The weight of the body is often overlooked when it comes to weight training routines. Given the right set of exercises, you can literally target all your major muscles with nothing but bodyweight. Pushups zero in on the upper body and they are often included in boot camp style classes and circuit workouts. When executed properly, the consequences of these are positive.
Type of Exercise
Exercises come in two types -- isolation and compound. Isolation exercises involve one joint and one primary muscle. Compound exercises involve multiple joints and muscles working together. These exercises cause greater increases in muscle gain than isolation exercises. Pushups cause you to bend your elbows and shoulders, making them compound exercises. By doing them, you will strengthen your chest, shoulders and triceps with nothing but the weight of your body. By wearing a weighted vest or weighted back pack, you will increase the resistance and produce even more upper body strength.
Core Strength
The core constitutes the areas between the pelvis and trunk. Having a strong core enables you to perform movements with more efficiency. This is beneficial for sports and for daily life. Take household chores, for example. You need a strong core to rake leaves, shovel gravel and lift heavy bags into a garbage can. Pushups cause you to forcefully contract your core muscles throughout to maintain good spinal alignment. The main muscles worked are the rectus abdominis and erector spinae. The erector spinae runs down the length of the spine into the lower back.
Musuclar Endurance
Having the ability to do repetitive muscle contractions for an extended period of time is known as muscular endurance. Pushups help create muscular endurance when you perform high repetitions. This benefits you with sports that require constant pushing motions like football. Performing a high amount of reps with your sets will also cause you to burn calories. A 180-lb. person burns about 11 calories with one minute of pushups.
Stronger Bones
The bones build and break down just like any other tissue in the body. Diet plays a role in their strength, as does exercise. Any time you do a weight training exercise, muscles pull against the bones, which in turn makes them stronger. Pushups work the primarily strengthen the bones in the arms, chest and shoulders.
Metabolism Boost
Muscle is metabolically active tissue. This means it causes you to burn more calories at rest when you gain it. Since pushups add muscle to your body, they can raise your resting metabolic rate. A gain of just 1 lb. of muscle tissue causes you to burn 30 to 50 extra calories a day.
Warning About Form
If you do not perform pushups with proper form, you set yourself up for muscle imbalances and lower back pain. A common error often occurs when an exerciser lets his hips sag as he pushes himself up. This is what causes excess stress on the spine. When doing pushups, always maintain a straight line from the back of the head to your heels. Contracting your core muscles helps you maintain this position.
Member Comments