The "He-Man" Push Up/Pull Up Circuit

I do a lot of reading. Books, articles, blogs and anything else that has to do with strength training. When I see something I like, the first thing I usually do is try it myself. After that, I try it out on a friend. It used to be a couple of former basketball players at Averett, now its my brother. Then I try it on an athlete or client. Sometimes I give my own spin to what I originally read and tried.

The workout I'm about to give you is one that I got from Nick Tumminello, a strength coach in Baltimore, MD. He originally wrote an article on t-nation.com a couple years ago, but I just saw the same workout in Men's Fitness, which gave me the idea to give my variation to you. Here is the online article. - http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/everything_pushups
It gives a ton of great information on push ups, which I feel are greatly under-used

What Nick gives us is a push up circuit consisting of 4 different types of push ups with a medicine ball.

The 4 types of medicine ball push ups:
1 arm lock-offs - do a push up with one hand on the med ball and one hand on the ground. If the left hand is on the med ball, push up all the way so all the weight is on the med ball and with your right hand, touch your left shoulder. Complete all the reps before switching sides.

Alternating med ball push ups - do a push up with one hand on the ball and one on the ground. Upon completion of one rep, roll the ball to the opposite hand and perform a push up.

2 hand med ball push ups - like a diamond push up, both hands are on the med ball while performing the push up.

Med ball drop offs - begin with both hands on the med ball, then drop your hands off to the side of the med ball on the floor. Quickly pop back onto the ball with both hands. Don't let your elbows flex too much when dropping off and "jumping" back on.

Coach Tuminello's version has you go straight through this circuit, performing 5-10 reps (per side when necessary) per exercise for 3 sets.

My variation has you perform a set of pull ups after the first two push up exercises and after the last two. The pull ups are done for as many perfect reps as possible (full range of motion). With this variation, you get all the push ups, but also six sets of pull ups.

This is a great workout to do if you're short on time or if you just want to try something different. If you get some squats, deadlifts, kettlebell swings or lunges in before doing the push up/chin up circuit you got yourself a pretty bad ass training session.

By the way, my variation has been termed the "He-Man" workout by the athletes and friends that have tried it, because of how it makes you feel when your done. Give it a shot sometime and let me know what you think.