Hindu squats and pushups are among the most effective bodyweight exercises to boost your overall fitness level
Hindu pushups and Hindu squats are two of the oldest exercises used by both martial arts athletes and amateur fitness enthusiasts.
This combination of physical fitness exercises is very effective in giving your body a total workout by engaging every single muscle. The health benefits are tremendous and you also have the advantage that there is no need for training equipment, since you use the weight of your body and the floor.
How to do a Hindu pushup correctly
Hindu pushups might seem a difficult exercise to do at first, but once beginners get used to this seemingly complicate exercise, they will be surprised by the fact that they will be eager to add more and more reps to their daily workout routine.
The form and execution of a Hindu pushup is very similar to that of the dive-bomber pushup, and that is the reason why a lot of people confuse the two. As a result, when they actually do dive-bomber pushups, they have the wrong impression that they do Hindu pushups!
Thus, in order for your body to take the correct position for a Hindu pushup, you should take the Downward Facing Dog yoga pose, then spread your legs a little further and lower your upper body towards the floor just like diving. Your nose almost touches the ground at the lower point of the movement, and then you start lifting your face until you almost take the top position of a normal pushup or the Cobra yoga pose. You continue the circular movement, and you finally finish to your body’s starting position, i.e. Downward Facing Dog.
Top athletes are always looking for single exercises or set of exercises that will produce the best training results for them, in terms of strength, endurance, and flexibility.
A Hindu squat is the perfect exercise to train your legs, while a Hindu pushup is an excellent exercise to flex all of your upper body muscles. So, by combining these two exercises that complement each other perfectly, you will strengthen and flex your entire body. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that you don’t need any other exercise to keep your overall fitness level high, if you use them alternatively in your fitness schedule, for example, a set of 30 Hindu squats followed by a set of 20 Hindu pushups, followed by a set of 30 Hindu squats, and so on.
In addition to building stronger and more flexible muscles, you shouldn’t forget that, especially with Hindu squats, you can build an exceptional level of aerobic endurance, and it is not a coincidence that Hindu squats are considered as the single most effective aerobic exercise, and even more effective than swimming or stair climbing.
Don’t be misled by bodybuilding enthusiasts who only use weights and various types of training equipment in their training routine. You can have the same, if not better, results, by using your own bodyweight. Ultimately, you can integrate a Hindu squat and a Hindu pushup into a single exercise, just like this person did in the following YouTube video:
A weekly Hindu squat and pushup routine
You can integrate Hindu squats and pushups into your existing weekly training routine. Alternatively, you can build a workout schedule that is exclusively based on Hindu squats and pushups.
Assuming that you can train 2-3 days a week and you feel confident to start with 25 Hindu squats and 8 Hindu pushups in one go (this is a realistic goal for first-timers), you can easily follow this simple training routine:
Hindu pushups: One set of 8 repetitions
Hindu squats: One set of 25 repetitions
You keep doing one set of Hindu pushups followed by one set of Hindu squats, up to the point of collapse, where you cannot do any more repetitions.
Take a rest the following day, and then repeat the same process the day after. The duration of your Hindu workout will gradually increase, as you keep adding more sets. Alternatively, you can increase the number of repetitions per set.
In the above example, you can start with 8 pushup repetitions, and keep adding 1 pushup per set, per training session. With this method, after two weeks of training on this pace, you will be able to perform 14 pushup and 31 squat repetitions per set. On the other hand, if you choose to mix Hindu squats and with Hindu pushups into a single exercise, just like the man in the video above did, you can increase the number of reps in one go, before collapse.
This is a nice, steady pace, through which, you can increase the intensity of your training, and you will be amazed to notice some really great results:
Improve the functional strength of lower and upper body muscles. This means that you will increase your ability to move better and control the weight of your body more effectively in various sports.
Improve cardiovascular endurance. By increasing the duration of your Hindu workout, you will enjoy great cardiovascular benefits, similar to running or swimming, or even better.
Improve the ability of your body to hold or move objects. This is a great advantage for martial arts fighters, whose main task is to overcome the resistance and force of the bodies of their opponents.
Disadvantages of a Hindu workout
Although Hindu squat and pushup training is beneficial for many parts of the body, on top of boosting overall athletic performance and flexibility, it is widely argued that it is not as effective as weight training.
The answer to this argument depends on various factors. For example, if you want to train as a weightlifter, then yes, training with weights will be the most effective type of exercise for you, since you don’t really need any flexibility, but just pure strength, and by lifting big weights for a small number of repetitions you will be able to increase your maximum power.
In order to achieve the same result with Hindu workout training, you would need a much higher number of repetitions. Although Hindu pushups and squats are great in building functional strength and muscle endurance, their effect in building maximum power is much less to that of weight training.
Sources and further reading:
Hindu squats: Benefits, technique, and more
Breaking down the burpee, the squat
Spice up your push-up routine with "The Hindu" and the "Dive Bomber"
Hindu Pushups: How To, Benefits And Muscle Worked
Hindu Squats Benefits, Risks, And The Correct Form
Originally published by me on vocal.media