It's time for everyone's favorite exercise. The old military stand by, the pushup! The pushup is really a fantastic exercise that works your entire body in one motion. It's also a great standard of exercise to be able to accomplish. Think about how easily you want to be able to push yourself off the ground. You end up using your legs, your hips, your core, your shoulders, arms, and back just to keep your body straight as you push yourself up.
There are many ways to scale the pushup so that it can be done at higher volumes and so you can work your way up to the full pushup. One of the easiest ways to get started is to do a wall push. You simply stand about arm's distance from the wall, lean into it with your hands on the wall until your chest touches and then push back to standing. From that movement, the next one would be to do an "incline" pushup, which involves getting a bench or a couch or table and placing your hands on that and lowering your chest to the edge with a flat back and then pressing back up.
Once fully on the ground you have a few options. You can be on your knees rather than your toes, decreasing the torque on your upper body. You can do full pushups, lowering the chest all the way to the ground and then extending all the way as well. Be careful that you do not simply use your head and neck to move. If you cannot do the full movement, move to an easier scaled version and do the full movement.
If you get those down pretty well, you can move to the "decline" pushup which involves putting your feet on the same couch or table that you had your hands on for the "incline" movement. Then perform the movement the same way. From that one there is really only one step left: Handstand Pushups. Try these with caution. :)
There are many ways to scale the pushup so that it can be done at higher volumes and so you can work your way up to the full pushup. One of the easiest ways to get started is to do a wall push. You simply stand about arm's distance from the wall, lean into it with your hands on the wall until your chest touches and then push back to standing. From that movement, the next one would be to do an "incline" pushup, which involves getting a bench or a couch or table and placing your hands on that and lowering your chest to the edge with a flat back and then pressing back up.
Once fully on the ground you have a few options. You can be on your knees rather than your toes, decreasing the torque on your upper body. You can do full pushups, lowering the chest all the way to the ground and then extending all the way as well. Be careful that you do not simply use your head and neck to move. If you cannot do the full movement, move to an easier scaled version and do the full movement.
If you get those down pretty well, you can move to the "decline" pushup which involves putting your feet on the same couch or table that you had your hands on for the "incline" movement. Then perform the movement the same way. From that one there is really only one step left: Handstand Pushups. Try these with caution. :)
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