PUSH yourself UP

05 Feb PUSH yourself UP

Being in the military I loved to do push-ups. Well let’s back up. When I was young in the military, I loved push-ups. I always felt they were a representation of my masculinity. They felt like the best upper body routines around. Push-ups do not require expensive gym equipment or gyms memberships.

Simple

This simple exercise works several major muscle groups; shoulders (deltoids), back of upper arms (triceps), and chest (pectorals). The beauty of the push­ up is it exercises muscles in the abdomen, hips, and back. These groups contract to keep the body stiff while it moves up and down.

Efficient Muscle Strengthening

One benefit of performing push-ups daily is that it is an efficient way to work out several muscles at the same time. The pushup is a compound exercise, meaning that it works multiple muscle groups, rather than just one. By working your chest, triceps and shoulders push-ups save time. Think about those abs and lower-back.

Weight Management

Knocking out push-ups every day helps manage your physical shape and weight. The key is getting in that routine. This will allow you to make milestones in your fitness goals. This exercise use multiple muscles burn more calories than those that use just one muscle, so pushups can be more efficient for weight management than exercises that isolate individual muscles.

Big chest no back; Muscular Imbalance

Doing push-ups, every day may lead to a muscular imbalance. While your chest is getting bigger, you have to ensure you keep your back in line. This imbalance has a negative impact on your posture.

Recovery is important

Make sure you schedule adequate rest time between workouts for the same muscle groups. You do not want to slow down your progression. Starting with push-up two to three times weekly is good for beginners and advanced athletes should push for four to six times a week.

• On Odd Days
  Do 200 pushups in as few sets as possible in addition to your regularly scheduled workout of cardio exercises. You can still do upper body workouts on these days if you are already on a program. This is a supplemental 200 pushups using maximum repetition sets (4 x 50, 8 x 25 … it’s your choice how you get to 200).
• On Even Days
  Do 200 pushups throughout the day. This can be little sets of ten done every half hour or fifty pushups done four times throughout the day.
• Rule
  If your maximum is under 50 pushups, do 200 a day. If your maximum is above 75, do 300 pushups a day.
• Repeat the ODD/EVEN routine for a total of 10 days. Then take three days off and do NO upper body pushing exercises that work the chest, triceps, and shoulders.