Push-ups are definitely one of the first exercises that come to mind when you think of upper body exercises. This seemingly simple bodyweight exercise is an absolute must for arm and chest training.
That said, even in my day job as a personal trainer, I've always struggled with push-ups. In my quest to get better, I decided to do 20 push-ups every day for two weeks. Read on to find out what happened and what I learned along the way about this killer upper body move.
Benefits of push-ups
Want to strengthen your upper body and back? Add push-ups to your workout routine. This exercise requires upper body muscles such as shoulders, biceps, triceps, and back muscles to lower the weight to the ground and push the same weight up off the ground. Push-ups are also a great exercise for strengthening the pectoralis major muscles located on the sides of your chest.
Additionally, push-ups can also strengthen your core, as you need to keep your abdominal muscles engaged throughout the exercise. There's also a link between push-ups and heart health. study A 2019 study published in JAMA Network Open found that men who were able to complete at least 40 push-ups in 30 seconds were more likely to experience heart attacks and other cardiovascular events compared to men who were able to complete fewer than 10 push-ups. The risk of disease was found to be low.
how to do push ups
Before we begin the challenge, let's have a quick refresher on exactly how to perform a push-up…
- Begin in a high plank position with your palms directly under your shoulders and your core extended.
- Bend your elbows and lower your chest to the ground, keeping your upper arms close to your body. Your palms should still be under your shoulders.
- Pause when your chest is just above the ground. Then push up with your palms to return to plank.
- To make this easier, get on your knees and do push-ups from that position. This method puts the weight of your lower body on the ground, so you can use less weight.
Want to make your push-ups more difficult? Please add applause. As you push yourself up, quickly clap your hands, then return your hands to the ground and immediately lower your body back down. This is a quick move, but difficult. You can also add weight to your push-ups to increase resistance. This can be done by adding a weight plate to your back, but it may be difficult to do it alone, so it's best to have someone pop this on your back.
This is what happened when I did push-ups 20 times a day for 2 weeks
push-ups are difficult
I'm still amazed at how difficult push-ups are. I lift weights almost every day, I can do pull-ups, and I'm pretty fit, but I still can't do a proper push-up low enough that my chest is just above the floor.
I was wrong when I said bodyweight training was easy. Two weeks later, I still find this bodyweight workout more difficult than other weighted exercises.
I could have done more…
…But my form would have been terrible. For the 20 reps I did, I focused on getting my chest as low as possible to the ground, rather than doing half the reps. During a half-rep, you often bend your arms slightly and your hips sink. When I realized my form was starting to deteriorate, I got on my knees and corrected the movement. This way, I was able to strengthen my upper body without putting stress on my spine due to incorrect form.
I took a break
It's impossible for me to do 20 push-ups in a row, so I was humbled by this challenge. During the 20 push-up challenge, I had to rest three times to let my arms swing out and reset. However, I would like to add that he only started taking two breaks during the two-week challenge. This shows that my strength and endurance for push-ups improved over time.
It was my shoulder that felt the burning sensation.
Although several muscles are involved in push-ups, it was the shoulder muscles that took the brunt of the pain. Push-ups also work your triceps, biceps, and chest muscles, but I didn't feel they worked as well as your shoulders.
Push-ups can be done in many variations.
Different types of push-ups target different muscles, so if you want to do a combination, just change the position of your hands. Spreading your hands out will focus on your pectoral muscles, while holding your hands together and placing them directly under your face will focus on your triceps. Shifting your hand position (one hand slightly in front of your body and the other slightly below) means your core has to work harder.
For me, regular push-ups are hard enough without adding any variations, but as soon as I feel like I'm strong enough, I'm going to mix things up.
I did 20 push-ups a day for 2 weeks – this is my verdict
If you want to improve your upper body strength, you should incorporate push-ups into your routine. This 20-a-day challenge of his reminded me just how tough push-ups are, especially considering this is a bodyweight workout. But I was determined to get better and in just two weeks I noticed a difference in the strength of my push-ups.
Should I do this challenge? My answer is yes, but I recommend adding push-ups to your general workout instead of sticking to 20 a day. If you want to incorporate it into your upper body workout, you can superset banded pull-ups (two of his movements back to back) to counteract the pushing motion of push-ups with the pulling motion of pull-ups.
