Happy Festivus! And now it is time for the airing of grievances…..sorry, couldn’t help it!
The push up is one of the best exercises for building strength and endurance in the chest muscles, especially for beginners.
Like most bodyweight exercises, the push up is easy to learn, can be done as part of a home workout, and should be mastered before you move to weights, in this case, the bench press.
So where do you start and how do you progress?
Here are just a small sampling of the many push up variations you can do:
1. Kneeling Push Up – get down on the floor facing down with all of your weight distributed between your knees and hands. Arms should be fully extended with hands directly below your shoulders slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Use your core to hold your body in a straight line between your head and your knees. Lower yourself until your chest is about 1-2 inches off the floor. Return to starting position by pushing your body back up until arms are again fully extended.
2. Push Up – get down on the floor facing down with all of your weight distributed between your toes and hands. Arms should be fully extended with hands directly below your shoulders slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Use your core to hold your body in a straight line between your head and your toes. Lower yourself until your chest is about 1-2 inches off the floor. Return to starting position by pushing your body back up until arms are again fully extended.
3. Off Set Push Ups – get down on the floor facing down with all of your weight distributed between your knees or toes and hands. Arms should be fully extended with one hand slightly higher and the other hand slightly lower than normal push up position. Use your core to hold your body in a straight line between your head and your toes. Lower yourself until your chest is about 1-2 inches off the floor. Return to starting position by pushing your body back up until arms are again fully extended.
Master these movements before moving on to a weighted exercise.
Add them to a circuit training workout you are already doing or just fit them in at home whenever you have the time. No equipment necessary!
Keep practicing and I will be back soon with a few more push up variations for you to add to your fat loss workout repertoire.
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