Most Powerful Exercise For Upper Body

Yes, you got it. It is PUSH UP
Push ups is consider one of the oldest exercise of the world and it is widely used. Army use it, bodybuilders use it…

So, what do push ups do?

This exercise remains one of the cheapest and most effective methods for building strength in your back, shoulders, and arms.

Toning Your Back

While pushups don’t increase the amount of weight on your back through the use of external weights, the muscles in your back will be gently toned as you work to keep it straight during the exercise. If you can’t keep your legs even with your back at first, you can bend your knees and do a modified push up to keep your back straight. This modified pushup will still help tone your back without causing injury. As your fitness level improves, you may want to go back to a more traditional form of pushup to increase the strength of your back.

Building Shoulder Strength

Pushups are well known for improving shoulder strength and mass. When you do pushups, you’re leveraging most of your body weight on your shoulders. Because the shoulders are working together, you’ll strenghten the muscles that cross your chest and upper back. In most cases – unless you’re interested in body building – pushups combined with other simple exercises should be enough for your everyday fitness routine. Even if you want to go beyond this level, pushups should always be a part of your home fitness routine.

Strengthening Your Arms

In addition to your shoulders, your upper arms and forearms also derive benefit from pushups. As you push your body up off the floor and lower it back down, the muscles in your arms are forced to expand and contract with the added resistance of the weight of your body. As you might expect, when your whole arm is involved in the exercise, you have a better chance of exercising each muscle group. If you do pushups on a regular basis, you may find that your arms will gain tone and muscle definition more quickly than with exercises that work only one group. And – perhaps best of all – you won’t have to spend any money on weights or other forms of equipment.

As with any other exercise, you should check with your doctor to make sure that it’s safe for you to do pushups. If you have shoulder, back, elbow, or wrist issues, you may want to make sure that these exercises will not add to your problems. When done properly and with safety in mind, pushups serve a vital role in toning and strengthening your back, upper body and arms. Without a question, they have served this vital purpose for millions of people in a way that is easy and cost effective.

How To

1. Remember to always warm up before any exercise. Warming up reduces the risk of injury and gets muscles ready to do a push up. You can actually lift/push/pull/etc more if you go through a proper warm up routine, as compared to diving straight into the exercises. Make sure to stretch your arms and wrists – key joints in push ups.
2. Assume a prone position on the floor or other hard surface that’s able to support your body weight. Keep your feet together!!!
3. Place your hands under your shoulders with your palms on the ground. Curl your toes upward (towards your head) so that the balls of your feet touch the ground.
4. Raise yourself using your arms. At this point, your weight should be supported by your hands and the balls of your feet. Make a straight line from your head to your heels. This position is called “plank,” which is used for other various exercises. This is the beginning and the end position of a single push-up.
5. Lower your torso to the ground until your elbows form a 90 degree angle. Keep your elbows close to your body for more resistance. Keep your head facing forward. Try to have the tip of your nose pointed directly ahead. Draw a breath as you lower yourself.

Video Guide

Exercise Clip – Push-up Improvement with SGT Ken

What You should not do

Wrong Form of Push up (no offense)

Here are some tips:

• For easier push-ups, have an exercise partner place a closed fist underneath your chest. As you lower your body, touch your chest to the fist, pause, then raise your body. This is a little easier than touching your chest to the floor.
• For an easier exercise, lower your knees so that they rest on the floor. Keeping your back straight and your toes tucked under your feet, proceed with the exercise normally. This decreases the amount of pressure placed on your arms.
• Another variation of a push-up is the incline push-up. Leaning on a vertical surface, such as a wall, place your hands shoulder-width apart and slowly proceed with the normal exercise.
• To isolate your chest more during a push-up, widen the position of your hands a little bit. If you want to work out your triceps more, do the opposite and bring your hands closer together so that they’re under your chest.
• If you have any condition that would impair or limit your ability to engage in physical activity, please consult a physician before attempting this activity. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

Here is a workup program which I Recommend everyone to follow:
Here it is!

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~ by sky3vil on June 8, 2008.