Hindu PushUp

When people discuss push-up variations, they bring up all kinds of different movements: regular, wide-grip, incline, handstand, narrow-grip (i.e. – “diamond”), etc. During most of these types of conversations, two other variations usually come up as well – the Hindu PushUp and the Dive Bomber PushUp.

Often, most people think that the Hindu Push Up (also known as the “Dand”) and the Dive Bomber Push Up are the same exercise. Well, they’re not. Dands and Dive Bombers are two totally different exercises. The look very similar, but are performed very differently.

Dands

To perform a Dand, get into push-up position, only have your feet spread, and your hands should be approx. shoulder width. Your hands should be much closer to your feet than a regular push-up, so that your butt sticks into the air. Keeping your legs (relatively) straight, move forward and down into the push-up, so that your head travels toward the floor/ground. Your nose should be at the floor/ground just before it goes by your hands. As you continue to move in this direction, begin to arch your back and bring your head up. At the “finished” position, your back should be fully arched, hips at the floor/ground (roughly between your hands), and head facing up. From here, return back to the starting position. Keeping your arms straight, bring your hips again into the air, “rotating” your body back to the starting point. When seen from the side, a person’s hips, head, shoulders, etc. almost travel in a circular or oval-like motion.

Dive Bombers

The first half of a Dive Bomber is the exact same as the Dand. Start in the same starting position, and perform the first half of a Dand. Once you reach the “finished” position (head up, back arched, hip at the floor/ground), just reverse the motion sort of “pressing” back to the staring position. So, if you were to see the exercise from the side, your body would move in an arc down, and then in that same arc (in the opposite direction) on the way up. Think of it this way – while performing a Dive Bomber, pretend you are trying to “dive” under a fence or horizontal wire. Once “under” the wire line, you have to push yourself back under said line back into the starting position.

Which exercise is better? Well, there’s not really an answer. Mainly, this is because the two exercises work different ways. The Hindu Push Up is more of a “rotating” exercise, while the Dive Bomber Push Up is more of a “pressing” exercise. Now different people will give different opinions on which they like better and why, but this is the case on any exercise. Personally, I prefer the Dive Bomber over the Hindu PushUp, but that could just be because I prefer pressing movements. But that’s just me – you’ll have to try them both yourself to see which you like.

There is one last thing I do want to cover – I’ve seen in multiple websites/articles/forums/etc. the idea discussed that the Hindu PushUp can be a highly beneficial exercise for the lower back. The most common claims I’ve seen are usually something along the lines of “Hindu Push Ups help increase spine flexibility” or “Hindu Push Ups strengthen the muscles of the lower back very well.” As my old landlord used to say, “Aw, PHOOEY!!”

First of all, the term “spine” refers to the series of bones that runs vertically along the center of the back. As such, the spine can’t become “more flexible.” Why? Because you’re talking about bones becoming flexible – and bones just don’t stretch. Otherwise, you could do shoulder stretches for a more “flexible” clavicle or do calf stretches for a more “flexible” fibula and tibia. Nope. It just can’t happen folks.

Secondly, there is no a variation of the pushup in existence (at least, not to my knowledge) that directly targets the musculature of the lower back (or even place enough of an indirect emphasis on said musculature) – so no pushup could strengthen the lower back. Now, some variations of the push-up place minor emphasis on the lower back muscles, so, I guess the do indirectly “work” the lower back – but this is to an absurdly small degree. The lower back muscles only act in a “stabilizing” role, as they do many other exercises. In other words, push-ups will not strengthen your lower back any more than would a barbell curl, a lateral raise, and not as much as a standing overhead press.

Again, I’m NOT saying that the Hindu PushUp isn’t a beneficial exercise – because it is. It just doesn’t do what some claim it to do. And just how beneficial is the Hindu PushUp– or the Dive Bomber? Well, that is up to you to test and decide. I recommend small amounts of each (say, 10-30) each day and go from there.

Train Hard, Rest Hard, Play Hard.