Believe it or not, the push up is one of the most effective exercises there is. Whilst we may think of it as a boring bodyweight exercise, it’s actually so much more.
The push up is a way to improve chest, shoulder and tricep strength. It involves core stability, shoulder blade stability and a large range of motion at the shoulder and elbow. You can increase the difficulty by increasing weight, changing the hand position and the body position.
It’s my belief that a push up, or a variation of the push up has a place in almost every personal training program that exists.
To increase the effectiveness of the exercise, here’s a list of 5 push up variations to add to your workout…
Decline push ups
The decline push up is the quickest way to increase the difficulty of the push up. You make the exercise harder by taking your feet higher than your upper body. This means you end up lifting a greater percentage of your body weight. The higher the feet, the harder you make the exercise.
You can raise your feet any way that provides you with stability. That can be via plates, a bar, ply box etc. You can adjust the height to make it more or less challenging, depending on your fitness and strength levels.
Here’s how they’re done…
Push ups on parallettes
I really like this exercise, because it’s a way to increase the stretch at the chest and shoulders. This is because the parallettes allow your chest to drop lower than your hands, which opens the chest. This increase in the range of movement at the joint increases the time under tension as well, making it a much tougher exercise than the standard push up.
The higher the paralletetes, the harder the exercise can be. You can perform the exercise with a range of different handle heights though, which allows you to increase the difficulty of the exercise somewhat.
Here’s how they’re done…
Ball push ups
You may already be familiar with the diamond push up, or the tricep push up. Well this belongs within the same group (if such a thing exists?!), but it’s much, much tougher. You’ve got three different factors at play here…
You’re dealing with a close hand position, which is tougher than a wider one
You’re on a ball, which is unstable
You’re working at an incline, which challenges the muscles more
This trio makes the exercise so much harder than you’d expect, so give them a go and see how you get on. I like to use a slam ball or a med ball because they’re both grippy and unstable. Here’s how they’re done…
Push up to row
This is a great way of combining a push up with a row. It means you’ve got the increased range of movement from the dumbbells, the added shoulder and back training from the row and the added core and shoulder stability element of being off balance during the row.
When you do these properly, you’ll really feel the benefit throughout your entire upper body. It’s why they’re an exercise that makes for a more efficient upper body training session.
Here’s how they’re done…
Atomic Push Ups
At AdMac Fitness, we’re big fans of the TRX suspension trainer. It’s a great way to add an element of instability to any exercise. There are a few different variations of push ups you can do on the TRX, but one of the best (and toughest) is the ‘Atomic Push Up’.
It’s a combination of a decline push up and a pike, which makes for a really tough exercise. If you can hit 30 or more of these in a row you’re a pretty legit trainer!
Here’s how they’re done…
If you want help with your health, AdMac Fitness is the place to go!
We help people using tried and tested fitness approaches. Our expert team of personal trainers, based in both Bow and South Woodford can help you get a grip of your health and fitness. With our guidance you can see your health and fitness reach new levels!
For more information on who we are, what we do and how we can help you achieve your health and fitness goals, contact us on… 07921465108 or email us at admacfitness@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
Our locations are…
AdMac Fitness Bow: Arch 457 Robeson St, London E3 4JA
AdMac Fitness South Woodford: Unit 4 Marlborough Business Centre, 96 George Lane, South Woodford, London, E18 1AD.