Push-Ups: Simple and Effective
Written by Invictus Athlete Josh Littauer
Push-ups? Seemingly simple and too easy, it can be one of the most foundational movements you do. Whether you have a diverse fitness background, a love-hate relationship with fitness, are limited to a certain community in fitness, or have no fitness background at all, the push-up can be a very effective tool for your tool box.
As a person gains experience in fitness, whether that be CrossFit, bodybuilding, barbell training, gymnastics, Olympic lifting, performance training, or any other type of fitness, it is too easy to neglect the simple foundational movements. One of my personal favorites is the push-up. As a young kid growing up my only understanding of getting strong was doing bodyweight movements on the floor. I remember my dad telling me if I wanted to get strong I needed to start with doing push-ups, so that’s what I did. Starting out with a few sets of 5-10 I grew my capacity until I could do bigger and bigger sets. It was an easy way to start and helped build foundational strength that proved beneficial later in my fitness journey.
Push-Ups Have Many Benefits
Having been working out in some form or fashion for about twelve years now, push-ups have always been a staple of my exercise. The benefits include increased chest and shoulder strength, core stability and strength, increased upper back strength, and improved muscle size and definition. All of these benefits directly translate to other areas of strength and fitness. Want to be able to squat more? Increase your core and upper body strength. Want to be able to do more pull-ups? Increase your upper back and shoulder strength. Want to be able to press more weight either overhead or on the bench? More push-ups.
Push-Ups for Every Occasion
One of the best things about push-ups is the versatility. There are countless variations of push-ups you can add to your repertoire to improve in all the listed areas above. Standard plank push-ups, weighted push-ups, ring push-ups, deficit push-ups, handstand push-ups, tempo push-ups, elevated push-ups, one arm push-ups, and the list goes on. There are so many different ways you can use a push-up to improve your strength and fitness.
Push-Ups for Every Level of Athlete
An added benefit of the push-up is how scalable it is. For example, say you have never been able to do pushups before and don’t even know where to start; simply get into a good plank position and lower your chest to the floor as slowly as possible, this is a push-up negative. You can also supplement a push-up by using a band to assist you getting back up off the floor. Simply place a band around knee height, get in a plank position over the band with the band positioned somewhere between your chest and hips. The push-up is incredibly simple and still provides a very effective tool for your fitness.
It is way too easy to overlook the basics and get wrapped up in the complexity of movements and program. Never neglect the fundamentals and stick to things that are simple and effective.
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Happy CYBER MONDAY Invicti! Since all of you fitness fanatics are staying active during this busy cyber time, we wanted to make sure you saw that we are offering 10% off of the Invictus Online Program Gift Cards. Use this for yourself, or gift it to someone who wants to improve their CrossFit Open performance, get better at Gymnastics, improve their Weightlifting, or increase their Endurance capacity.
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