Love this post! Have kept this around since reading it years ago because it is so valuable – KISS/Occam at its best:
"I have been doing push-ups for years with good results especially when I apply the principles of training in a slow, controlled manner to failure as you have long espoused. In fact, for several years I have made push-ups the core of my upper body workout. I do nothing else for my pecs, triceps, and deltoids. Of course, this does not give me the body to be able to enter bodybuilding contests, but I have no desire to and at age 43 it enables me to keep a respectable physique that can still turn the heads of the ladies at the beach.
My normal push-up routine consists of doing 2 sets of 15-20 push-ups 3 times a week at the pace of 4 seconds up, 4 seconds down as you instruct in “Living Longer Stronger.” I usually reach failure by the end of the second set. Sometimes I do the push-ups in the standard Super Slow protocol of 5 seconds down, 10 seconds up. This causes me to reach failure within one set. I have also experimented with going real, real slow such as 30 seconds down, 30 seconds up in order to make the push-ups even tougher. My favorite push-up workout consists of doing three-point push-ups at a 10 seconds up, 10 seconds down pace. I bet that just one set of 10 of these would be a challenging workout for even
the most dedicated weight trainee.
What I like the most about push-ups is that they are the ultimate cost effective workout and I can do them anytime, anyplace. It also makes me feel good that it connects me to the past, to a time long before there were such things as barbells or Nautilus machines and if a man wanted to develop his upper body he had to use the only resistance available ? his own body weight. I once read that Ceasar’s soldiers trained with push-ups. Push-ups are the ultimate retro workout. I wish you would encourage more people to take them seriously."
Wish this individual had continued to post as I’d love to see his current status.
Have a friend who adopted a SS bodyweight program and a tight diet 15 or 20 years ago and has stayed injury free and lean. Looks incredible, athletic and lives the outdoors life…hikes, bike rides, etc…at 63.