Pushups

My clients and class participants hate me for the emphasis I put on pushups.  The fact is they are the best tool to combine your upper and lower body endurance and strength crossing through, and including, your core.

Compare the guy who can bench press 500 lbs to the guy that can do 75 continuous pushups.  Who do you want to help push your car when it runs out of gas on the way to work?  The common pick would be the guy that can bench press a lot because he is stronger.  This is such a misconception because the guy that can perform 75 pushups has found the ability to connect his upper and lower body, work with the core, work efficiently, and coordinate the body as a unit rather than isolating out muscle groups.   This is just more relative to everyday life and the physical situations that present themselves.

Here are a couple varieties you can throw into a pushup routine:

Alter the placement of your hands (standard is at the location of your collarbone, make it harder by starting with them more up by your chin, then your nose, the your hairline, notice how much more core engagement you get).

Keep your feet on a stability ball while doing the pushups to let the lack of a foundational balance make your body work harder.  Still not hard?  Only put one foot on the ball, let the other one float in the air.

Do pushups with both hands grabbing a medicine ball or basketball.  Notice how much harder it is when your hands are closer, let alone fighting for balance.