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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Proper Push Ups - Can You Do Them?

Finding time to do a workout is always challenging - especially when transitioning from a sedentary lifestyle to a more active one.  Since I prefer to be a cheetah than a cow, I like to move the body for short intensive bursts of activity from time to time.  Enter the humble push up.

If you could only do one exercise, I would recommend the push up. Everyone knows the push up right?  Everyone does but performing a push up correctly is not something most people do. Proper form is key to maximizing strength gains and muscle definition when doing a push up.  Proper form also makes the push up a lot harder than many people who have a pattern of poor form realize.

I would rather see 10 good form push ups than 20 push ups done with poor form at a high speed.  Which brings me to my next pet peeve.  Most people perform push ups at a rapid speed to make it easier on the muscles.  Going down and coming up quickly makes the exercise easier because it uses the body's momentum and reduces the muscles' total time under load.

If you want to see strength gains, great definition and a sculpted body, commit to doing push ups with good form with proper technique and good tempo. Check out the video below which shows perfect form push ups along with the most common errors people make doing the push up.



Victor

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