Physical Fitness: Push-ups

We all have hectic lives. Squeezing time to get into the gym can be rough. Earlier I talked about how crunches can be an exercise you can fit in everyday to work your midsection. Today, we'll talk about push-ups.

Push-ups are a great exercise to work your upper body when you don't have much time. You don't need any equipment and different arm positions put the emphasis on different muscle groups. When performing push-ups, on the way up, do not completely lock your elbows at the top. On the way down, get as close to the ground as you can without touching the ground. During the motion, only your toes and hands are touching the ground. If that is too hard, then you can do push-ups with only you knees and hands touching the ground. This will be easier but still get some benefits from the exercise. Be sure to keep your back straight throughout the entire motion.

There are three main push-ups I use. The first type of push-up has your hands by your shoulders, a little more than shoulder width apart. This is a regular push-up. This gives you an all-around upper body workout, working the shoulders, back, triceps, and chest.

For the second type of push-up, everything is the same except you put your hands farther away from you, maybe about 6 inches on each side. Your chest will start off lower to the ground. You will feel a pull on you chest as you head towards the floor. This motion works the chest muscles more.

Finally for the third push-up exercise, put your hands against your waist. Push yourself up as far as you can go while keeping you hands and arms by your waist. This is an awkward motion, so you may want to start off doing it on your knees until you get the hang of the motion.

I am trying to do 20 push-ups of each, 60 total, every other day. I'm just starting this, so hopefully I can stay on track!