Weighted Pushups & Weighted Pullups
- Details
- Written by Dave Gluhareff
Few of my Favorite Weighted Chest and Lat Exercises!
These can help you get past some sticking points and plateaus for sure!
Weighted Pushups:
The weighted pushups can really kick your butt and also spice up your chest routines and upper body work! The best way to do them is safely add weight to your shoulders/mid-back area with the help of a friend or two…or three like me lol! Please use spotters.
Normally I would only recommend doing these on heavy weeks and heavy training days because they really stress your joints, ligaments, bones, and tendons. The weighted pushup is not something to do often and when you do it, do it right, and as heavy as you can “safely” take.
For me personally the weighted pushup has gone up to 240lbs on my back on the 4thset and I have done 5 reps. On my heavy weeks I tend to stick in the 5-10 reps range for all exercises.
Weighted Pullups using a Neutral Grip:
I love to add weighted pull-ups maybe once every 5-6 weeks into my own training! The neutral grip (palms facing each other on two handles maybe 8-12 inches apart) I believe is safer on the shoulders and neck and also really adds strength and focus to the lats, serratus anterior (rib meat) and rest of the back like we all need. Plus I always get some great extra core work too!
The most I have done to stay in my 5-10 rep range was doing 100lbs, which was placed in my ruck sack, on my 4thset of that hand variation. I had already been working out an hour and twenty minutes on upper body so I was winding down to my last few exercises.
*Please have read about preventing and treating tendonitis and Tennis Elbow/Golfers Elbow on one of my earlier articles (Are Elbow and Forearm Pain Slowing You Down?) because I have to have strong forearms to handle these weighted moves. If my small muscles and little areas of my body are weak then I will fail at the big strength exercises and in my running. Safety and staying injury free are so very important!