Pushup is the most basic exercise that defines your torso, shoulders, triceps and abdomen. This is an effective exercise that doesn’t need any equipment—all you need is yourself and your determination to continue with this exercise. Pushups aims to ameliorate muscular endurance in your torso, to buildup lean muscle mass that results to increasing of metabolism, to strengthen your bones and muscles, and to keep you healthy and physically fit.
Pushups provide you with proper upper body conditioning, which means that this exercise is able to tone and to flex your muscles. You need to be aware when you perform pushups because it can lead to injury if your spine is not positioned neutrally. Your back should be straight, distributing all the load equally in your back.
In order to achieve this exercise, in a prone position as the starting point, you raise and lower your whole body by bending your arms and, depending on your body-built, you can do repetitions as long as you can.
Perfect push up tools help you improve form, and thus strength.
The muscles that pushups target are your anterior deltoids (the muscles found in your shoulders), pectoralis (muscles located in your chest) and triceps (muscles found in the back). These muscles cooperate in order to carry your body using your arms. Your arms should be bent and extended upon performing the exercise.
This exercise helps your triceps to be flexible enough to prevent from any back pains, and it keeps your anterior deltoids more stable and more flexible for daily activities. Strained shoulder averts you from doing anything. Your pectoralis becomes more flexed and healthy. Pushups build up core strength for these muscles so that you can be more confident and at ease with your everyday life.
A popular variation of the pushup is the diamond pushup wherein you position your hand to form a diamond while you raise and lower your body. This variation targets more on your triceps since your arms are intact towards your chest due to your hands forming a diamond shape.
Another known variation is the front clap where in you push your body upwards and forcefully in order to clap your hands once in front of your body. Then, you go back to your starting position and repeat the movement over again.
There are multiple variations of pushups and it is up to you whether you can do it wholeheartedly.
For beginners, doing a pushup is tiresome and strenuous, especially when you are not used to carrying your own body weight. That is why, executing 10 pushups daily or every two days is sufficed to prevent straining in your arms. Overdoing the pushups leads to quick exhaustion and straining of muscles. If your body gets used to the movement, then you can increase the repetition from 10 to 100 pushups.
For those who prefer challenge, a pushups of 200 repetitions every 3 days can do the thing. Avoid doing the 300-pushup routine daily because it can lead to exhausted and strained muscles.
Having been the cover of Playboy magazine for six times, Jenny McCarthy maintains strict discipline in keeping her lifestyle healthy. In order to be healthy, she religiously follows her gluten and dairy-free diet, and perpetually works out to have her body physically fit. She performs pushups because she wants her whole body to cooperate and to be more responsive by making the muscles more active.
Improvements are noticeable when your muscles are strengthened, flexible and toned that leads to better mobility and to satisfactory sports performance. Your back, especially your spine, is aligned properly, leaving you with better posture. You would also detect that your metabolism rate becomes higher that is advantageous in weight loss and fat reduction. Furthermore, your bones become stronger and denser because pushups challenge the bones by lifting up your body using your arms and toes. The bones mostly carry out the weight of your body, keeping them healthy and strong. You would be able to do physical activities easier such as running, walking, jogging and even jumping because you have stronger core and bones.
Enthusiasts have endured to reach a pushup world record no matter how hard it seems to be to other people. One record has set to doing a 290 repetitions of pushups for over a minute, while another record has reached to 441 repetitions of pushups in five minutes.
Executing a variety of related exercises aside from the core movement, such as the pushups, delivers the desired results faster, leaving your body in better physique and making you more confident. Sit ups, lunges and planks are the exercises that can be integrated with pushups, as they all demand full cooperation from your whole body.
When you are going to do pushups, be sure that you consume carbohydrate-rich food so that you wouldn’t feel exhausted in the middle of your workout. A large pear with some drizzled honey, whole wheat toast with banana and peanut butter, and Greek yoghurt with nuts are among the food you can intake before doing your pushups. After your pushups, go for grilled chicken and veggies, avocadoes, cheese and chocolate milk. You need to repair your muscles after a series of repetitions with the pushups.