TRAINING
IT’S NOT new and it can be performed anywhere without the need for equipment, yet there are few exercises to rival the plain old push-up when it comes to improving all-over body strength.
Performed correctly, it’s an exercise that builds optimal upper-body strength in the chest, shoulder and arms. Last year, a study in the Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found the traditional push-up to be as effective as a bench press for building chest and arm strength. When trained athletes performed a six-repetition maximum of both the push-up and bench press exercises, the muscle-building results were the same.
But its benefits don’t end there. The push-up engages abdominal muscles for stability – the rectus abdominis as a primary stabiliser for preventing hip sagging and the obliques to prevent lateral shifting and twisting – but also recruits the lower back, gluteal and leg muscles to keep the lower body lifted.
What adds to its appeal for athletes is the scope for variation. Alter your hand position to form a narrow base and you achieve greater muscle activation in the triceps and pectoral muscles. Place one or both hands on an exercise or medicine ball and the emphasis shifts to increase triceps activation, studies show. Here we suggest five ways to vary your push-ups.