Nowadays, exercising is practically a fad. Beyond health, exercise has become a way to cultivate and beautify the body. There are many forms and types of exercises. Likewise, there are parts of the body to which people show greater interest, such as the abdomen, thighs, arms, etc. But there are other very important parts of the body that should also be toned, for example the chest.
In this case the chest, which should also be part of the exercise routine? To tone and increase this part of our body there are several types of exercises. One of the most effective and ancient ways to work this area of the body is push- ups.
Pushups are without a doubt an exercise with many benefits not only for this area, but for other areas of your body as well.
It is important that you know that push-ups are also known as push-ups. This last becoming of English has become a term of international use.
Benefits of push-ups
Before you include this all-important type of exercise in your routine, you should also be aware of its benefits. This type of exercise has, in addition to the advantages of toning and strength, other benefits that contribute to the stability of your body.
In addition to being considered an essential exercise, it is also very useful for your performance. Therefore, you must perform it correctly, as it helps prevent injuries to your body. Especially on the shoulders, back and wrists.
The constancy in push-ups will give you greater resistance in other types of exercises. It will definitely increase your performance.
It’s an exercise that not only works your chest, but activates other muscles in your body like your biceps, triceps, legs, forearms and puts them all to work simultaneously.
This exercise is of the compound type, since it activates several muscles of the body when it is performed. This in turn allows improving the cardiovascular system. Supporting the health of your heart and providing greater quality.
Push-ups contribute effectively to the growth of your muscles. Combining this exercise with other weight exercises will help your muscles grow and tone faster.
Pushups help improve your posture. Especially if you have an office life, in front of a computer, this type of exercise will help you improve your posture, as it directly affects the strengthening of the lumbar muscles.
Push-ups have a number of benefits on your body; above all they have the ability to prevent injuries to almost all muscles. Feel free to make this practice routine.
An easy way to exercise
Pushups are an easy way to exercise. It is free of charge and only requires a little of your time and dedication.
You should only be in support on the ground, with your arms outstretched and your hands separated at the distance of your shoulders. You should not forget about the feet, putting them together or slightly apart. In this way, slowly lower yourself until you put your rib cage very close to the ground.
The back must always be straight, it must not curve. In addition, your body should never rest on the ground. The movements are continuous. This may take you some time to do correctly but you should do it continuously until you finally get it right.
This is the classic and primary way to perform push-ups. This form is very easy to exercise, but there are other easy and not very easy ones that also contribute to the improvement of your health and physique.
You should consider
It is very important that when performing push-ups you take into account some requirements. This type of exercise is very easy to do, but not all organisms are prepared for it, therefore you must have some tips in mind.
- When your body is on your hands, with your feet together or slightly apart, the push-up should be done with your full body weight toward your chest. The elbows should be facing the feet.
- If the surface where you do the push-up is padded, you can do it on your knuckles, or simply on the palms of your hands.
- If you do push-ups on the floor you can get push-up handles, this will allow you to perform the exercise more comfortably.
Don’t rush if you feel like you only manage to do one or two push-ups in a day. This is very normal; just create your exercise rhythm and over time it will become much easier for you to exercise.
To exercise push-ups
Push-ups are a very good and easy way to perform exercises. Therefore, do not hesitate to do them daily or at least twice a week.
When you are already located in the initial position, where you have the feet and shoulders correctly positioned, perform the first push-up. Get up on your arms, and put all the weight of your body on them and your feet.
There should be a continuous line between your head and your heels. At the same time, contract the abdomen and thus not only collaborate with its strengthening, but also with that of its hips. This position that you take when you reach the top is also known as a Plank, and it is always the first and final position of a push-up.
When you know the proper way to perform a push-up, you should know that there are other ways to position your arms and feet when performing this exercise. This placement depends on the interests you have. There are three types of push-ups that are considered basic and work the different muscles of the body.
Normal or regular push-ups
In the so-called normal or regular push-ups, the hands are separated a little more than shoulder height. These mainly work the arms and chest.
To perform them, you must lower your bust towards the ground, until your shoulders form an angle of ninety degrees. If you wish, you can do it with your shoulders close to your body, in order to achieve greater physical resistance. It is very important that you maintain the position of your head forward, that is, your view must be straight ahead.
You should not lower your hips in the plank position and breathe as you lower. As time goes by, your body will gain the agility to go down and up with better fluidity. You should keep in mind, at least at first, that your chest should be about 8-10 centimeters off the ground when lowering.
Once down you should go up again, push hard and exhale as you do so. That force should be carried by your shoulders and chest. The arms should be up stretched but not in a firm position. The triceps and other muscles also work here, although they are not the main ones, they still contribute and benefit from the exercise.
Open arm push-ups do more work on the chest and in turn take some of the strength off the arms. For them you must place your hands well away from your shoulders.
Diamond pushups
Diamond push-ups, as the name implies, must join your hands on the floor forming a diamond and placing them under your chest. This type of push-up works the arms more than the normal push-up.
For this push-up you will need more strength and therefore more practice. It is advisable that you start your push-up routine with the regular ones and then when you have achieved a rhythm in them, start on these.
Scorpion push ups
This is another modality to do push-ups. There are many types of push-ups that you will do as your body gets used to this type of exercise. In this case the scorpion push-ups, the arms should be placed the same as in the regular push-ups.
The novelty of this type of push-up is that you must raise one foot, that is, raise one leg and bend the knee to the side towards your back. You can alternate each leg, or do one leg and the other individually.
One arm pushups
This type of push-up has a somewhat different position than the others. To do this, you must open your legs quite a bit. Then place one of your arms behind your back. Having your legs spread will allow your body to maintain balance.
Then with the arm that is on the ground perform the push-up. You should do individual sets with each arm, the same amount.
Helpful tips
- When your body has already adapted to this exercise system, do not hesitate to combine the different types of push-ups. Try the ones in this article and don’t hesitate to find other ways to do push-ups.
- Always before training with push-ups, warm up the muscles and joints. Warming up is vital to avoid injuries.
- If you have a large mirror, in which you can see yourself while doing push-ups, do not hesitate to do it in front of it. This is great for you to see how the exercise balances out.
- Especially for those who are new to push-ups, it is better to put a padded blanket on the floor, to make it more comfortable to do.
- Do not be afraid to do it in different places, it is one of the greatest advantages of this exercise, being varied; they can be done wherever you want.
- Don’t panic if you shiver at first with every push-up. This body response is normal and just takes practice.
- Start with the easiest way to do push-ups and then make your routine more complexes.
Watch out for push-ups
- If you feel severe pain in your shoulders, arms or chest you should stop. This means that you are doing the exercise wrong. It can also indicate that your body is not ready for push-ups yet, so you should do other exercises to strengthen your body and then start doing push-ups.
- Do not try to do many push-ups in the day the first time. This is little by little; do not tire your body.
- Take care of each posture for the exercise; it is very important that the postures are adequate otherwise you can get injured very easily.
- Do not do this type of exercise when you finish eating, or when you feel full.
