Week 1 Workout Wednesday: Pushups

Pushups: Are you doing them correctly?!?!

September 27, 2017


Pushups are one of the best exercises you can do to build pure upper body strength. It is an exercise that can be done anywhere because all you need is your body to do it. Pushups not only challenge the upper body but also your core and lower body as well. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing people who can't even do a regular pushup correctly go to the Barbell Bench Press and think they are ready to throw 45's on the bar to only do 2 half-assed presses that they would call "reps".

To perform a pushup correctly you must first set up correctly. Here is the step by step breakdown:

1) Feet: Toes should be tall and straight. You do not want the balls of your feet on the ground.
2) Legs: You want to keep your legs straight as can be so a good cue would be me telling you to "contract your quadriceps" or "squeeze the front of your legs" so it doesn't allow your knees to bend
3) Hips: I would rather see your hips higher than lower during a pushup so that there is no increased risk of you injuring your spine
4) Core: Squeeze your stomach tight like I was about to punch you as hard as I could
5) Shoulders and Hands: Shoulders should be right over top of your wrists, elbows should be tucked in to help form an arrow or 45 degree angle when you go down to the ground. The hands are pointed straight ahead and you take them and "cup" the floor instead of palms flat on the ground
6) Head: Do not tuck the chin during the pushups. This will increase flexion in the cervical spine. Instead keep your head neutral and tall looking straight down at the ground.

Pushups should be done with full range of motion, no halfsies or quarter, in order to acheive maximal effort and muscle recruitment. For beginners new to pushups start at an elevated level where there is an incline giving you more assistance. The next progression would be on the knees from the floor. The final progression is on the toes from the floor. More challenging variations of the pushup would then be adding weight to the back, rotating pushups, and even hindu pushups (a favorite of mine!).

Work on pushups everyday if you can. Start with a low goal and see if you can break each day after. That's all for Workout Wednesday, come back tomorrow for Tip of the Day Thursday!

Best,

Ryan






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 3 Stimulus Sunday: Adversity

Image
Adversity: It's How You Overcome It 10/15/17 It is something that we have all faced at one point in time in our lives. Whether it be when you got sick, when an injury has happened, when a relationship has ended, when a close one has passed away, these are all signs of adversity in some form. These are all tragic events that can change your life in some way and it does take time to recover from them. But, that is the important part: how do you overcome the adversity! Don't be the person who let's the adversity take over their life and effect what they do and how they react. What are you going to about it is what you should ask yourself every time a road block like this comes in your way. Learning how to overcome adversity is what builds character and resilience. Being able to handle these challenges and difficulties in our lives is what will strengthen our will and confidence so we are able to tackle future obstacles. The qualities of strength, courage, character, an
Read more

Week 4: Farmer's Carries and Alcohol

Image
Week 4: Farmer's Carries and Alcohol 11/5/17 Farmer's Carries These loaded carries are one of the best ways to improve your strength, stamina, and endurance. Farmer's carries is an exercise that replicates past and future farmers whom carry buckets of water and animal food around all day for a living. This exercise involves walking a set distance for a certain amount of time while carrying weight. It is fairly simple to do as anyone can mimic it in some way; however it is important to perform it properly to prevent injury and maximize results. How to do a Farmer's Carry: 1) Stand between a set of dumbbells, kettlebells, or barbells and place your hands in the middle of the weights to prevent them from moving back and forth. 2) Brace your core and tighten your glutes. Keep your chest forward and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Do not let the weights touch the sides of your legs 3) Take small, controlled steps and carry for an allotted time. Put the we
Read more

Week 3 Workout Wednesday: Tabata with Battle Ropes

Image
Tabata with Battle Ropes: HIIT at its Finest 10/11/17 Tabata workouts are a great way to finish off a workout or to help you get in a quick one if you are strapped for time. Tabata is a HIIT (high intensity interval training) workout that lasts four minutes. Tabata training was discovered by Japanese scientist Dr. Izumi Tabata and a group of researchers from the National Institute of Fitness and Sport in Tokyo. They conducted research studies on two groups of athletes testing for improvement in aerobic and anaerobic systems. One did moderate intensity exercise, one group did Tabata style (HIIT) training. In the athlete group that did Tabata style training, they saw a greater increase in both aerobic and anaerobic systems than the group that did moderate intensity training. So if you want to improve both cardiovascular systems, Tabata should be included in your training. You can change up the time lengths depending on the skill level of your clients. For example, you could do 20 s
Read more