Today, there are many different kinds of exercise equipment available to help you increase strength in your upper body. However, don’t fall into the hype that you’ll only see results if you invest in expensive equipment or a year’s gym subscription. There are several simple, easy exercises – including pushups – you can do at home that take advantage of your body’s weight and give you the results you’re looking for. This exercise remains one of the cheapest and most effective methods for building strength in your back, shoulders, and arms.
Toning Your Back
While pushups don’t increase the amount of weight on your back through the use of external weights, the muscles in your back will be gently toned as you work to keep it straight during the exercise. If you can't keep your legs even with your back at first, you can bend your knees and do a modified push up to keep your back straight. This modified pushup will still help tone your back without causing injury. As your fitness level improves, you may want to go back to a more traditional form of pushup to increase the strength of your back.
Building Shoulder Strength
Pushups are well known for improving shoulder strength and mass. When you do pushups, you're leveraging most of your body weight on your shoulders. Because the shoulders are working together, you'll strenghten the muscles that cross your chest and upper back. In most cases – unless you're interested in body building – pushups combined with other simple exercises should be enough for your everyday fitness routine. Even if you want to go beyond this level, pushups should always be a part of your home fitness routine.
Strengthening Your Arms
In addition to your shoulders, your upper arms and forearms also derive benefit from pushups. As you push your body up off the floor and lower it back down, the muscles in your arms are forced to expand and contract with the added resistance of the weight of your body. As you might expect, when your whole arm is involved in the exercise, you have a better chance of exercising each muscle group. If you do pushups on a regular basis, you may find that your arms will gain tone and muscle definition more quickly than with exercises that work only one group. And – perhaps best of all – you won't have to spend any money on weights or other forms of equipment.
As with any other exercise, you should check with your doctor to make sure that it's safe for you to do pushups. If you have shoulder, back, elbow, or wrist issues, you may want to make sure that these exercises will not add to your problems. When done properly and with safety in mind, pushups serve a vital role in toning and strengthening your back, upper body and arms. Without a question, they have served this vital purpose for millions of people in a way that is easy and cost effective.
5/10/2008
Building Strength With Pushups
4/22/2008
Common Push-Up Mistakes
Summary
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We all know push-ups are a great way to burn fat and maintain a lean physique throughout the chest and shoulders, but they shouldn’t be approached recklessly or incorrectly. Push-up mistakes can have effects that range from rendering them less effective as a fitness tool all the way to flat-out making them dangerous. When you’re doing your push-ups, make sure to avoid these common push-up mistakes:
Locking Elbows
Many people begin a series of push-ups with a goal in their mind. “I’m going to do twenty-five push-ups,” they think to themselves. But as they plow through number eighteen, and nineteen, they feel themselves becoming fatigued. In this situation, many people will lock their elbows at the top of the push-up cycle and rest for a few seconds before lowering themselves again. In doing so, a lot of unhealthy strain is placed on the elbows. Remember, the goal of push-ups is to exercise the chest, shoulders, and triceps. These muscles should be bearing the load of your body weight during the exercise, not the elbow joints. Ideally, a series of push-ups shouldn’t involve locking one’s elbows. At the top of a push-up cycle, stop just before your elbows lock. This will keep the pressure on the muscles that the exercise is targeting.
Pushing It Too Far
Losing weight, getting in shape, building muscle mass -- these are all things that require discipline over a long period of time to achieve one’s goal. There is no such thing as a “get fit quick” scheme. However, many people will do push-ups as though it’s possible to look like Rocky within an hour. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have enthusiasm regarding your fitness regimen, but don’t overdo it. By pushing yourself too hard, too fast, you can injure yourself or cause painful cramps. It’s hard to “get buff” when you’re sidelined with a strained chest muscle. Drink plenty of water and always remember that, in fitness, slow and steady wins the race.
Incorrect Breathing
Rhythmic breathing is absolutely essential to proper push-ups. It’s simple: on the way down, breathe in, and on the “push-up”, exhale. This breathing pattern should be as much a part of your push-ups as anything else. Breathing in sync with the exercise isn’t just healthy for your body, it will also enable you to complete more repetitions by maintaining good oxygen levels while exerting one’s self.
Hot-dogging It
In the arena of solitude, this probably isn’t a problem. However, many-a-push-up related injuries have occurred at the gym or amongst close friends at home while trying to look like a push-up hot shot. The added adrenaline rush you receive from having people watch you might seem like it’s enough to help you complete that impossible push-up or beat a friend in a contest, but it’s just a mirage. It may seem like everything is going great while you surpass a personal push-up record while dueling with a buddy, but chances are your body will regret it the next day.
3/22/2008
Various Types Of Pushups
Everyone knows how to do a basic, two-handed push-up, but there are several other ways to do a push-up. We’re going to share a few popular variations on the push-up. Each of these offer different benefits and isolate different muscles.
As a general rule, push-ups that are significantly challenging (and thus hard to achieve more than just a couple repetitions) are more suited for those looking to gain mass. Anyone looking to trim themselves down, or increase their lean muscles mass should stick to push-ups that allow for a higher number of repetitions.
There’s a reason the basic push-up is, well, the “basic” push-up: it’s safe, effective, and easy-to-learn. Some of the push-ups we’ll mention in this article are quite challenging. It’s important to always take stock of your fitness level. Some of these push-ups aren’t capable of being completed by everyone. Be aware that injury can occur when one is attempting a push-up beyond the scope of their fitness level.
Fist Push-Ups
As the title might suggest, fist push-ups are done with your knuckles as opposed to the palm of your hand. Physically, these push-ups differ from a basic push-up in that there is less surface area on which to distribute your upper body weight. In other words, the knuckles are smaller than the palms. With less surface area shouldering the weight of your body, the chest, shoulders, and triceps will have their work cut out for them. In general, most people can only do about 75% of the number of fist push-ups as they otherwise might normally achieve through regular push-ups.
One-Handed Push-Up
This is perhaps the most challenging push-up one could attempt. Quite simply, place one hand directly below your chest. The other hand should be placed across the small of your back to help balance the body. From there, lower yourself down and breathe out as you push up. It is important to note that this push-up places a significant strain on the elbow, so use your head and keep things reasonable if you attempt a one-handed push-up.
Pyramid Push-Up
These push-ups are also commonly referred to as “closed-grip push-ups”. While in a normal push-up position, bring your hands together and make a diamond with your thumbs and index fingers. These push-ups are harder than a basic push-up, but still quite achievable. By bringing your hands together, you place more emphasis on the triceps to complete the exercise. This, in addition to “dips”, are a great way to isolate the triceps without needing assistance from weights or machinery.
Wiide Push-Up
The opposite of pyramid push-ups, wide push-ups require you to spread your hands far apart. This takes pressure off of the triceps and forces your chest and shoulders to bear a heavier load to complete the movement. A wide push-up stance reduces the range of motion you will achieve during the exercise. Depending on how wide your position, it may be impossible to push yourself more than just a couple of feet off the ground.
Rocky Push-Up
I forget if it was the first Rocky movie, or Rocky IV (where he fights the Russian) in which Sylvester Stallone made famous the “Rocky push-up”. This is a very challenging push-up that should not even be attempted by anyone but those of the utmost fitness level. The Rocky push-up is essentially nothing but one-handed push-ups with one little twist: you change hands after each repetition without taking weight off of your toes. So on the upward motion of this push-up, it is important to launch yourself into the air enough to take the hand that did the push-up and place it on the small of your back, and to take the hand that was on the small of your back and place it into position to do the heavy work for the next repetition. This is almost impossible to achieve without a very wide foot stance. By spreading your feet 2-3 feet apart, the body is more balanced and thus capable of enduring the chaotic movements of the upper body. Truthfully, this push-up is more useful as a stunt than it is as an exercise.