Pushups. They look incredibly easy, uncomplicated and almost childish when compared to arsenal of fitness machines and free weights at the gym.
Before the Push Up
Warm up with a bit of cardio; options include skipping rope, jumping
jacks, jogging. The physically active can even combine a bit of the
three. However, don’t wear yourself out in the warm up process in the
zealous enthusiasm of fitness; the purpose here is to get blood pumping through your arms, chest and back, optimizing your ability to support your frame when you get down to it.
What is a push up?
Remember to exhale while raising your body, and pause a moment, and
hold the push up pose before raising your body back to prone position.
Keeping this rhythm of breathing enables optimum oxygen levels. And more
oxygen means better workouts.
A Contingency Plan
Factoring in people who don’t have the shoulder/chest strength yet to
perform a ‘proper’, sustained pushup, it is advisable to bend the knees
so that they touch the floor during the push-up. This will create more
surface area for the body to bear the weight.
Alternatively, beginners can also perform inclined pushups. This is an inclined push-up.
Alternatively, beginners can also perform inclined pushups. This is an inclined push-up.
Alternatively, you can lean on a vertical surface (like a wall)
Why do pushups?
With regular push-ups over a long period of time, you can create
massive changes in how your abs, triceps, shoulder and torso look. If
the monotony of the basic pushup might get you thinking of it as just
another exercise, try this. To work specifically on your chest, widen
the position of your hands a bit further. For triceps, bring ‘em closer.
See, with just two tiny changes in your stance, you emphasize two
different muscle groups!
What to NOT do
With what seems a simple goal of ten pushups, you may have started
optimistically. However, sometime near the seventh push up, when fatigue
sets in, you might literally ‘compromise your stance’; by letting your
elbow joints take the weight of your body when you rise up. Pushups are
meant to exercise abs, triceps, shoulders and chest. Not elbow joints.
It may seem ridiculous to even point it out, but a little detail like,
if not rectified can cause seriously elbow damage. Another very popular
mistake is to let the chest touch the ground when you descend. It may
look cool, but it just takes away the weight from your arms.
Ditto for a desperate streak of making up for lost workout time. If, a 10 pushups a day guy misses 3 days of workout, and then decides to make up for it with 40 pushups when he gets the chance. Your body doesn’t work like that.
The holiday season seems a good excuse to chuck your fitness regime. But you can manage two minutes, cant you? Just two minutes of push-ups may seem tiny, but sometimes when we get lost, a baby step keeps us on track.
Fitness Log
Maintain a simple notebook logging down your warm-up exercise(s) &
time, the number of pushups you did. Also, if you count calories, then
remember that a push-up can burn up to one calorie. (mention how if you
get dedicated, you can burn away your pint of beer, so stay tuned when
we get advanced). And you can always use your jotted fitness stats with
people who’ve been working at fitness for a while longer than you.
Stretch
Stretch your chest muscles
by holding onto a wall, and then stretching away from it. Any other
method by which you can feel a gentle stretch on the concerned muscles
is appropriate. Just don’t overdo it - hold the stretch for a moment
before coming back to original position.
