There are a few exercises that I think are tremendous on their own. Some of them are full body workouts. Others are great for your upper body while some focus on the lower body. But you can’t beat push ups for upper body strength.
In an earlier post I discussed the mountain climbers and how you may need to build up your upper body strength to hold the position. Well, if you start doing push ups for upper body strength, holding the mountain climber position will be no problem at all.
Push Ups Work Well With Other Exercises
There are other great movements that are tremendous strength training upper body workouts. Pull-ups and dips come to mind as great body weight exercises. I enjoy doing them all.
All of these exercises can be incorporated into your workout routine. You can do them together, one after the other, as part of a larger workout or you can do them one at a time.
The variations that are available to you with these exercises are endless (well maybe not endless but there’s a lot). They are all great for building strength, toning your upper body and all around physical fitness.
What I like most about push ups is that mostly anybody can do them. With the pull up and dip, you require a certain amount of upper body strength to do them. You can also pair push ups with high knees for added cardio benefit.
You can do other exercises to build up your upper body strength so that you can gradually move on up to pull ups and dips. But I think you can start on the push up pretty early on.
Push Ups Are Easy And Go Well With Any Room
The reason I think push ups are easier to get started with is that you can vary the movement to make it easier in the beginning.
The other great thing about all of these exercises is that you don’t need weights to do them. For all of them you just use your own body weight.
The push up is the most accessible of all three because you don’t need any equipment for it. Just find some floor and you’re on your way. That makes anytime the best time to exercise.
For pull ups and dips you’ll need a bar of some kind to do them properly. If you’re really adventurous you can use a tree. You probably shouldn’t. But you could. My point is that most of the time a floor is just easier to find. So push ups win for today. I’ll get into the other moves another time.
If you’re interested in getting fit or already a regular to exercising I’m sure you’ve heard of the push up. Even if you’ve never exercised before this is probably the one exercise you know about.
The push up itself is also easy to do. Supposedly, there’s lots of ways to do it incorrectly but I think it’s pretty easy to get it right. Once you have the technique down, it’s a good exercise habit that is hard to break.
How To Do It
Find yourself a piece of floor with nothing around you. Lie down on your belly. Place your hands palms down and next to your shoulders. Make sure your fingers are pointing straight up towards your head. You can spread your fingers a little. This will help with balance. I guarantee you’re better with balance than me.
Now straighten your legs out together and position your feet so you are up on your toes. Push straight up. As you push up, you want to keep your back in a straight line with your legs, yours stomach muscles tight and your elbows tucked in. Exhale as you push up and inhale as you come down.
That’s how you do the push up. I found a quick clip demonstrating the proper form for the push up that should be helpful.
Now I mentioned there’s a variation with the push up if you are just starting out and don’t quite have the upper body strength yet. Instead of being up on your toes, do everything else the same except do it while on your knees. You’ll find this makes the push up easier.
As you get stronger doing the push ups from your knees, you’ll find it easier to transition to being up on your toes. In the meantime, find a comfortable floor or mat so you don’t hurt your knees. If it’s still uncomfortable, grab a pair of knee pads and you should be good to go.
Now Something Really Exciting. Different Push Ups Exercising Muscles From Different Angles.
Once you get good at the push up there are variations you can start to incorporate. This will also help build your core for the plank.
Again, this is great so you don’t get bored with the movement and you keep your body guessing. Remembering to mix up your routine is also a good exercise habit.
Change Up Your Hand Position
You can vary the width of your hand position. By placing your hands wider apart you change the angle you’re working your chest along with other parts of your upper body.
Try placing one hand more forward than the other and then switching positions. If you want to get really adventurous, try crawling forward while doing the push ups. That is, right hand left leg crawl forward and push up, then, left hand right leg forward and come down.
Do it slowly at first to get the idea. You can work out your own rhythm. It’s a challenge. But it will keep you on your toes.
You can change your whole body position. No need to stay flat on the floor.
You can elevate your feet up onto a chair while your hands stay on the floor. That’s a kind of incline push up that is great for your upper chest.
Or you can put your hands up on a bench or chair and keep your feet on the floor. That focuses on the lower chest. Whatever change up you try, it’s important to maintain good form.
Also make sure you’re not putting undo stress on your shoulders or wrists. That’s where form is so important.
Some people don’t like the push up because of the stress on their wrists. There are hand grips you can get that go flat on the floor that allow you to do the push up with your hands in a fist instead of flat. This feels different but takes the pressure off the wrists.
I’ve always enjoyed doing push ups. They are a great way to strengthen all different parts of the chest as well as other parts of the upper body. Push ups are another great core exercise as well.
I like to incorporate a variety of push ups into my warm up and use them when I’m focusing on my chest. I’m guessing once you start doing push ups you will hate them. Little secret, everybody hates them in the beginning. For motivation, I could barely do a couple when I started. Now I do more.
Eventually they’ll grow on you and you’ll make them a regular part of your physical fitness routine. There’s also the possibility that when you lie down on the floor and prepare to start that first push up, you’ll just close your eyes instead and take a nap.
Whatever you choose, just be happy.
