“Chest & Back” is the first routine in Tony Horton’s P90X, probably because every guy wants to work his chest and every guy needs to work his back, so it’s a good way to get things rolling.
(Sure, women need P90X too, but I’m a guy, so I really have to speak from a guy’s perspective.)
There is a great chest and back routine in Tony’s One-On-One series, too. It’s called 30/15 and consists of Tony attempting to do alternating sets of 30 pushups followed by 15 pullups, for a total of 24 sets. He only makes it partway through before he has to switch to 25/15, then 25/12, but you get the idea. That routine will pump you up.
Because I am a P90X disciple, I tend to do chest and back on Mondays, which is the first day of my weekly workout schedule. But, as you may by now know, I also like to mix it up, so I made up my own routine called, quite unimaginatively, Steve’s Chest & Back.
I decided that I’m going to provide you with the routines I make up myself. That way, if you don’t want to spring for P90X you can still have some guidance from someone who has been through the program.
This routine, which I’ve done for the past two Mondays now, gives me a good pump, wears out my muscles, and lasts about an hour.
It requires a pullup bar — I use the over the doorframe kind — and for the pushups, if you like, pushup bars.
I use a chinup bar I purchased from Beachbody.com, but you can probably find a good one at Dick’s or Wal-mart even. Wherever you get yours, I recommend a pullup bar that allows you to do wide pullups, like the one pictured here. Check, though, to make sure your doorway has enough room on the bar side to allow the wide grips to fit. For example, if you have cabinets really close to the door frame, the thing won’t fit, and you’ll need to get the kind without the wide grips.
Now when it comes to pushup stands, I do highly recommend Tony Horton’s. They are designed with a circular bottom so they won’t rollover during wide pushups.
Why use pushup stands? For me, that many pushups in a short period of time really overworks my wrists, and the pushup stands take a lot of that pressure off them. Also, you can add extra intensity by going lower into the pushup, if you use stands.
One of the things I don’t like about Tony’s workouts is that he uses the term “reverse-grip pullups” and also “chinups”. He surely knows what he’s talking about, but it’s confusing to me, so for the purposes of my routines, I use “chinups” to describe those exercises where your palms are facing you, and “pullups” for those exercises where your palms are facing away from you. Simple.
Here’s my Steve’s Chest & Back routine:
- Standard Grip Chinups – Hands slightly wider than shoulders
- Standard Width Pushups – Hands slightly wider than shoulders
- Wide Grip Pullups – Hands as far out as your pullup bar will allow
- Military Pushups – Hands right below shoulders, elbows stay near the body the entire move
- Close Grip Pullups – Hands less than shoulder width, maybe six inches apart
- Wide Pushups – Hands twice shoulder width
- Standard Pullup/Chinup Switch – Hands slightly wider than shoulders, switch between pullups and chinups every two reps
- Decline Pushups – Feet up on a chair, hands at standard width
- Close Grip Chinups – Hands less than shoulder width, maybe six inches apart
- Diamond Pushups – Fingers spread, index fingers and thumbs touching right below chest, elbows out, legs spread wide
- Wide Grip Pullups – Hands as far out as your pullup bar will allow
- Dive Bombers – Hands standard width, feet spread wide. Start with butt in the air. Move your nose and chest toward the floor, then come up on the other side, as if you are scooching under a fence. Then reverse the move and end up with your butt in the air. Like this guy.
- Parallel Pullups – These are with your palms facing each other, if you have that kind of pullup bar. Otherwise, you can do some other kind of pullup/chinup
- Standard Width Pushups – Hands slightly wider than shoulders
- Standard Pullup/Chinup Switch – Hands slightly wider than shoulders, switch between pullups and chinups every two reps
Keys to pushups:
- Do as many reps as you can for each exercise
- If you feel that you want to do more, take a brief rest at the top and try a few more
- Keep your core tight, no saggy body
- Go all the way down
- Come all the way up
- Keep your elbows tight, pointed toward your feet, during military pushups
Keys to pullups/chinups:
- Do as many reps as you can for each exercise
- Do not hyperextend your arms
- Only do one set of parallels (I’m pretty sure I got tendinitis a few years ago from doing too many of them)
- If you are not good at them, and cannot do a lot of reps without stopping, do as many as possible in one minute, taking as many breaks as you need (this is what I do)
- Keep doing them, you’ll get better
- Don’t cheat by jumping, although I think a little leg kick is okay
Go ahead and give Steve’s Chest & Back a try and let me know how you like it!