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If you Google something like “effective upper body exercises” you will get literally millions of hits. There will be lists of exotic exercises from personal fitness trainers, different exercise machines made by a wide variety of equipment manufacturers and even electrical stimulation machines that promise you picture perfect pecs without having to do any exercise at all. If you look hard enough, somewhere amongst all these Google results, you might even find mention of the humble pushup. The pushup or press up if you are British, is probably the most commonly performed but most underrated exercise around. It’s loved by the military as both a training exercise and form of physical punishment – “drop down and give me 50!” – but it is so much more than that. Most gym-goers will happily tell you that body weight exercises like the press up are great for beginners but more advanced exercisers should do the bench press. While the bench press is by no means a bad exercise, the pushup has got it beat on so many levels! Push ups... Can be performed anywhere Require and develop core strength Are suitable for beginners and advanced exercisers alike Are shoulder-safe and not linked to any specific shoulder injuries Involve you moving your body through space in a very natural manner Can be made harder by elevating your feet or made easier by bending your legs and resting on your knees Don’t require a spotter Are suitable for men and women, children and adults. While bench pressing is probably the easiest way to expose your pressing muscles to heavy weights, for most of us, even experienced personal trainers, pushups actually have better crossover to most of our daily lives – unless your job actually entails lying on your back and pushing heavy weights up to arms length above your chest! Pushups develop strength without bulk, endurance without making you slow and use just about every muscle on the front of your body from your toes to your nose. It’s really a question of why AREN’T you doing pushups?! Getting the most out of the pushup is really down to doing them right. Most people say they know how to do a push up, even personal fitness trainers, but in reality very few actually do what I would call a perfect pushup. 1.Lie on your front on the floor with your hands flat and directly under your shoulders. Tuck your chin in so you are looking straight down at the ground, pull your shoulders down and back, tense your abs, raise your weight up onto your toes while keeping your legs rigid and straight, inhale and then “hover” with your weight supported on your hands and feet only and your chest within a vest-thickness of the floor. This is your starting position. 2.Exhale and simultaneously drive yourself up and off the floor so your arms are fully extended. Your body should stay ramrod straight. Keep your legs and core tight and even make sure your glutes (or butt to you non- personal fitness trainers reading this!) are tight. Remember, push ups are a total body exercise. 3.Inhale and slowly lower yourself back down so your chest lightly touches the floor. Again, keep your body straight, your chin tucked in, your core tight and your shoulders down and back. Take twice as long to lower yourself down as it did to push up. 4.If you find a full pushup is too challenging right now, simply bend your knees in the starting position and perform three-quarter pushups instead. Mastering the mighty pushup might take you a few workouts but once you have got it nailed you have access to one of the finest upper body exercises around. Not only that, you have also eliminated that age-old excuse much hated by personal trainers; “I don’t have the time/space/equipment to exercise at home”. Now you know how to perform a perfect pushup, you and I both know that simply isn’t true. Now drop down and give me 20! Author Bio Mark Darco is a professional personal trainer with 15 years experience and has worked with hundreds of clients. He has successfully completed multiple certifications and continues to provide fitness training to clients of all ages in the NYC area.
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