Today’s PrimalMed Prescription…PUSH
Introducing The PrimalMed Pushup. Use the Power of the Pushup to release your inner beast !!!
Gather round folks, time to clear some trees! Remember the power of the pause and the power of the plank? We had talked about the core PrimalMed movements, such as push, pull, squat, and plank. Basic movements that need to be mastered to ensure that we maintain muscle mass and strength as we age and DO NOT FALL! We strive to be robust and harder to kill. THAT is a recurring theme that speaks loud and clear to those of us who remember rotary phones! I submit, however, that even those Gen-Zers and Millennials can learn a thing or two from the village elders.
So here we go. The PrimalMed Pushup. Yes I made up the name! And yes, we even have some reader inspired demonstration pics!
Here we are in August. It is crazy hot and humid. The Dog Days of August. It’s watermelon season! Does anyone really feel like exercising at all? How nice to be able to find the minimal amount of exercise needed to achieve certain goals? What is the minimal effective dose needed to provide the benefits of resistance training? Look on Pinterest or Medium or YouTube and everyone it seems has an infographic or article on how walking or doing Turkish get-ups or kettlebell swings has transformed their life from drudgery to nirvana! But you are reading the PrimalMed Prescription so you know this is the real deal! So get ready. Here is a brief, intense and effective routine that you can do in the privacy of your own bedroom, morning, noon and night. No cold showers needed for this! Whew!
First a little context. There was a study making the rounds back in 2019 that basically said that men who could do 40 pushups had a lower incidence of future cardiovascular events than those who could not even bang out 10! Seems like a no brainer but it piqued my interest. Who wants a heart attack? Who doesn’t want improved longevity? See the article below and the last post on coronary artery calcium scoring.
Of course there are many nuances to such a study. Bottom line is that it probably serves you well to be able to have and maintain upper body push strength and bang out a respectable number of bodyweight pushups. Same goes for walking briskly, and grip strength which are positively correlated with longevity. We will also talk later about the power of squats and lower body strength. That is all fuel for another post.
The PrimalMed Pushup aims to build endurance AND strength in a minimal amount of time. You work the chest, arms, core and legs and you stress the 2 types of muscle fibres (slow twitch and fast twitch) that you need to work and maintain especially as you age. You need to be in the zone, focused, and move INTENSE and with purpose. NO loosey-goosey kinda sorta pushups. If you want to listen to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ then go for it.
STEP 1: Start in the high plank position. Everything is tight. Arms directly below with your shoulders. glutes, thighs, core and shoulders tight and engaged. You need to envision screwing your palms in to the ground. Right hand clockwise and Left hand counterclockwise. You are a steel girder.
STEP 2. Go down SLOWLY in push up form, for a count of 4-6. This is slow and controlled. Its called eccentric movement.
STEP 3: Instead of popping back up, have your chest go to the ground. THAT’s RIGHT. Release your steel girder and now assume the Superman Pose. You are a magnet glued to the floor. That means you tighten your butt and lift your legs and reach out your arms like Superman. Make believe you are Clark Kent, cruising over Metropolis and making the world safe for democracy! The Superman pose works the posterior chain, or backside, and balances out your posture, so you don’t wind up hunching forward like a Cro-Magnon with a strong chest and weak back. Hold this for 4 seconds. This is the isometric phase of the exercise.
STEP 4: Pop back up to the starting position. This is the concentric phase of the exercise and should be done quicker, say over 2 seconds. You are a steel girder once again.
Congrats!. Now repeat this 10 times if you can. SLOW and intentional. Lock in to position, screw down the hands, slow and controlled down, hit the floor for your Superman, then pop back up.
NOW, when you finish your 10 SLOW pushups, try to bang out as many regular old school gym class pushups as you can, as quickly as you can, until you can’t do any more. This is called going to FAILURE. You MUST go to failure to get the benefits. Then rest for 10 seconds then bang out as many as you can again, FAST. Drop to your knees if you have to and go to FAILURE. Rest 10 seconds and repeat the fast ones a 3rd time until failure. 3 sets of quickies.
You must do as many reps as possible with the fast ones. You may do 10, then 8 then only 3 or 5. That’s OK. Your pecs need to feel the burn. Keep your core and thighs tight throughout the movements. It’s a total body blast. It’s all done in less than 10 minutes so you don’t exhaust yourself the rest of the day or injure yourself. It mimics ancestral movement patterns. You do develop some endurance and you get the benefits of a HIIT or high intensity interval workout. You work the shoulders and back so you look damn good in a T-shirt. You are also creating a bit of hormesis, which as we had discussed in prior posts, can provide all sorts of positive hormonal benefits related to optimal aging.
Now congratulate yourself and make sure to walk 20 minutes after each meal to regulate your blood glucose levels. Walk briskly. Do this everyday for the next 30 days and report back to PrimalMed.
Oh yeah, you still have to eat like an adult. Prioritize nutrient dense protein, please eat the yolks, include and don’t fear healthy fats and do include a responsible amount of whole food carbs, like your fruits and veggies.
The PrimalMed Pushup is simply a tool. It is only ONE way of leveraging multiple complex movement patterns to help you build a resilient robust frame. It is not for everyone. Some of us, heck, most of us, love to bike and hike, swim, run and lift weights. ALL are great. THIS pushup serves as a compliment to your other pursuits. As always, if you have any physical issues, tread lightly and speak with your doctor. This post does not constitute personal medical advice but it does serve to enlighten and educate. The PrimalMed Pushup may soon work its way into your daily routine! When someone compliments you on your toned physique and overall energetic glow, please mention and share this post, and ask them to subscribe for free!
Time to unleash your inner beast! Please scroll down and enjoy our featured musical selections.
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a BIG shout out and THANK YOU to our anonymous model, a devoted and avid reader of Today’s PrimalMed Prescription (as well as an interested student of all things ancestral and primal). Living proof the Gen-Zers can go primal!
No TL;DR today. Embrace the Eye of the Tiger. Eat dense and move intense!
Got the eye of the tiger! You're gonna hear me roar!!!!!
Spartan Strong!