- in Fitness Training by Ana Maria
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How to do push ups
How to do push ups sounds like such a simple question, doesn't it?
Have you ever tried to do 100 push ups? Now that's getting a bit harder.
I think push ups competitions are great fun. But even if you don’t find doing lots of push ups fun, if you have some will power and persistence, and keep doing them, you will feel the benefits within a few weeks.
It is pretty easy to improve your strength and fitness with push ups.
Even if you can only do 5 to start with, just add one more every day, and within 20 days you will now be doing 25 in a row. Keep going and eventually you will be able to do 100, and that’s a real feat!
It’s easy to fit doing push ups into even the busiest life. Just do them every night before bed. Burn off those last calories and feel good before you sleep.
It’s better to do them at the end of the day than at the start. Some people like to do push ups as soon as they rise, but this isn’t a great idea. Your body hasn’t had a chance to warm up, and so your joints and spine could be stiff and won’t like the extra load being placed on them before they’ve had a chance to get moving more gently.
I’ve always thought push ups were great!
When I was a kid I remember the soldiers training near home and how fit they looked. Within their exercise routines were push ups, or “lizards” as part of their routine. I remember how much admiration I had at the time for their bodies. I even tried as a kid to do push ups without success, then later on in my life my husband took me to the gym to start to get fit, and one of the exercises that I kept in mind to do was push ups.
I started to do them on my knees until they became easier, then I start to do some variations and even incorporated elements working different muscles of the body.
During the last year, I do push ups every day, usually choosing four types of them for a month with twenty reps of each type, and trust me they work your core, arms and chest very well.
If you are starting do push ups, just keep doing them until they become a habit as a part of your routine. To be honest you don’t need to go to the gym to train, you can do them anywhere and anytime. The only thing you need is your disciple, and remember consistency and discipline make the difference to achieve whatever you want in life.
So, what will how to do push ups do for your body?
Push ups are not only great to work the upper body; also they are good for abs and stability. They work your chest, arms and core.
To start to make a change in this part of your body, you must incorporate push ups as part of your workout or routine. To do these exercises it’s not necessary to have any equipment, you only need your body weight and add some variations to target different muscles, and you will be able to achieve a great workout.
Push ups are great to work the muscles in your chest, (pectorals) just with your body weight. As well push ups engage the muscles of your arms such as biceps and triceps, so including this exercise in your workouts will tone and strengthen your arms over the time.
Let’s get into the different types of push ups:
Knee push ups
These are the easier starting point for people who are just incorporating this exercise in their routine. Place your knees together kneeling on the floor, as they will take all your weight when you are pushing with your arms and lifting your upper body. When you find this version of push ups easier after you have done them for a while, probably only a couple of weeks for most people, jump to the next level.
Incline push ups
This type of push ups is quite easy as well, because you don’t need a lot of strength in your upper body. Also they are perfect to go to the next level of effort. To do this exercise you will place your hands on a bench at the width of your shoulders or wider if you wish, then your feet on the ground and keep your body straight.
Standard push ups
Lie on the floor facing down, open your arms till your arm is bent to 90 deg at the elbow at the level of your chest, and place your feet together while keeping your body straight. These push ups will work most in your chest and arms.
Diamond push ups
Spread your fingers so that your index fingers and thumbs almost touch, creating a diamond shape between your hands; they should be positioned below the centre of your chest. This will be your start position, while staying up on your toes and keeping your body straight. Diamond push ups will work principally your triceps.
Narrow push ups
The starting point of this exercise is placing your hands close to each other leaving around eight centimeters between each hand, this means they will be under your chest. Place your feet together and keep your body straight. Narrow push ups are great for triceps although they will also work chest, arms and core.
Decline push ups
Find a bench or surface to place your feet, put your hands on the floor for doing push ups. The fact, that your feet are off the ground make the core unstable, thus we have to work harder to keep the core stable. The major focus of this exercise will be on the pectorals.
Wide push ups
Place your hands as wide as you can with your feet on the floor, your elbows are opened outward, resulting in a greater workload for your shoulders and for the muscles of your chest, because your arms as levers are wider creating a greater stretch through the pectoral muscles. This type of flexion is less challenging for some people, than variations with hands together because of the width of your hands.
T push ups
The starting point of these push ups are the same as the standard push ups with a higher degree of difficulty which includes the rotation of the trunk with an arm up at the same time forming a T with your body when you’re rotated side to side. Your core will work more here to keep the stability of your body; also the muscles working here are the pectorals and the arms.
Staggered push ups
As the standard push ups is the starting point one arm is close to your body the other hand is place in front of you, these are working mainly the triceps and chest muscles.
Clapping push ups
This push up is known as a plyometric exercise for developing power and strength in your chest. To do it you have to push your body from the ground high enough to clap your hands, before they reach the floor again in the start position.
Single arm ball push ups
Place one hand on a small medicine ball and the other one on the ground. These push ups will force you to keep the stability of the core tight, and the arms while you are working your muscles of the chest, core and arms, creating strength mainly in your chest and core.
Push ups are a great work out for getting nice shape and strength in your arms, chest and core stability. You don’t need any equipment to start with, just the motivation and determination to have a healthy body with a good shape. Don’t wait any longer to get fit, the time is now and your body will be grateful with your efforts in few months’ time.
To be stronger and healthy you don’t have to visit the gym, get up and go running or walking. Complete your cardio with push ups, and you have done a full work out.
Remember to have a healthy diet as well. For some easy recipes check out my recent blog, where you will find 31 clean eating recipes, that are all easy to make and super tasty.
So, once you get really good at how to do push ups, you can contact these people and have them confirm your new world record. I'm not quite there yet myself!
If you're not up to a world record yet either, I'm still happy for you to share your success and progress with me in the comments below.
