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There is no better upper body exercise you can do at home without any exercise equipment than press ups. You are working your chest, shoulders, triceps, back, core and even your legs to a certain degree. Even if you do have exercise equipment or go to a gym press ups should form part of your routine. But doing the same thing over and over again can be boring. So are there any press up variations to spice your workouts up a bit?
Some of these variations are more advanced but most of them can still be done with your knees on the floor. So if they are too hard without having your knees down you can still get some press up variations into your training.

1/ Standard Press Up

Most people will have tried this, but just in case here is how to do a normal, standard press up. Obviously raising up on your toes is much harder than doing them on your knees;
Raise up on toes or kneel on all fours. Lower stomach and chest down towards floor before pushing back up.

2/ Staggered Press Up

Start the same as above but have 1 hand slightly forward and 1 back. Lower your chest and stomach down parallel to the floor then push back up. Then switch hands over and do a rep with the other hand forward. Keep alternating and repeating.

 

3/ 1-2-3 Press Ups.

Ideally you need someone shouting at numbers for you for this one but you could do it on your own.
Position 1 is with your arms fully extended (straight arm plank).
Position 2 is bending your elbows halfway so your body is between position 1 and flat on the floor.
Position 3 is holding yourself literally just off the floor.
Some then shouts 1, 2 or 3 at you randomly and you have to move to that position and hold until they say another number.

 

4/ Decline Press Ups

Put your feet up on a box or on the stairs and then repeat the standard press up technique. To make it even harder put your feet on a stability ball. Be careful not to arch your back.

 

5/ Stability Ball Press Ups

Both hands on a stability ball then repeat standard press up technique. Put your hands down the side of the ball slightly for better balance.

 

6/ Tricep Press Ups

Standard press up would be with a shoulder width stance with your hands (maybe even slightly wider. Tricep press are done with your hands only slightly apart. As you do them make sure you tuck your elbows into your ribs as much as possible. As the name suggests these press ups work your triceps more (and chest less) than a standard press up.

 

7/ Clock Press Ups

Do a normal press up to start, this counts as 12 o’clock. You then shift round the clock and do a press up at every hour. So 1 o’clock, then shift round to 2 o’clock etc. Keep going at every hour and then round again if you can!

8/ Jump Press Up

Standard press up position but instead of just pressing back up, power yourself off the floor as high as you can each rep.

9/ Clap Press Up

Same as a just press up but you have to clap your hands together every time you jump up.

 

10/ 1 arm press ups

Really tough. Would recommend starting these on an incline to make them slightly easier. Don’t attempt unless you can do at least 30 standard press ups. Put 1 arm behind your back and lower your body down as far and you can then push back up. Keep your back as straight as possible.

Give some of these press up variations a go in your next workout!

Visit the main page of my website here; Rob Bowman Personal Trainer.

Given it is winter and literally freezing outside at the moment I thought I would share 3 of my favourite soup recipes with you. Soup does not have to be boring and all the old veg from the fridge chucked together. Soup can be an extremely healthy, nutritious, low calorie and a tasty dish. And soup makes you fuller for longer.  

Soup Makes You Fuller – How?

Studies also show that eating soup actually makes you feel fuller for longer. (As opposed to just eating the vegetables cooked and whole with the same amount of water you put in soup in the soup). This is because when you eat soup the water in it is retained in the stomach while the solid nutrients are digested. If eaten unblended these ingredients wouldn’t do this. The stretching of the stomach wall this causes supresses the creation of the hunger hormone ghrelin. Therefore you feel fuller for longer.

The calories provided are for the entire recipe not per portion. Each recipe contains more than one portion.

1/ Carrot and Lentil Soup

(350 calories)

75 grams dried (2 ½ oz) red lentils

1 large onion, chopped

400 grams (14 oz) carrots, sliced

1.2 litres (5 cups) of veg stock

1 tsp ground coriander

Handful of chopped parsley

 

 

Directions – Put vegetables in a pan, fry for 5-10 mins, add stock and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 30 minutes (or as long as it takes for the lentils to cook.  Add parsley, then put in a blender. Serve.

2/ Broccoli and Nutmeg Soup

(290 calories)

600 grams (21 oz) broccoli, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

800 ml (3 cups) chicken stock

Sprinkle of nutmeg

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Put vegetables in a pan, fry for 5-10 mins, add stock and bring to the boil. Then simmer all the vegetables gently in the stock for 15-20 minutes. Then blend. Serve.

3/ Mexican Mixed Bean and Lentil Soup

(630 calories)

1 onion, chopped                  

garlic clove, minced                      

1 tsp chilli powder (more if you like)           

1 X 400 grams (14 oz) tinned tomatoes

500 ml (2 cups) of vegetable stock

50 grams dried (1 ¾ oz) of red lentils                      

400 grams (14 oz) mixed beans, drained & rinsed   

Bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro), chopped                      

salt and pepper to taste

Directions – Put vegetables in a pan, fry for 5-10 mins, add stock and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 20 minutes. Add the beans and cook for a further 15 minutes.  Add coriander, then put in a blender.  Serve.

FYI – Depending on which soup you choose you will probably want to have it with a piece of lean protein to make sure you get enough protein from the meal and it fills you up. The soup has such low calories that will have plenty more to play with. And when the soup makes you fuller for longer you won’t need the carbs to go with it.

Visit the main page of my website here; Complete Fitness 4 Life Personal Training

Being a personal trainer I generally spend most of my time telling other people how to exercise. And I am often told by my clients how easy it is for me because I’m not doing anything! Well this challenge should prove that I do practice what I preach and am able and willing to attempt an extremely brutal challenge to raise money for Comic Relief.

I will be doing 1200 squats and 1200 press ups in 60 minutes. That means I have to do 20 squats and 20 press ups every minute for 60 minutes to achieve my goal, with no resting whatsoever. This is genuinely going to be an extremely tough challenge, that will push me to the limit both physically and mentally in order to complete it. Have a go yourself and see how many minutes you can last!

The Rules;

1/ Squats – you have to squat down so that you thighs are parallel with the floor. You can have you stance as wide or narrow as you like, but don’t cheat by only squatting half way down.

2/ Press Ups – I will be doing these on my toes. If this is too tough do them on your knees but make sure you are lowering your whole body (chest and stomach) all the way down so you are just off the floor before pressing back up.

Then basically give it a go and see you many minutes you can complete! The rule is you have to complete both the squats and the press ups by the end of the 60 second period, if you go over the time you are out. You can either go really fast and have more time to rest (you can rest for any time left from the 60 second period before starting the next set), or you go slow and steady and try not to burn the muscles out. Your choice. Enjoy!

Below is the link to my Justgiving page. Please give what you can;
https://www.justgiving.com/Rob-Bowman1/

If you are trying to lose weight, you goal when you are exercising is to burn fat away from the existing stores in your body. The problem most people have, is that because of their nutritional intake they are simply burning carbs and sugars, at least for a proportion of their workout.

Most people eat more carbs and sugars, and therefore have more energy from their diet than they need to go about there daily routine. This could be starchy carbs, e.g pasta, bread, rice, simple sugars, i.e. biscuits, cake, natural sugars, e.g. fruit, to name just a few.

Unless you are an athlete or have a very active job/life, you really don’t need much of these carbs/sugars at all. So when you exercise your body has to burn of all the energy you have consumed before it can start burning your body fat stores. This could take 10 minutes, 30, 60, or more, it totally depends what and how much excess ‘energy food’ you have consumed.

Bu the point to understand is that you can make you workouts far more effective at burning body fat if you can limit your consumption of energy foods to a minimum.

Today’s Takeaway – Eat more protein, veg, salad, and low sugar fruit, and less carbs ad sugars and you will really improve your ‘body fat burning’ during exercise.

Blog Articles;

Why ‘Traditional’ Exercise Just Doesn’t Work

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