I for one do this, stant in my hands with my feet up and do pushups. It works my shoulders and I think my upper back.
Swimming is one of the best sportsexercises if one wants to work his back, but I don’t have a place to go swimming, my bathtub is to small :P.
I’d like to know how you train your back muscules without going to a gym and do weight lifting.
With weights, I do one-arm snatches. Without weights, I do pull-ups and back bridging.
For reference, this is back bridging:
ouch
Ford,
Nice picture of Matt F. I still can’t do this yet, …aah, my back!
There is a thread on the Kung-Fu board, in which I suggested checking out Matt’s combat conditioning.
Are you currently following his workout regime?
It took me months to be able to do that, but as a personal note, last night I finally got to doing 400 hindu squats in a row and a feet flat back bridge to a 300 count.
Matt Furey rocks.
Oh, and I still say nothing works your upper back like wide grip chin ups.
I also do allot of bouldering and traditional rock climbing, so I work my back pretty hard like that.
JWT
If you pr!ck us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. MOV
Yeah, I just got to a 15 count on the feet flat back bridge. heh! That puppy is tough.
Remo,
I do the briding, hindu squats and push-ups along with a lot of other bodyweight exercises that aren’t in Matt’s material.
Word of warning…
Just looking at that pic reminded me of a time i went to a seminar held at my kungfu school. A sports science guy came in and told us all the right and wrong stretches to perform before class, and this particular movement…he said was extremely bad for the back. Cant give anything more specific about it…but be careful!
S.Teebas
Thanks. Word of warning though, a lot of sport science guys actually don’t know jack.
“Oh, and I still say nothing works your upper back like wide grip chin ups.”
Yes.
iron
bah
I do flat feet, chin to ground back bridges. Too bad I only last 5 seconds because:
Dude, if you’re going all the way down to your mouth, a. you are a big ol’ stud (doesn’t that hurt your nose?), and b. QUIT IT. Just to the bridge of the nose is plenty, and you can still breath 
JWT
If you pr!ck us, do we not bleed? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that the villany you teach me, I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction. MOV
yeah
I stopped the chin one since it did hurt my squashed nose, and I couldn’t figure out how to breathe. So To compensate, I try to put my feet closer to my head when I bridge. I might try bridging with weights now. Maybe I’ll start with 25 lbs and work upwards.
“I might try bridging with weights now.”
Eh?! Like putting a weight on your stomach while you bridge? How do you get there? Does someone else have to put the weight there?
Iron
25 lbs?..+
25 lbs. is too much to start. Five to fifteen pounds max, my think. That won’t improve you like you might like. Face down near a wall legs over you feet down along the wall (weights on your ankles is O.K.)…Actually, handstand lower to back bridge against the wall–instead of handstand use forearm stamnd-better foundation.
Very some such,perhaps might have been, likely say some, some not.
How do I work the muscles of my back~
It’s more what to do than working one area relevant to every subatomic particle should be playing a part in every moment of stillness or motion (there’s a difference?)In what I am associated with. But these seemed relevat to the topic.
on your back, lead with the head, then the shoulders, then the chest on down. When the chest is in play, head back to the other sideand snake movement like motion. This action done with enough quality can propell the practitioner (short distance)…same thingie face down…
For face down there is flat-ish, like, on back or Snake Rears–head to stomach or head to belly is off of the ground…these are, Snake Slithers On Its Back, and Snake Slithers and perhaps Rearing Snake Slithers. Some people don’t like the thought nor or mention of snakes, so(needle and thread) change the names so as to not bother these people and allow them to benefit from the activity~
Picknic bench-toetips or feet under table lean back so that your head is almost touching the ground; situp; back down (at a different or same as last time down)angle. Possiblly at different angle on sitting up than on way down. Repeat until you don’t care to continue~
Enough for now.
Very some such,perhaps might have been, likely say some, some not.
IronFist
Your hands should be free when you bridge. Just pick up the weight and rest it on your stomach.
deadlifts anyone?
Deadlifts work your traps,lats,delts,glutes,quads,and a few other muscles to a lower degree.So why would anyone bother breaking it down into small segments if we could get it all done with one exercise and stimulate higher growth hormone release than doing all the groups seperately? Easy answer,you wouldn’t…unless it’s just too hard on your body(i.e.-same people that don’t squat with weight due to injuries or other reasons).If deadlifting is not enough you can always supplement your training.For example,i squat or deadlift on Fridays,alternating every other week.On deadlift days i deadlift and that is it.It uses all the gas in my tank just to get my lifts in for that and i feel like i’ve hit everything fairly well.On squat day i hit my squats,then do 3 sets of military press,3 sets of shrugs,and 3 sets of weighted chins to end it up.I might do abs and arms once a week when i can fit it in and bench every Wednesday.Every workout is only an hour,so i end up weightlifting maybe a total of 3 hours a week and am keeping up a fairly good wrestler’s physique.I also might add i train everything but arms and abs powerlifting style,5 reps or less and plenty of rest inbetween sets(5 minutes normally).I figure i get all the muscular stamina i need grappling and training m.a.
-Devildog
feet flat bridge
I feel I must say something regarding this particular exercise. I would not recommend this exercise for anyone has any kind of back issues, weakness or stiffnes in the back, hips or neck.
This posture is considered to be very advanced. In addition, if you do this posture, do not put any weight on your head. Use your hands to hold you up.
By putting so much pressure on the head, it will strain you neck and be murder on your skull.
Brian
San Francisco, CA
iron bridge
but not like Mr. Furey.
Face down on the ground. Support yourself on only your forearms & your toes. Hold your back flat & your hips low.
This really really works my lower back (weakened by too many hours in an office chair)
If you got enough strength to do it, start holding yourself up by just your palms, then just your finger tips, then just your fingers.
Dana
“I have been in
sorrow’s kitchen and
licked out all the pots.
Then I have stood on
the peaky mountain
wrapped in rainbows,
with a harp and a
sword in my hands.” -
Zora Neale Hurston
Back fitness…
Laffer,
You said you do what sound like sort of incline press-ups. This does work your shoulders and upper-back, but also your upper chest, which is cool cos you won’t get out of proportion.
Wide Grip Pull-ups are good, but remember to keep your hands gripping facing away from your body(i.e. you can see your knuckles.)If you don’t have access to a pull-up bar, a broom handle laid over two chair backs is just as good, but less stable. normal press-ups(feet together same level as your hands) are good for over-all back, changing to wider hand positions work more back. Building lower back can be done by doing hanging legraises, sit-ups, see above also although always take anything you do on your lower back REALLY easy.
This bit is hard to describe but is a winner for getting the V-shape back…
After excercising your back, try to ‘pull’ your lats out. This can be done by finding something extremely well secured(iron fence concreted in for example)take a close grip hand above hand and try to pull a bend in the post ‘putting your back into it’.(this is not meant to actually bend the post you are holding on to.)Do Not bounce it or strain too hard, the idea is to stretch the huge Lattisimus Dorsi muscle on either side, incorporated into a back training habit, it will speed up the V-Shape you may be looking for, and helps to make your back look bigger.
Hope that was kinda helpful…
Peace…
[This message was edited by harry_the_monk on 06-17-01 at 04:08 AM.]
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