Working Through Weakness: The Hardest Part

By Emil Chang

In high school, I had a bad case of patellar tendonitis mostly due to pretending to be good at basketball when, in actuality, I was graceless and mediocre at best. In 2015, I had a superficial surgery on my chest that limited my range of motion for almost four months. Finally in 2018, I subluxed my left shoulder bouldering. Needless to say, I had substantial bouts of time when my training was limited because of injury.

If you're in BHIP, odds are you like exercising and being active. So the hardest part about a debilitating injury is perhaps not the pain, but the mentality. It's the disappointment of not being able to lift as much as you used to, or being unable to participate in the same conditioning as everyone else. It’s frustrating. You feel physically and mentally stagnant. Your body feels bleh. It affects parts of life outside of training as well. No doubt- it’s easy to fall into a dark hole of lethargic inactivity, longing for the past when you were at 100%, pain-free, and strong.

That’s one way to think of it. However, as a coach and fellow injured person, I think injury and recovery should be part of your own path to success.

 Quinn Henoch (in this video) and Josh Henkin (creator of Ulitmate Sandbag and spinal surgery survivor) have both talked about injury and recovery. Basically, recovery does not have to be a complete stoppage of activity. Sure, if you injure yourself deadlifting, it makes sense to stop deadlifting for a bit, but that's not the end of the story. The world of strength and conditioning is vast, and, if you wanted to keep moving, you probably could. Instead of recovery being passive, make it active. Use recovery as activity preparing your body to be as good as it can be to perform the next day.

Say you’re like me, and you had a problem in your left shoulder. Going overhead is not good and some pushing motion hurts. That sucks. But, you have another shoulder and two legs that work fine, as well as limited range of motion in your injured shoulder that is pain-free. So guess what? You can still exercise! All while not aggravating your bad shoulder!

 Same thing goes for any injury. Your knees are bothering you? Sure, avoiding knee-dominant exercises like squats and lunges is a good idea. But, you can still improve leg strength by hip hinging and maybe even deadlifting. This can also be an opportunity to work on your upper body strength. Struggling to get your first pull-up? Maybe this is chance to refocus your training towards that. 

Everyone's bodies are different. Your version of recovery will look different from everyone else's depending on your anatomy, overall strength level, and activity. My version of recovery is going to look different from a professional athlete's version, which is going to look different from a non-active adult's version, and so on.

Working through weakness is hard. It's probably harder than working out normally. But if you believe that you can still get stronger, faster, better, and keep working at it, then you've gotten past the hardest part.


 **If you ever need tips on how to restructure your training or modifications, feel free to ask your BHIP coach. Any other questions or relatable anecdotes? Comment below!

Developing Better Push-ups Part 2

By Danny Jauregui

“There are no such thing as girl push-ups and boy push-ups; there are just push-ups and not push-ups.” -Kyle Clayton

Now that you that you have a solid understanding of the push-up, it’s time to decide on a plan that’s right for you. Two of the common themes in all of these are frequency and progression. Push-ups must be done often enough to apply significant stress and in a manner that is progressively more difficult. If you’re not improving, it is likely because you’re missing one of these two variables.

For an easier to absorb video version of a push-up progression, you can take a look at a series Fitwell did a few years ago starring former instructor Kyle.



Make your selection depending on your current starting point. Below you’ll find different progressions based on varying scenarios.

Individual can’t do a push-up or negative on the floor: 3 to 5’s

The most readily accessible solution is to elevate the hands; allowing yourself to practice a perfect plank while in motion. You could utilize a ledge until you progressed far enough to try a negative on the floor. A very simple progression on the wall is to gradually build from sets of 3 reps to sets of 5 reps. Once multiple sets of 5 are achieved, you’re ready to reduce the height of your elevation slightly and restart the rep scheme. An example of what this might look like over the course of one month is written below:

Rest 2-3 minutes between sets	Monday	Wednesday	Friday
Week 1	3x3	4x3	5x3
Week 2	2x4	3x4	4x4
Week 3	1x5	2x5	3x5
Week 4	3x3 (at a lower height)	4x3	5x3

This particular example consists of 3 days of push-ups per week. Each one is relatively low volume but the frequency of exposures is high enough to continue development. There is also a clear progression in sets or reps every single session.

This same model could also be run 2 days a week, but the number of sets could be increased to help provide adequate stress. Regardless of how many days per week you choose, the idea is to very gradually adjust your reps from 3 to 5. Moving down in height of elevation overtime is the key. When you get comfortable enough with this, you’re ready to move to the floor and try negatives.

Individual can’t do a push-up but can do a negative: Singles

As soon as you feel capable of doing a push-up negative, meaning you can lower yourself down to the bottom of a push-up in a perfect plank, you should begin to incorporate them into your program. While I’ve never implemented this movement entirely alone, I think you could develop a push-up doing nothing more than negatives. They are genuinely that effective at getting you to support your own bodyweight. The basic idea with negatives is to focus on progressing time rather than reps.

Assuming 2-3 days of push-ups per week, a basic progression would look something like this:

Week 1: 5x1 @ 2-3 seconds
Week 2: 5x1 @ 3-5 seconds
Week 3: 5x1 @ 5-7 seconds
Week 4: 5x1 @ 7-9 seconds
Week 5: 5x1 @ 10 seconds

Your progression may not look exactly like this, but as long as there is some time change week to week you will continue to get better. Typically, when you get to the point when you can do a 10 second or longer negative, you’re ready to add some difficulty to the exercise.

Individual can do a 10 second negative: Pause Negatives and Half Reps

Continue doing negatives, but add a brief pause in the most difficult portion of the movement. For most people, that will be a few inches off the floor. The pause negative can be progressed in the same manner written above, but this time increasing the amount of time you spend in the stopped position.

Also begin to incorporate half reps. To do a half rep, start in a perfect plank, lower halfway down, and then press yourself back up. I would not recommend doing solely half reps as they do not help build strength from the bottom, but replacing one negative day a week with half reps can be helpful.

Day 1: Push-up Negative 5x1 w/ 3 second pause
Day 2: Half Push-up 5x3
Day 3: Push-up Negative 5x1 w/ 3 second pause

The above progression can be run until you are capable of doing a single push-up. There’s no definitive marker for when this happens, but if you’re capable of doing a 10 second pause negative, then it’s probably time to at least give a full push-up a try.

Individual can do 1 push-up: Increasing sets and reps

Once you can do one, the formula for continually improving push-ups becomes fairly simple. You will either add sets or add reps every single time you do them, as with the first example.

The key is progression. I see a number of people regularly stuck at the same number of push-ups wondering why they aren’t getting better. If you take nothing else away from this post, then let it be this: doing the same thing every single week will keep you exactly the same as you are now.

Beyond Push-ups

There comes a point where simply adding sets or reps isn’t entirely sustainable. That’s okay because no single method will work forever, but determining where to go from this point depends on your goals. Much of this leaves the scope of this post, but below are a few potential options that may be helpful based on what you want to accomplish.

Getting Stronger/Building Muscle:
Start doing any of the following exercises in place of or in conjunction with push-ups.

• Bench Press
• Incline Bench Press
• DB Presses
• Floor Presses
• Dips/Ring Dips
• Tricep/Chest/Shoulder isolation exercises

Staying Healthy:
Incorporate exercises that challenge your shoulder stability and power further, such as:

• Ring Push-ups
• Front Supports
• Dips/Ring Dips
• Glider Disc Push-ups
• Ballistic Push-ups

Getting Closer to 1500 Push-ups:
Increase frequency of push-ups and progress total number of reps done in a day. Again, this leaves the scope of this post, but 100 push-ups in a day is a good starting point. Progress reps week to week or month to month from there.

If you have questions about implementing any of these, please comment below or ask me in person (preferably comment cause you know how much I love some comments).

Developing Better Push-ups Part 1

by Danny Jauregui

Push-ups are one of the most fundamental strength exercises that you can do. Few bodyweight movements have the potential to develop musculature and improve strength in the upper body and trunk as effectively. Former NFL running back Herschel Walker has said that throughout his career he would do up to 1500 push-ups a day, and that all of his training came from calisthenics. Is he lying about that last part? Who’s to say? Whether or not he did exclusively push-ups, his proficiency with them is emblematic of how functional they can be in developing full body strength. You don’t have to be an NFL Player; push-ups are invaluable for all populations. Whether you’re trying to get that first rep or get yourself to 1500, these next two posts are for you.

The Perfect Push-up:
Before we dive into different progressions, let’s take a look at what a good push-up looks like and why it’s so effective.

Key Points:

• Hands shoulder width and in line with the chest.
• Neutral head.
• Vertical forearms throughout the movement.
• Body in a straight line plank.
• Belly and glutes tight.
• Elbows close to the body.
• Shoulder blades “pinched” at the bottom of the movement.

The example above illustrates all of these key points. In the first image, we see the individual in a perfect straight line. As her body descends to the bottom, she remains in that straight line and brings her shoulder blades together. Additionally, her elbows stay in tight to her body, and her chest is ultimately the first thing to touch the floor. You can look at these images in reverse to visualize how she’ll get back up.

The Most Common Errors:
When we teach this exercise in Onramp, many of us like to refer to it as a plank in motion. All you’re doing is bending through the arms and shoulders while your body stays in a perfectly rigid plank. The premise is simple enough to grasp, but the execution can be difficult. Every time you ascend, gravity wants to push your hips and belly down; resisting this tendency comes from strengthening of the abs and glutes to help maintain the rigid trunk. Whenever you’re put into a position that your body isn’t strong enough to hold, it will try to naturally compensate by reducing the load on the weakest point of the system. Allowing your hips and lower back to lose their position is your body’s way of taking load off of your shoulders. Understand that if you’re going to do your push-ups with your hips falling to the earth throughout the movement, you’ll likely get very little out of them.

Note the difference in hip position relative to the shoulders.

This is garbage.

The other key point we’re looking for is good shoulder mechanics, which can be simplified into two fundamental things: close elbows and retracting shoulder blades. The first is something we preach all the time; having your elbows stacked over your wrist and close to your body (right) will allow the force of the push up to be distributed across the triceps, deltoids, and pecs. When your elbows start flaring out (left), it reduces the load on your triceps and begins to dump it more into the shoulder joint rather than the surrounding musculature. This is another poor pattern that will reduce the efficacy of the exercise as it diminishes your muscles’ ability to act on your joints.




Tying into the shoulder joint, your scapula should be coming together (retracting) as you lower your chest to the floor. This retraction of the shoulder blades provides stability for the entire shoulder girdle and prevents poor positioning of your upper arm. When your scapula don’t retract, it allows the shoulder to dump into a forward position that will put more pressure directly on the joint. At the bottom of the push-up, your upper back should always be as tight as it can possibly be; that tension will provide a solid foundation to press from. When you press yourself back up, keep in mind the shoulder blades will not stay retracted, but instead come away from each other at the top of the rep.

The bottom of your push-ups should look like the left side,

while the top should look more like the right.

Given all of the musculature that push-ups incorporate, there’s several areas that may be limiting you in your quest to get better at them. And that’s okay. Regardless of what your limitations may be, you have the tools to improve yourself. Step one is to begin practicing with the solid mechanics we’ve discussed above. It may be a humbling experience if you’re not quite as good with better technique, but in the long run you will be better for it. Remember, Batman never would have rehabbed his literal broken spine without a really solid plank in his push-ups.

Batman hitting some reps in the The Dark Knight Rises.

He uses a wider hand position than I’d like, but he can do

that because he’s BATMAN.

In Part 2 we will discuss different progression options and how to actually implement push-ups into a program. Until then, start trying to do your push-ups better than you currently do, and feel free to comment with any questions or concerns below. I will respond. Probably. You can also use your email to subscribe on the right side of the page. Talk to you all next week.

Down and Back: The Importance of Neutral Shoulders

By KC Reischerl, NSCA-PT

“Shoulders down! Shoulders back!” is the mantra I shout to my students. I shout it, I whisper it,  I repeat it.  Then I shout it again, I whisper it again and I repeat it … again. I say it in the hopes that whoever hears me will take those words and transform them into a living, breathing way of life, a way of understanding and using one’s shoulders.   I say this mantra to many kinds of UCLA Bruins.  Athletes, elderly, blue collar, white collar, faculty , staff and students alike. They’ve all heard me say it.  Many of them, though, need to be reminded to do it.  After watching shoulders up and forward for years, I’ve come to believe that a neutral shoulder is one of the keys to health and well being in the twenty-first century.

Before we can discuss how to correct misuse of the shoulder, we must first understand the definition of what makes a healthy or “neutral” shoulder. My favorite example of this is Leonardo DaVinci’s   rendering of the human form, known as the Vitruvian Man.

 

If you look closely at the sketch you will see his palms are facing us.  This is the quickest way I can illustrate to you how evolution has succeeded in giving our shoulders their optimal advantages.  With the palms facing us, in their most relaxed or “neutral” state, two awesome things can happen:

 We can internally and externally rotate our shoulders; i.e., move forward and backward, and we can elevate and depress our shoulders; i.e., move up and down.  In a perfect world the shoulders would begin and end their duties maintaining a strong neutral stance. As we all know, however, this is not a perfect world.

There are so many modern conveniences that pull us out of neutral shoulders! Computers, mobile phones, tablets, steering wheels, backpacks, strollers… you name it! Not to mention the primal instinct to pull our shoulders up around our ears when we are stressed, tired or afraid.  With all these physical and mental distractions, and the sheer volume of time spent under these conditions, is it any wonder why so many people perceive elevated and internally rotated shoulders as the “new neutral”?

So, what to do? What to do? The first thing is to be aware of the problem. Right now you are probably sitting at a computer or reading this blog on a smart phone. And I’m guessing you’ve put your body in a position that looks much like the people in these pictures. Stop reading. Sit up and look straight ahead.  Tuck your chin in a little and rotate your palms facing away from your torso. Drop your shoulders down. Even a simple step like this will remind you that curling over an electronic screen is not in your body’s best interest.

A few simple exercises can counteract the imbalances placed upon your shoulders.  Here are two of my favorites:

Banded external rotation is a great opportunity for the posterior deltoid (back of the shoulder) to engage, as it is often underdeveloped when accompanied by a rounded upper back. Keep in mind when training the post delt that it is small and doesn’t need a lot of resistance or repetitions to get stronger.  This little muscle will be so happy to be invited to the party and will do wonders for your posture.

Often we think our shoulders are down and away from our ears, but in fact they are hovering and slightly elevated. This can be incredibly taxing on the neck and upper back, especially if you are not aware you are doing it.

For this reason I often suggest shrugs. Shrugs may appear to lean into or exacerbate the notion of elevated shoulders, but there’s a method to my madness. Let’s look a little closer at fellow Bruin Liz in action:

When I ask a client or class member to shrug their shoulders up to their ears with dumbbells or reams of paper, I get a very specific response.  I expect the shoulders to elevate. But on the eccentric or negative portion of the  shrug ,  the shoulders truly lower, or depress, into a neutral  form.

Often it takes the combination of the weighted prop and gravity to help remind us to truly lower the shoulders all the way down.  For this reason I encourage the shrug as part of a healthy shoulder regiment.

The basic principles of “down and back “ can apply to many exercises. Anytime you are working with a barbell, kettlebell , dumbbell or resistance band and you are not going into an overhead movement (  a topic worthy of its own blog) remember:  Shoulders down! Shoulders back!

4 Tips for Starting - and Sustaining - the Perfect Workout Regimen

By Olivia Julian


Committing yourself to a new workout program can be scary and confusing - how much should you be lifting? What is a burpee? Should you buy that new supplement you saw a Kardashian promote on Instagram??

Whether you just began BHIP .5 or Onramp, or you’ve been in Ongoing for years, you will get the most bang for your buck if you have a logical exercise program to follow. Well, you’re in BHIP, so check that off the list. However, YOU are the key to your own success - understanding what to do outside of class, what are just workout myths, and what fads you should probably avoid will ensure that you are on track to be stronger, faster, and greater.

 1.) Consistency is Key

Whenever I teach a new class, I tell them to think of it as a new and improved lifestyle habit, not just as a class that they signed up for. Developing a routine that is sustainable for your undoubtedly busy schedule is essential to gaining strength, improving cardiovascular fitness, and changing your body composition. Commit yourself not because someone said you have to, but because ~science says~ that this is what it takes to cause those physiological changes.

Say you attend BHIP all 5 times per week. That amounts to just 3% of your total time each week. As awesome as it is that you are getting your gains on and getting sweaty on the regular, the ways that you choose to spend the other 97% of your time could make or break your progress. As a trainer, I would love to tell you that you owe your success to us and the exercises we teach you - you’re welcome. But in reality, what you eat, how much you sleep, and how active you are outside of BHIP are arguably even more crucial to your fitness goals than the hour you spend in class.

2.) Know your Goals

Tailor your routine - in, and especially out of class - to your goals. Want to get huge and jacked? Lift a lot of weights and eat a lot. Want to lose body fat? Stick to a healthy meal plan, move as much as you can, and do regular strength training and cardio. Want to run a marathon? Well, better start running.

In order to train for your goals, you have to set some goals. Whether they are physical, mental, or nutritional, be as specific as possible and talk with your coaches about what is an attainable goal for a set time frame. Next, make the necessary changes to your routine or habits, and review Tip #1 above.

In BHIP, we like to give you a healthy balance of resistance training (lifting weights, bodyweight exercises, band work, etc.) and cardiovascular exercise (the huffy-puffy stuff - stairs, jump roping, and my personal favorite, burpees). These components are a great foundation no matter your goals. To illustrate, let us bust a myth. Many people think that to lose weight they need to run a lot or do only cardio. However, resistance training increases muscle mass, which is metabolically active tissue. In other words, your body will expend more energy (burn more calories) - even when you are at rest. Oh, and lifting heavy things won’t magically make you huge, so don’t be a Michael Scott. Science!!

3.) Fuel Yourself Well 

Your body is like a very complex, picky car engine. It needs to be consistently fueled well in order to function properly and remain healthy. Eating well, staying hydrated, sleeping enough, and limiting stress are all essential ingredients of the fuel that allows us to move around, lift things, and fight off the sicknesses that UCLA students coat campus with each day. However, these are also the things that we tend to push aside when life happens. If you’ve ever noticed that you were crazy sore the day after you pulled an all-nighter, or you’ve felt extra fatigued during your workout if you hadn’t eaten well that day, you are not alone. This is because these ingredients are essential to your body’s recovery processes. Exercise creates micro-tears in your muscle fibers. Your body knows how to heal itself and effectively make you stronger, but it can’t do so if you don’t rest, hydrate, and eat healthily in between workouts. If you’re sensing a theme throughout this post - congrats! You’re catching on. 

Some soreness following your workouts is normal, especially when you are beginning a new program like BHIP, but the more consistent your exercise routine is, the less soreness you should experience. The worst thing you could do when you’re really sore? Sit at your desk all day and let your muscles get tighter. Remember your body’s fuel - drink lots of water, check the quality of your sleep, and get moving. Allowing your body to recover prevents injuries and maximizes the effectiveness of your workouts. Exercise + Recovery + Fuel = Fitness Gains!

4.) Prioritize Mental Fitness

Although we think a lot about the physical aspects of fitness, most of us would rather not think or talk about our mental fitness. When you think about exercise or food, maybe they elicit feelings of excitement or positive vibes. Or maybe they spark a negative reaction, like fear or dread. Validating, understanding, and dealing with these emotions is the last key element on your journey toward fitness success.


Your emotional wellness is just as critical as your physical wellness in achieving your goals, although it can feel much more abstract or even daunting to address. Maybe you are someone that would benefit from keeping a journal - writing down what you ate, how much you slept, what your workout was, and how you felt throughout the day may help keep yourself accountable for what you need to do to achieve your goals. It may also help to decode exactly will work for you as an individual. Think of yourself like an experiment - if you change a variable, what difference does it make in the way you felt or performed that day? (More science!)

Lastly, choose an exercise program and make healthy choices that you love (or at least like). You will be much more inclined to stick with it day after day if you enjoy it and can sustain those changes. We all deserve to be functional and happy, so commit to making your health a priority every day. Spoiler alert: there is no one perfect workout regimen - there is just a lot of little choices that you can make to make your workout regimen perfect for YOU.