Are push-ups on unstable surfaces more beneficial?

Push-ups are one of the best strength training exercises. You can do them almost anywhere and they require no special equipment. While they target the chest(pectoral) muscles, they also exercise the shoulder(deltoid), arm, and ab muscles.

There are many variants of the push-up. In particular, a recent trend is doing push-ups on unstable surfaces using BOSU balls or T-Bows. According to the companies that sell these products and some of their devoted users, this improves the push-up so that it is more beneficial. But is there any validity to this?

Fortunately for us, a study posted in the International Journal of Sports Therapy, Comparison of the effects of an eight-week push-up program using stable versus unstable surfaces found that:

CONCLUSIONS:

The addition of unstable surfaces in push-up training does not provide greater improvement in muscular strength and endurance than push up training performed on a stable surface in young men.

In other words, don’t waste your money on this fancy equipment. The unstable surface provided no extra benefit.

Iron juggling

I already mentioned how I use resistance bands for strength training, using them primarily for upper body exercise, while also doing push-ups, and bicycle crunches.

Here are some other things I use for strength(or resistance) training:

Use a walker to do dips: Just like the dip bars at the gym, you can use a walker to do the same thing. Great for improving upper body strength.

Juggle with heavy balls: These balls are tennis balls that were stuffed with pennies and sealed shut with epoxy and duct tape. Not only do they help strengthen the muscles used for juggling, their weight may also make a deeper imprint on muscle memory so that I juggle better. They weigh 1 pound each, which isn’t much but after several minutes it does get tiring.

Ankle weights: A necessity for building strength in the legs for runners. But they shouldn’t be used while running, that can increase the risk of injury. This is the All-Pro brand, I’ve had them for almost 10 years and they have served me well. The velcro has deteriorated a bit unfortunately, but it’s not a major problem.

Medicine ball: This helps build explosiveness, especially when you throw it. You can also do a variety of lifts with this to help build ab muscles. I made this myself, it’s just a basketball full of sand. It weighs about 23 lbs.

Hand exerciser: Jogglers need to have strong hands!
If anyone has any recommendations for equipment or strength-training exercises, please let me know.

Joggler’s Boot Camp – The best ab exercises

The 6 pack is the Holy Grail sought by countless exercisers. Very few ever achieve it. An entire cottage industry within the fitness industry is dedicated to it, spawning many scams and myths. The myth of spot reduction is one of the most pervasive of these myths. Very often, it seems trying to achieve a 6 pack is more of a vanity project than something done to improve athletic performance; once the core is strong enough(even if the 6 pack is not visible), any additional strength is superfluous or may even weigh you down if you’re a runner.

The truth of the matter is that the abs don’t need to be exercised all that much to improve core strength. In fact, the core is strengthened even when doing resistance exercises that do not target the abdominal muscles. That said, it can still be helpful to include some ab exercises in your fitness routine to build core strength, especially if you sit a lot or have poor posture. Don’t forget to exercise the hips too.

According to research sponsored by the American Council on Exercise, the best ab exercise is the bicycle maneuver. This exercise requires no special equipment and is relatively easy to do. Many other exercises on the best ab exercise list do require equipment, but they are not as beneficial as the bicycle maneuver. So if you want killer abs so people will worship you on the beach, there is no need to waste money on ab devices(some of which are scams).

The bicycle maneuver is a type of crunch or semi-crunch. Ordinarily, I do not advocate crunches or sit-ups since I believe they are bad for the back. However, this maneuver requires very little forward movement of the upper body, so it appears to be safe for the back.

As far as joggling is concerned, it definitely requires a little more core and upper body strength than regular running. It is possible that joggling may help build more core strength than regular running, especially if you joggle with heavy balls(hopefully far away from other people). Also, juggling or joggling with heavy balls may be better for losing weight than juggling with very light balls.

I am not saying joggling will give you killer 6 pack abs, only that it may be better than just running if you want to improve core strength and stability. And it’s more fun!