and they are achieving impressive feats of strength that few adults will ever achieve.

Strength training

Sensationally failing is part of the training process

Join me as I continue to train as an ageing, skinny man as I train, fail at things, then train some more, and eventually am able to achieve more things that very few people of my age are able to do.

Two Minute Workout For Free

Do you want to get stronger, lose fat, put on muscle, but don’t have time and seriously lack motivation?  

What if I told you that you can exercise for less than two minutes in total per day, using nothing but your body weight, without changing your diet, and you will gain strength and lose fat.  The best part is you can do this workout completely for free!  

Most people consider doing exercise, but don’t have time. Most advice is that you will regret it if you don’t make the time now, or that everyone can spare X amount of time a day. More often than not this demotivates people who really are time poor as X tends to be rather optimistic and considerably underestimated. 

Sadly most of those shorter workouts tend to focus on losing weight rather than getting stronger.  Skinny fat people like me need to focus on gaining strength and losing fat around their organs. When a skinny fat person gets stronger they lose visceral fat, focusing on losing weight is counterproductive as sometimes skinny fat people gain weight as they lose fat and put on muscle.  

Early in the year 2020 I started a 2 minute workout. This was less than two minutes (non-consecutive minutes) in total each day. This could be achieved in several sessions of less than a minute spread throughout the day, using no equipment, no getting into/out of gym clothes or desperately needing a shower afterwards, and the difference it made to me physically was impressive. 

What is the catch

The catch is that you have to do this every day for thirty consecutive days to see an improvement.  

The first few days will be difficult but the improvement you will see after 10 days will be impressive, the difference you will see after the full thirty days is something you will have to see to believe.   You may as well try this, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

12 year old son doing push ups

How this started for me

Early in the year 2020 we were stuck inside the house as there were bushfires everywhere and the smoke made the air quality horrendous. I was very unfit and in a lot of pain due to various injuries I sustained 20 or so years ago. I was watching youtube videos with my kids (mostly of Russian folk songs) and we somehow watched someone do 100 push ups a day for 30 days. I wrote another post on my attempt at this. 

This was the start of my 2 minutes of exercise 30 day challenges. 

I live in a climate that is hot over spring/summer and cold over autumn/winter. The few nice days we have are usually filled with doing chores, or relaxing, rather than wanting to exercise. I have a job that requires me to commute for about an hour each way. I have young children. I don’t have much time left over in which to exercise. 

All of the '15 minute workouts' I have seen require equipment, and I would need to get changed, and I need to have a shower afterwards, meaning it takes about an hour all up. I don’t have that much time, and I dare say neither do you. I am also in pain pretty much all the time due to some old injuries from a car accident years ago so I really don't want to exercise.  This made exercise that requires no equipment which takes less than two minutes a day and is completely free pretty ideal.

Some of the changes I noticed after completing my first 30 day challenge, apart from getting far stronger, was that my body appeared more toned and less ‘middle agey’, even though I was skinny I lost fat (I went down a belt notch in one month, and a second belt notch the second month), I put on muscle, my shoulders and arms didn’t get much bigger but they changed shape and were more defined, walking around didn’t hurt so much, sitting at my desk didn’t hurt so much, my heart stopped skipping beats as often, my blood sugars became more level, doing day to day things like getting dressed hurt less, playing with my kids became easier and more enjoyable, and somehow my blood cholesterol levels dropped.  

This was all from two non-consecutive minutes of strength exercise.  You should commit to doing this for thirty days and see the changes for yourself.  Also, did I mention that this requires no equipment and is free?  

There are some things to keep in mind to get the most out of your time.

No excuses

I know if I can find an excuse not to do exercise, then I won’t do any exercise ever. Perhaps you are the same. 

If I mow the lawn I don’t want to do any exercise that day because I will convince myself that I have already done exercise. If I stack firewood I don’t want to do any exercise that day. If it is cold or hot or windy or I had a rough day at work or it is Christmas or I did exercise yesterday or I need to wash my hair (the list goes on and on) then I convince myself that I don’t have to do any exercise that day. 

Thirty day challenges where I only exercise for two minutes in total (not necessarily consecutive minutes) helps me do away with my excuses.  It is less than two minutes, and I can do this in dribs and drabs throughout the day.  

You can commit to doing this for thirty days straight!  No excuses, just get it done.  Thirty days will be over before you know it, so be strong and just get it done.

Set minimum numbers

The first number I set was a ‘daily minimum’, this was the minimum number of push ups (or whatever) that I had to do each day. No excuses, no rest days, I had to reach this minimum. 

The second was a ‘set minimum’, this was the lowest number I could do in a set that would count towards my daily minimum. I had to reach these numbers, no excuses.

The best part of setting minimums is that you have to reach them but you can do extras. I know myself, I would convince myself to do double one day and have the next day off, defined minimums prevent me from cheating. 

I can do double or even more one day, but I still have to do my minimums the following day. Strangely enough I found that I always do extras, sometimes only 1 or 2, often I do considerably more. 

Setting minimums prevents me from cheating, and has meant that I keep striving to do better.  This helps me to get stronger faster.  Write your minimums down somewhere, it will help you keep motivated when doing exercise seems stupid and you really can't be bothered to do this anymore.

Struggling through my minimums

My first 30 day challenge

At the start I was unfit and struggled even getting down to or up from the floor. I had 100 push ups as my day minimum, and 25 as my set minimum. I was doing four sets of 25 push ups throughout the day, taking less than two minutes in total. 

At that time I was working from home, so between meetings if I had spare time I would push out a set. At the end of each set of 25 I was trembling and felt like I was going to vomit, so I needed considerable rest time between sets. I pushed through and usually did more than my minimums. 

I got a lot stronger pretty quickly because I did my challenge minimums each day, no exceptions.  The difference in my strength from doing less than two minutes of exercise per day for thirty days was almost unbelievable.  You need to try this, you have nothing to lose and it is only thirty days!

My second 30 day challenge

The next 30 day challenge (I do them back to back with no rest days in between) I was a lot stronger so decided on 150 as my daily minimum, and 50 as my set minimum. I had drastically increased my strength so was able to increase my minimums.

When you can't go on, do something else

At the end of my second 30 day challenge I had an injury to my wrist (not from push ups), which meant I should not do push ups. This made me add a ‘tweak’ where I could substitute one exercise for another if I was hurt or sick. 

The substitute exercise does not have to use the same muscle group, you could exchange push ups for squats if you hurt your elbow or something.  The numbers don't have to be the same, it only has to be as difficult for you to complete this.  The whole idea is to build strength.  If you give up you will lose strength, if you train a different muscle group you will gain strength in a different area.  Never give up, if you can't go on due to injury just train something else.

My next challenge was sit ups as I could not do push ups and I didn't want to do squats. My minimums were 50 per day or 25 per set. It really didn’t take long before I could do a whole lot more than this. 

My future challenges ether had one exercise or a combination of exercises, all of which could be completed with no equipment in under two minutes. I will provide some examples below.

Your progress will be astounding 

When I started these challenges a set of 25 push ups left me shaking and out of breath, and I struggled to do 100 across the day. After my first day I was hurting badly.  

Now I am able to do ten times that number (I am currently doing 250 per set and 1,000 in a day) and I feel fine the next day, this is taking me more than 2 minutes to do such high numbers but I that is a story for another time.  I am only mentioning this to show you much stronger you can get simply from these less than two minute workouts for thirty days.

The important part of 2 minute workout is that to make gains you need to do them every day for at least 30 days. To ensure that you do this you need to set rules otherwise you will convince yourself that you deserve a day off. These rules must be inflexible or when times are tough you will cheat. 

If you cheat you will be wasting your time and will make no progress.

Here are the rules that I follow.

My rules:

1) Never miss a day - this is thirty consecutive days, no lies, no excuses

2) Exercise can be done in one go or in small sets throughout the day - this can change from day to day as long as your minimums are always reached

3) Know the end date of the 30 day challenge - If you are like me your mind will always tell you to give up, it is easier to keep going if you are working towards an end date

4) Minimums can be as low as they need to be - this is not a competition, you are trying to gain strength

5) Write down your 'set minimums' before the challenge – this prevents you from cheating

6) If you collapse before reaching your set minimum it is not counted towards the day total

7) Write down the 'day minimums' before the challenge - aim to exceed this every day even if just by one

8) You can (and should) exceed your minimums, but they don’t count towards tomorrow’s minimums

9) Only one ‘tweak’ allowed per challenge – if your minimums are unachievable, or you get an injury, you are not cheating if you use the tweak. You only have one per challenge so try not to use it at all

Set whatever rules work for you, but the rules above work well for me so I have been using them since January 2020.  After more than two years of continuous 30 do challenges I am yet to use my 'tweak'.  No one is checking in on you, set your rules and get it done.  If you cheat you are wasting your time.

I like exercises that can be completed in under two minutes in total, and require no equipment.  If you have equipment that is great, but not using equipment means you can complete your exercise anywhere and any time that you have free throughout the day.  

If it is hot or cold or rainy or you go away on holidays or you go away on a work trip you can still complete your minimums if they require no equipment.  If you need free weights or a chin up bar there will be times where you can't use these, and that is often the beginning of an excuse to stop training.

Some ideas for your two minute exercise challenges include one or several of the following:

Push ups: a great strength exercise that is underrated. Aim for 100 or more per day, if you are really unfit you could start with low 'set minimum' of 10 and a 'daily minimum' of 40. Focus on correct form rather than striving for higher numbers. It will be hard at the start, but you can reach 30 days!

Push up variations: these come later and can work on various different muscle groups. Focus on regular push ups before even thinking about doing any variations.

Sit ups: another great exercise. Aim for 100 per day. If you are unfit try a set minimum of 5 and a day minimum of 20. Make it difficult but achievable for you, if your minimums are too low you can always do extras!

Forearm planks: these look easy but are really difficult. Start with something like 25 seconds per set and 1 minute total across the day. If you only do forearm planks for one challenge then it is only one minute per day, you can do that for thirty days!

Straight arm planks, or other plank variations: do whatever variation you feel up to, write your minimums and try to exceed them even by one second. There are endless planking variations and most build strength for more impressive strength exercises (like human flag).

Squats: these are great for legs. Do some beforehand to get a feel for where to set your minimums. Your legs will be like a cross between jelly and a sewing machine until you get more used to these.  Don't go too low or you may damage your knees.  You can even do these in the lift at work.

Star jumps: this is one of the few aerobic exercises you can do in a short amount of time.  I am not sure if I know anyone who can do two minutes of continuous star jumps.

Reverse Snow Angels: these are harder than you think.  You don't need to do many of these to gain strength in a wide range of muscle groups. Completing them every day for thirty days will give you huge benefits.

Shadow Boxing: another aerobic exercise. I know very few people who can honestly do 1 minute of continuous shadow boxing.  

 

Note: If you have access to weights or a chin up bar or whatever you have a lot of other options, but they were not the purpose of this post. I will also write future posts on using skinny fat people using weights to increase strength.

The takeaway message here is you need to decide on your minimums before your challenge begins, write them down so you can’t cheat, and push through them for 30 long days no matter what. 

Do this properly and you will get impressive results, do this half-heartedly and you won't.  It really is that simple.

If you only have 30 seconds here and there throughout the day you can still get a lot stronger. If you are skinny fat focus on gaining strength, ignore your weight, you will lose fat as you gain muscle and the difference after thirty days will be impressive.