OK – because i couldn’t get to a gym over xmas for my strength training i resorted to more traditional means – press-ups and sit-ups. Now you’ve probably guessed at this point i don’t do any exercise unless i have an app, and some kind of training objective – enter more apps from Runtastic…. Pushups Pro, and Situps Pro.
They are fairly good as motivational tools – they set up your daily objectives and you get badges when you hit milestones. I like that stuff, although i can understand its not to everyones taste. Now sit-ups i found to be fairly easy, the trick being not to do them too fast, but there was a surprising amount to be said about doing push-ups. This is what i learned, and the rules i will follow for now:
Pushups on your fists
i saw a few people said pushups should only be done with your fists because the tendons and nerves in your wrists are weak. Now i am not sure about that – doing pushups on your fists hurts, and pain is your body telling you it doesnt like something. Doing them this way may not be so good for all the bones and muscles in your fists. Ive seen a lot of pro athletes that use the palm of the hand, though some note that the part of your hand that you are using is important. I don’t pushup on my fists.
Spacing of your hands
Secondly spacing of your hands in relation to your shoulders is important – depending on where you put them depends on which muscle groups your exercising – and moving your hands too far from your body is more likely to cause injury.
Body curves
The body should be straight. if you push out your ass your not doing a full push up.
Body building wonkiness
If your looking to do real body building using pushups and maybe even one of those rubber bands, then you need to also do reverse pushups to build your other muscles.
Doing a full pushup
Nose touches the ground in the down position, in the up position lift until your arms and shoulders make an arch.
2 Second duration
2 seconds up, 2 seconds down… any faster than that and your using gravity to help you make a controlled fall. Thats cheating.
Beginners can cheat…
Doing pushups from the knees – i.e. not the feet. its less to lift.
… i am interested in what others have to say on this, and developing my technique.
Owens Health Blog 