Exercises and Workouts - Three Ways to Improve the Push-Up Exercise

If you're someone who enjoys doing a home workout program, one exercise you very likely happen to have in the mix is the regular style push-up. Push-ups are a good full body movement exercise as they will even work your leg muscles slightly as you aim to maintain good balance.

The push-up is going to be a perfect choice for strengthening your chest, triceps, and shoulders especially, so should be a stand-by in your upper body workout routine.

That said, you want to make sure you get the most benefits from doing the push-up exercise. That's why you should focus on doing the following four techniques to get more out of this movement...

1. Keep The Core Tight. First, make sure you are focusing on squeezing the core muscles the entire way through the movement. This is one mistake many people make and it can really prevent them from seeing the results they want to see.

Tighten up the core as you lower yourself down into position. This keeps your back in proper alignment as well, ensuring you use good form throughout the exercise.

2. Lower All The Way To The Ground. Next, it's also imperative you don't "short yourself" of the range of motion you should be using. This means lowering yourself down all the way to the ground before coming up again.

Some people only go partway down due to the fact they are in their weakest position at the very bottom of this movement, thus they only receive half the benefits the exercise provides.

Make sure you lower yourself so you're almost touching the ground with your chest. Then press up again to complete the rep.

3. Use An Exercise Ball. Using an exercise ball is another way to add more challenge to this exercise. Simply place your feet or hands on the exercise ball and then push-up from there.

Note it will be significantly harder if you put your hands on the ball versus the feet, so take note of that and choose the best method based on your fitness level.

If you want to really build up your core strength, placing your hands on the ball is the way to do it.

So keep these quick tips in mind as you perform your push-up training. Doing so will help you make sure you are going to be seeing the best results possible and staying injury free as you add this to your workout routine.


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