Push Up Bars For P90X

Many people that are doing the P90X workout have noticed Tony Horton talk about the use of "Push Up Bars." Tony uses the push up bars in a number of the P90X DVDs. Of course he only uses them for upper body workouts and this is the only time they are needed. If you are like me then you are probably wondering if you really need to have a set of push up bars or not. The answer is that it really depends. Most of it comes back to how much strain you are willing to put on your wrists. Here are the sets of push up bars that Beachbody makes. I use push up bars as I have noticed the greater range of motion has helped me strengthen my upper body and chest even more.

Push Up Bars

Helps keep your nose out of the carpet or wood floor.
Slip resistant.
$19.95

Power Stands

Heavy duty push up bars
Designed by Tony Horton
Slip resistant
$39.95

The only P90X workouts that you are going to need them for are the P90X Chest And Back DVD and the P90X Chest Shoulders Triceps DVD. During these two workouts you will be using them to do different kind of push ups including "Standard Push Ups, Military Push Ups, Two Speed Push Ups (this is where you do 4 slow push ups and 4 fast push ups for a minute), and Wide Push Ups." There really are not that many different kind of push ups you can do besides that and still use the push up bars. During those two workouts you will be doing "Diamond Push Ups" and "One Arm Push Ups." You will not be using push up bars of any kind while doing those two exercises unless you are extreme and can hold your balance while doing a one arm push up on a bar. That is pretty impressive.

The main benefit of the push up bar is the less pressure that you put on your wrist. In both workouts you will be doing a lot of push ups and over time you will be putting a lot of weight on your wrists. This comes down to more of a precaution of further injuries when you buy the push up bars.

When I first started doing P90X I did not have the push up bars. I did it the old fashioned way and went right down to the ground. My brother bought me a set of push up bars as a gift and I began to use them. The other reason you would want to use push up bars is that you get a intense workout. You are adding another 3-6 inches of depth to your push up. This makes it that much harder and you use more of your back and ab muscles to try and stabilize you from falling to ground. Your shoulders will feel it more too because they are the link between your biceps and back muscles.

I only do P90X now with the push up bars. The amount of push ups I can do in a set has not gone up from when I was working out without them but I know its because the push up bars are harder. Since using the bars I have seen greater P90X results in my chest and arm area. I highly suggest anybody that wants to get increases results and strength with P90X to buy a set of push up bars. This will lessen the chance of wrist injuries and give you a better chest workout.