Bo Sit-ups and Push-ups

[SagaraSouske]

Thank you for the very useful techniques.

[Visionary0001]

Side Note: (If anyone cares.) This guy was probably born in Russia or the Ukraine, but came to USA as a young child. His accent indicates that his first language was Russian and he still speaks it fluently, but that he started speaking American English in Elementary school as a young child, and has the full vocabulary, pronunciation, phrasing and diction of a USA native.

SERGEI BRIN of Google fame speaks with this same, small trace of a Russian accent.

[jrk987]

How about showing us a backhand spring while holding a bo staff like jackie chan does?

[hempev]

@jrk987 Um, no, I don't think so - Shihan won't be doing that kind of acrobatics.

[Visionary0001]

This guy is fluent in RUSSIAN, also. It comes through in his pronunciation. He seems to know is stuff, though.

[hempev]

@Visionary0001 I can only assume you mean the white guy at the beginning - Shihan Nishiuchi speaks only Japanese and English.

[DynastyWarriorStrike]

This makes me lol

[pts2410]

why should the feet never go narrower than shoulder width?

[hempev]

Feet at shoulder width (men can call it "hip width") is considered "natural position" - you *can* put your feet closer, but narrower is not as stable, and in our class, you'd get corrected anyway, so we don't even bother (same is also true of too wide).

[yuryf]

@hempev in my dojo we are actually taught to keep the feet together when doing push ups... now your body has formed a triangle rather than a square causing more stabilizing (reflecter) muscles in your stomach and abs to work more, also your arms feel the strength more because they need to compensate for the fact that you are now a three-legged table rather than a four-legged one. thats just us, you do yours the way you are told and taught. :)

[hempev]

@yuryf We use push-ups for jodan workout, not gedan, since we have other exercises for that - "Standard" position is shoulder width at floor contact for both hands and feet. Narrow and wide are done with the hands only, and of course, banzai is above the head. Since our other exercise work on chudan, keeping the entire body in line whether down or up is enough core work for this section.

[lludmilla]

easy and i put my knukles on wood and even rock hehe i am training for fighting and i train mostly my bones along with muscle fiber train your bones thats the secret of the rock solid hit

[hempev]

Those training with weapons have to be able to handle seiken pushups on cinder blocks, even tougher as a punch (lift off the block, pull into hikite, then fully extending to the block again). "Correct" pushups are nose-to-floor to fully extended elbows per rep. Even without "liftoff", shoken (one knuckle) pushups are even harder - most of this takes many years of training before you get to the point where muscle fatigue is why you stop and not pain at the point of contact (I'm not there yet).

[LV99MasterMonk]

seiken pushups? haven't heard of those before. can you elaborate more on those or recommend any videos of yours'?

[hempev]

Seiken is Japanese for the standard fist, so you would say "fist push-ups", with the contact point at the face of the first two knuckles.

[yuryf]

@LV99MasterMonk a seiken zuki in japanese simply means (forward punch) meaning you are not stepping in and throwing a lead side punch or a back side punch, think of it like stationary basics, usually done in a sumo stance, natural stance for lower belts. so a seiken push up can only mean "a simple forward push up like you always do and know" lol... hope that helps!

[hempev]

@yuryf Actually, we use gyaku kiba dachi, which in our dojo is called kihon zuki dachi, for kihon zuki, whether lower or upper ranks (our class is done in traditional Japanese style, with all ranks together). Although our karate class is doing all the pushups "empty handed" (as opposed to with a weapon in kobudo class), when we do a pushup that lifts the hands off the ground, we add the word "karate" to the name (or "kobudo" with weapons). Zuki is perhaps a better name for them!

[TupacVideoz]

You're strong bro.

[hempev]

They guy in the video is, I'm not

[TupacVideoz]

The first guy is amazing, he doesn't have massive muscles, he's natural, and he does push ups like nothing, I'm struggling with 2-3.

Man, can you give me some tips?

I'm 15, and I wouldl ike to get 6 pack. I'm doing 5 situps every morning and night, will I get 6 pack?

[jtanning]

after about 10 years maybe why not do about 50

[TupacVideoz]

it was a typo lo, I'm not that lazy, I meant 50 situps ,not 5.

[hempev]

Seeing a "sixpack" on someone (even a woman) means they have less than 10% body fat - I wouldn't want to generalize, but getting that lean and doing a couple hundred crunches a day might be all you need. You do not need "full range" situps - in fact, the short movement of a crunch is actually more effective than the full movement that involves so many other muscles.

Good luck!

[TupacVideoz]

Crunch? I think I watched a video about it,

And my previous post, I meant 50 situps every morning and night.

if irun 2-3kilometres and eat right, and then to some "crunches" and 50 situps every morning and night, take a a day off to rest the muscles, what do you think?

[hempev]

It's the fat percentage that makes the biggest difference, but a couple hundred crunches each (straight and oblique) is the most effective single exercise for abdomenal development. Unfortunately, I have middle-aged-spread, so I'm fat in the middle, but at least I can take a punch to the gut if I am ready!

[jaganjacfan]

wher is the sequel of this video

[hempev]

When you post "before" and "after" clips of yourself.

[FATIMAakaPiiNk]

he is strong, super natural

[hempev]

Natural, not super - but it does take training; I am up to 3 Tower-of-Tokyo push-ups after more than 3 years, but I was already middle-aged when I started, so it's going to take a while to do just about anything for me!

[FATIMAakaPiiNk]

wow!!! that is incredible work if you ask me. Good on you and good luck with everything, i hope u succeed i'm sure you will. Great effort!! 5*

Fatima :)

[n0ccca]

what's a "Tower-of-Tokyo push-up"?

[hempev]

He explains @5:55 in the video.

[n0ccca]

okay, thanks. I was confused because I didn't hear him name that kind of push up.

But three years for three? I have no Bo, but with a fist on fist imitation I can do five in a row.

Only problem with a stick is finding a place with enough friction, I think.

[Johnyb0y]

what martial art will teach you how to kill a man with your bare hands?

[hempev]

It's not the martial art, it's the morality - thinking of it in the abstract is nothing like doing it in reality.

[TacticalNightFire]

Doesn't this really hurt the joints of your hands? =-/ I usually do push ups with fists but not tried it with a staff..

[hempev]

Not really - we have added a type we call a "kobudo pushup" where we push hard enough to lift off the floor (to differentiate from our open hand pushup's "karate" version that is a seiken that lifts off the floor). The kobudo pushup can be done with any weapon - just get a little lift!

[360sk8t]

A broom stick would work, right?

[hempev]

Sure!

[Henry1993bc]

i did i with a pool cue

[hempev]

That works - some bo are that thin, but mine is about an inch thick, so it is harder to get a good fist to contact the floor, and something that is more difficult is not a bad thing!

[RML00002]

interesting

[myjutsu87]

can these push ups replace the makiwara? do they help to enforce the wrists and the knuckles as well, or just the wrists?

[hempev]

I don't know enough to say. I may have to make my own video about the empty hand pushups that we are taught in class - they strengthen a variety of joints and muscles.

[TheDeviLLL]

just use a broom

[hempev]

or just do seiken, that is with an empty "karate" fist, holding your weight on the front of the first 2 knuckles.

[sebastianlarsen]

i only need the stick ...

[nang87]

all that good it help me a lot thanks

[Notofthisworld13]

Thanks for posting. Lots of different ideas. I like the push up variations. I`m off to saw the head off my brush now!

[GolldLining]

y not just use bamboo? instead of bying that "staff"

[perri1234]

the first guy did better

[AlexNunez514]

yeah well the first guy was also alot younger.

[hat045]

so you dont really need a bo staff to do any of this

[theflyingglove]

:) THanks for this!!

[MattyStivs]

where can i get a bo staff

[hempev]

Century Martial Arts (link for videos is same company), or probably others online.

[theflyingglove]

:) I got a 6 foot oak one off ebay (UK), I'm sure there's a variety on any ebay localised site.

[everysixseconds]

Just use a broom stick

[DoctorSensitive]

Aren't the straight legged sit ups bad for your back?

[hempev]

Probably, but we only did those once in a while in kobudo class, and now that we have kobudo combined with karate, it's even less frequent! Our usual situps are done weapon-less with the knees to the chest (direct or lateral) on your back or on a ball.

[cexu]

u can increase the strength of your wrist..

[61385]

how can u tell if ur wrists are getting stronger!? do they grow miniture biceps or sumthin lol!

[zebncs]

those pushups will indeed give more variety to workouts

good job

[rafax241]

hahaha! i can't even do 1 single close grip push up!! ITS DAMN HARD!!

[JOBENDE3I]

i alsmost broke my bone doing that

[hempev]

Which bone...?

[topstot]

apart from the vertical one...which is class....whats the point of using a bostaff with these exercises? you can do them all without one

[hempev]

Hard to do "seiken" pushup with the 1" gap in your grip!

[Devinate]

Could you please explain that " 1" gap in your grip!"? I don't understand this...

[hempev]

A bo is 1" in diameter, so the only way to duplicate pushups done with a bo without having one is to have a 1" empty space in your fist - not a very likely scenario!

[zeroneonzn]

ahhaha its a fun work out though :-p

[zeroneonzn]

i do all that work out with 5 sets of 20 for each type of push ups how do i get my hands to stop hurting after a while just get used to it or what?

[hempev]

...after a while... Nowadays I only hurt for one day after, so I'm improving!

[cryingindian]

if its a muscle pain then you will just get used to it I reckon, try getting one of those hand strength things, the spring with handles that you squeeze, that will help. If its the palm of your hands then get padding under them, just like a folded up towel or something. If its your wrists try doing kneeling pushups but use the back ofur hand with fingers pointing inwards towards eachother, that will strengthen ur wrists

[doubraska]

i have to do that at least once a week and it's killing me!

[rockonlorin]

my hands hurt now

[hempev]

Yes - usually we keep our feet at shoulder width, but often have to widen them for balance, like with narrow grips or one-handed.

[Feedmeakitten]

Why does the width of the feet change, what's the purpose of that? just balance?

[hempev]

We alternate weapons, so you'd have to see all the videos to see all the varous types of pushups. We also have a couple dozen empty-hand versions that aren't in these videos, so I think we get plenty of "ioslation"!

[Castro4things]

hop pushups use back muscles... whats the point in working the back with pushups?  try some isolation..

[hempev]

Would you want to waste your time watching him do as many as he *could*? It's a tutorial, not a "see what I can do" by an amateur.

[titosnla]

Any website where I can find reasonably priced Martial Arts trainers? I want to know, how to defend myself.

[hempev]

If you want to defend yourself, look for self-defense classes - a martial arts dojo is meant for more than just defending yourself.

[DuyAnh1]

He cant do more than 10x wow a black belt master too...

[hempev]

This is a bo video - other types of weapons exercises are done on the other videos, and there are dozens of empty-hand pushups, too. One day I may try to make my own video just covering some of these.

[morfes13]

plz if u can tell us.

[morfes13]

hej man very good job but just 1 question.why with this thing.why not without it.

[applegoeshollywood]

good question. i'd like to know too. maybe because it's harder to do it on fists