Weights before Push-ups?

[Abby]

Hi guys & gals,

I just finished the police academy and I want to keep up with the PT program but I want to incorporate free weights. I have a couple of questions:

1.When working on upper body strength should I do push-ups before using the free weights? Or is it the other way around? I vaguely remember reading/hearing something that you should work your muscles in a particular sequence so as not to fatigue them too quickly.
2.Can anyone recommend a good "upper body" routine (using free weights) that will work all of the major muscle groups?

Thanks in advance!

[Shez]

Can't help with your question sorry, I pretty much alternate between the two at the gym....

Congrats on finishing the academy, where are you located?

[Abby]

Can't help with your question sorry, I pretty much alternate between the two at the gym....

Congrats on finishing the academy, where are you located?

Thanks. I'm in Durham, NC.

[RO56]

Thanks. I'm in Durham, NC.

That's one helluva prosecutor you've got there in Durham ... :rolleyes:

[Drummadude]

I usually, in P.E and at home, will do a series of warmups, including pushups, situps, and stretches before any physical activity. It warms your muscles up and gets the blood flowing.
I'm not an exercising fanatic, but I would do pushups before doing weights. I've done weights before doing anything for a day and I will get sore way faster than if I had worked my muscles before.

[1depd]

I waited hoping someone with more experience would chime in, but they didn't so here's my opinion.

1) It depends. Before working your muscles, you should warm up. Push-ups are great for this, but so is doing a light set of whatever exercise you are going to do. I've used push-ups at the end of my chest workout, when I wanted to give it that little extra bump. I figured it was easier to turn my head when my muscles failed and I came crashing down than it was to rely on my workout partner, who was just a spent as I was, to hold the weight. Normally on those days I seem to make some great gains.

2) I'm not a personal trainer, but I normally do two or three different exercises for large muscle groups and one or two exercise for the smaller groups. I also work complementing muscles, like back and biceps or chest and triceps. I do the larger group first then the smaller group. That way the smaller muscle group is warmed up when I do the larger group. For chest/tris my workout would be: 4 sets of about 10 reps of dumbbell press (one set is warm up), 3 sets about 10 reps of dumbbell flyes 3 sets of about 10 reps French Press and if I feel energetic 3 sets of press downs. The exercises for smaller muscle group changes every time. The larger group changes every two or three weeks. I'm just maintaining my strength and size, so I'm not enthused about being in my workout room for more than about 40-50 minutes including cardio.

I'd suggest buying a subscription to Muscle and Fitness. They have articles about different exercises and how to properly do them. They also give the routines the pros use, that can be easily modified for your purposes.

[Abby]

Drummadude and 1depd,

Thanks for your info. Its very helpful.

Abby

[EJV]

Abby,

You will need to figure out your recovery time. For me it is 6 or 7 days optimally. Depending on what you do it may be as little as 2 or 3 or as much as 8. So once you figure out what this time is you will know how many days you need between lifting weights for the same muscle group.

I would suggest doing push-ups, for instance, during an off day from your chest workout. For me, if I do my chest workout on Mondays, then on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday would be best to do a serious push-up workout. The closer it is to Wednesday the more recovery I have for the chest workout and the closer to Friday it is the more recovery I have for the push-up work out. So if I want to improve my push-ups more than my bench press, I will do the push-up workout on Friday. Maybe even Saturday. Or I could do it Wednesday and Friday, Thursday and Saturday...

If I am trying to concentrate on my bench more, I leave more recovery time in front of my chest day and don't necessarily work as hard during my push-up workouts, meaning I don't push for failure as much.

When I was younger I used to do a lot of push-ups because I didn't have the proper shoulder strength to keep up with my tricep/chest strength while doing bench exercises. The push-ups helped me to 'even' out my strength so that when I did chest workouts all the involved muscle groups were on equal ground and thus one group didn't always fail before the others.

Hope that makes sense. It's what works for me.

[warpigs2380]

I would personally stay away from Muscle and Fitness magazine, or their workout schedules at the very least. These will lead to overtraining and fatigue. That is, unless you are taking as much steroids and whatnot that the pros are.

If you are training for strength, I would suggest getting rid of pushups all together, other than to use them to warm up a bit. Being able to do 50 pushups in a minute does not necessarily equate being really strong.

Upper body Free weight routine:
This does not include any warmups, which you always do.

Dumbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
1-Hand Dumbell row: 3 sets of 8-10 reps each arm
Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 8-12 reps
Bicep curls: 1 set of 8-10 reps
Overhead Tricep Extensions: 1 set of 8-10 reps each arm

I would do this twice a week. Say Monday and Thursday. Biceps and Triceps will get stimulated during the bench press and rows, so you wont have to work them as much.

Of course, there's websites run by people a lot more knowledgable than me. A google search should solve your problems.

[ILikeCheescake]

I would personally stay away from Muscle and Fitness magazine, or their workout schedules at the very least. These will lead to overtraining and fatigue. That is, unless you are taking as much steroids and whatnot that the pros are.

If you are training for strength, I would suggest getting rid of pushups all together, other than to use them to warm up a bit. Being able to do 50 pushups in a minute does not necessarily equate being really strong.

Upper body Free weight routine:
This does not include any warmups, which you always do.

Dumbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
1-Hand Dumbell row: 3 sets of 8-10 reps each arm
Lateral Raises: 2 sets of 8-12 reps
Bicep curls: 1 set of 8-10 reps
Overhead Tricep Extensions: 1 set of 8-10 reps each arm

I would do this twice a week. Say Monday and Thursday. Biceps and Triceps will get stimulated during the bench press and rows, so you wont have to work them as much.

Of course, there's websites run by people a lot more knowledgable than me. A google search should solve your problems.

agree on the getting rid of pushups (unless just for warm up).

I did my coopers test and hit 50 pushups in the time limit. I don't do pushups.....just weights.

[EJV]

agree on the getting rid of pushups (unless just for warm up).

I did my coopers test and hit 50 pushups in the time limit. I don't do pushups.....just weights.

ILikeCheescake has a point.

However the afformentioned workout by warpigs2380 leaves quite a few gaps in the various muscles of the upper body.

Does it mean and upright row or a bent row.

Overhead tricep extensions? Is that a French press, skull crusher or what?

And there is no mention of a chin up or lat pull type exercise. The bar dip is another movement that works a lot of muscles.

If you aren't familiar with tricep movements I would stay away from over head movements and concentrate more on downward movements with cables and what not. It will be less stressful on your joints and easier for you to stay in form. Dips and properly performed push-ups will also work the triceps hard if you want them to.

[1depd]

warpigs--That's why you modify the routines the pros use, to avoid over training. I should have put that in my original post. You can bet they are hitting every muscle group there with their routine.