Arvanitakis - How to sculpt a Greek God Marble Chest with Push-ups

A lot of people doing bodyweight exercises use momentum and lack of range of motion in order to do more reps. A few weeks ago, a guy at a calisthenics park asked me how many PUS can I do. He was sort of polite but his voice also had a tone of cockiness behind it. He told me he could pull-off a 100 reps on a good day. Although physically he was quite underdeveloped, I don't think he was lying (to anyone else other than himself at least). He actually believed he could do 100 PUS. Having also got a glimpse of him while he was training as I entered the park, I had enough input to imagine the way he accomplished 100 reps. You see... doing a 100 push-ups with horrible form, a very wide hand-stance and using half the range of motion (at best) can make 100 push-ups quite a feasible number for anyone that has been doing calisthenics for a while.

My look when people half my size tell me they can do 100 PUS

Now we've all seen these guys around us. Some of you probably do the same. Hey I get it, we've all gone down that road at some point (especially as newbies). When we lack experience and proper guidance it is easy to neglect form and believe that more reps equals more strength. The truth is that, how many reps you can do has nothing to do with how much you're exerting yourself. It has nothing to do with how much tension you're applying to your muscles. Let me repeat that:

"How many reps you can do has nothing to do with how hard you're training..."

Especially when aiming for a hypertrophic response (mass), a proper workout should focus on muscle fatigue - not rep PRs. Intensity always trumps meaningless reps. If you want to build muscle, you should always focus on that mind to muscle connection. Don't beat up your joints and tendons with bad form and momentum. Focus on targeted and maximum muscle fatigue. Don't use good form - use perfect form (in 9/10 of your reps at least). Be mindful, concentrated, focused, in the zone...

Muscle contraction is key for hypertrophy! You see, your muscles don't understand the difference between how much weight they are lifting, in comparison with how much you are making them contract voluntarily. All the muscle recognizes is tension. Tension increases the production of anabolic hormones like IGF-1 and testosterone, which are essential for muscle hypertrophy. Simply said, the more you give your muscles the illusion that they are moving against something really heavy, the stronger and bigger they'll become to handle that "phantom" weight! This is why muscle activation will be a huge part of this book.

Be mindful, be in the zone...

As a beginner, good form should be your primary focus. Teaching the nervous system to perform even the most simple bodyweight exercises takes a lot of attention. But after mastering 8 technical reps you should start observing more inside than outside. Start being more aware of your neuromuscular system. Adjust the tempo and joint-angles/body positions, based on the feedback you're getting from these sensations, in order to maximize the targeted muscle's contraction. This probably sounds complicated to a lot of you right now. Don't worry, I'll simplify stuff in the following page. Ive got your back!