Meet your new love: The Hindu Pushup
Aug 09, 2019
If you’ve watched many videos on our YouTube channel you may know that I am a fan of the Hindu Pushup. To me, the Hindu Pushup is an invigorating movement that offers neurological strengthening effects, muscular strength and endurance, joint health and spinal health, and emotional health. It is a good movement for both the inside and the outside.
How can the Hindu Pushup offer so much benefit? Well, it’s a reset for one.
It encourages a good breathing pattern and it is a tremendous vestibular system stimulator, especially if you lead the movement with the eyes and head. It also coordinates the movement of all four limbs in a rhythmic, wave-like fashion. It’s a dance, really. But right off the bat, we can see that the Hindu Pushup honors all Three Pillars of Human Movement:
- It encourages good diaphragmatic breathing – especially if you already practice that.
- It activates the vestibular system through head control.
- It engages in a contra-lateral pattern much like rocking does.
The Hindu Pushup also increases muscular strength and endurance as it requires one to learn control of their own body and leads to mastery of movement and movement efficiency. It can even be done most every day due to the rejuvenating effects it has on the nervous system. You may start out only able to do 5 or 10 in a row, but with a little practice you can easily work up to 20, 50, or even 100 repetitions without stopping.
Another great benefit is the range of motion the Hindu Pushup takes the joints through the shoulders, hips, wrist, neck, and spine all get to dance through full ranges of motion moving from nearly full flexion to full extension. The joints get used and lubricated in a gentle manner with this movement and it helps to keep them very healthy.
Best of all, the Hindu Pushup, once you can perform it with ease, feels beautiful. Yes, it feels as beautiful as it looks. This might seem weird, but this movement feels like poetry, like a gentle ocean wave. It feels good to perform physically and emotionally. It is as calming as a gentle ocean wave but it also has all the subtle and hidden power of an ocean wave. A body that can flow in wave-like fashion is a body that can produce power. A body that can flow in wave-like fashion is also a body that can enjoy a mind full of peace and freedom.
Anyway, this movement is powerful, it’s beautiful, and it’s restorative. If you’ve never tried it, it’s worth exploring. I’ll leave some videos here in case you want to see what it looks like. But do yourself a favor and dance with it. It’s worth it. If you do give it a go, please check back in and let me know what you discover.
Comments (11)
Greg:
Aug 10, 2019 at 12:42 AM
I'm curious, how is this movement, and rocking in general, engaging in contra-lateral movement? I thought contra-lateral movement required moving opposite side limbs in coordination. Is it contra-lateral if all limbs are moving simultaneously?
Tim Anderson:
Aug 13, 2019 at 05:29 PM
Greg, it's sneaky. The opposite limbs are moving together in coordination. ;)
FRANKIE:
Feb 19, 2021 at 01:10 PM
SORRY THIS IS A QUESTION...NOT A COMMENT. WHEN DOING THE RETURN PORTION OF THE HINDU WHY CAN'T YOU GO BACK IN THE SAME ARC? THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS
Tim Anderson:
Feb 19, 2021 at 02:38 PM
You can reverse the movement, but then it’s no longer a Hindu Pushup. It’s then called a Dive Bomber pushup. Not that it matters. I just have an appreciation for the Hindu Pushup and don’t really enjoy the Dive Bomber. But that’s just me!
Mark Kidd:
May 01, 2021 at 11:38 PM
Hello
Is there anyway to add resistance to that?
Thanks
Tim Anderson:
May 02, 2021 at 11:45 PM
Hey Mark,
There are a few ways you can add resistance to the Hindu Pushup. You can go super slow, adding time under tension. You can lift one leg, doing them on one leg - this greatly increases reflexive tension in the body. You can vary where you put your hands and how close together you put them. Some people are able to do them on one arm. And you can wear a weight vest - that is one of the easiest ways to add load.
I hope this helps!
Mark Kidd:
May 04, 2021 at 09:21 AM
It does. Thank you.
Eric Henderson:
Apr 26, 2022 at 12:31 AM
I've actually got the opposite question from Mark Kidd. In my case, recovering strength from a messed up shoulder, how do you regress the dand? I used to love these and would love to get back to doing them.
Tim Anderson:
Apr 26, 2022 at 01:26 PM
Here are some ways/ideas I use for regressing it:
How to Restore Your Youth with the Rocking Hindu Pushup
https://youtu.be/7kk2IBClvx8.
THE REVERSE HINDU ROCKING PUSHUP
https://youtu.be/vtazkVlw87g
Rocking Pushup Challenge Part 2
https://youtu.be/afRQnOfU8sY
The knees can be on the floor in all of these.
Hope this helps.
Stefan:
Apr 21, 2023 at 09:18 PM
Hi, what would be the proper breathwork for this exercise, because I’ve read different opinions on the subject. For me it would be inhale fully at the top like position, then partly exhale on the way down and fully as you extend your spine, before breathing in again at the starting position. Would love your opinion on that!
Cheers!
MR RUAIRI O BRIEN:
Sep 22, 2023 at 08:19 PM
Breath as you note here for a divebomber.
Breathe the opposite of what you expect in Western pushups and squats when doing Hindu versions.
Breathe out on way down from dog position and in, like a pump, as you return to dog position.
Similarly with the hindu squat. Breathe OUT as you bend your legs and breathe IN, like a pump, as you return to upright.
Its counter-intuitive to breathing to expend effort, but in fact it makes complete sense for these 2 movements and you can literally feel the difference.
50 yr old male, just completed 2 sets of 15 diamondhand today. Aiming to get back to my 100 set pre-Covid.
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