The Hindu Push-up: my new favourite exercise
Much more of an upper body work out than the standard push-up this feels like something I am going to do every day for the rest of my life. I experienced a 'Eureka moment' when I saw these being done on YouTube for the first time just a few days ago, like an ancient part of me recognised them.
First things first, here is a decent form hindu push-up. Jump to 55 seconds to see the full motion.
These are the muscle groups involved.
Due to its compound movements it provides a more complete package for muscle strength and endurance than the standard press-up.
Traditional Indian wrestlers have been performing Hindu pushups for centuries to strengthen their upper body. Bruce Lee also incorporated Hindu pushups in his training regime and called them “Dands”.
Yoga connection
A month ago I started learning yoga so am very familiar now with the downward dog and upward dog positions, both of which are used for this push-up and it feels as if whoever created this did yoga.
Personally I find my breathing to be out of sync with the standard push-up but not with these. The breathing pattern falls naturally into place without even having to think about it.
So, for the last three days I have been warming up with my yoga and then diving in to these push-ups and I am absolutely loving it!
Let me know if you have had experience with this.
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I've tried yoga before but my favorite is still taiji
Does that mean tai chi? I looked it up to better understand but now I am a bit confused?
Yes, it's also written as tai chi but the phonetic way to characterise the Chinese words is tai ji.
Oh yeah first I thought it was ashtang pranayam as part of sun salute, which are great full body work outs that get all the muscles!!! I crave them every day, especially for my hip flexors/psoas which at my age keeps me flexible for surfing.
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Excellent. It makes sense you are a yoga person. Not sure how I have managed to wait this long before starting??? And you're a surfer too! Love it.
I have at least been spinning a fire staff since I left the UK and getting quite good at some of the tricks, but am conscious that my legs don't get much of a work out doing this.
I know what you mean about the craving feeling. Am just starting to experience that now after doing my 'man work out' every two days for the last month. Am yet to experience that same feeling with the yoga but I feel it coming... :)
The trick is to really connect each movement to breath, and by doing that, you are moving through a meditation - this for me becomes addictive as you get so much peace from it. Also, once you FEEL the benefits in your body, when you haven't done it for a while you just dont feel as light or graceful.
Ha ha ..this is nice to know that outside India it is called Hindu push-up . Actually, it is a part of Surya Namaskar. Thanks for sharing.
Hey there! I am a bit new to this, so I had to google Surya Namaskar.
But now I see clearly what you mean. Moves 7 & 8.
I am assuming you just call it a push-up in India?
There is no term popular like Hindu push-up for this. As it is a part of Surya Namaskar so probably outside India it is called Hindu push-up.