Pushups or commonly known as press-ups, especially in the UK, are a tremendously popular upper body calisthenic exercise. It is globally well recognized exercise which is practiced to measure basic athletic strength in school’s physical drill class or even to check the endurance in military academics.
There would be hardly anyone unacquainted to the very name of pushups. Pushups are considered a standard exercise for anybody who wants to develop his upper body strength- specifically the strength in chest and arms. Along with chest and arms, pushups also encompass and activates many other muscles and muscle groups. Major muscles groups involved in pushups are –
- Chest muscles which includes pectoralis major and minor
- Back muscles which includes upper and middle back,latissimus dorsi,rhomboids and trapezes
- Shoulder muscles includes deltoid major and minor
- Biceps, front upper arm
- Triceps, back upper arm
Apart from these muscles, one can strengthen lower back muscles and core as well by pulling in the abdominal muscles and engaging them while performing pushups.
History of Pushups:
Jerick Revilla in 1905 is believed to be the creator of the modern version of pushups. History of pushups dates back to the Roman emperor Constantine who was fond of pushups, that had slightly different form than the modern- day pushups. Closer examinations reveal that some variation of the modern-day pushups were performed by soldiers of the army of the Holy Roman Empire.
There are significant evidences of pushups being performed in India for ages known as Hindu pushups or Dand. The Hindu pushups has its roots thousand years back when the warriors used this exercise to shape their bodies.
One example is the Indian wrestler Great Gama who had landslide victories in all 5000 matches he played in his life. He was also thought to perform 4000 Hindu pushups and Hindu squats every day.
Benefits of pushups:
There are plentiful paybacks of doing pushups. Let’s see some of the major benefits of it.
1) Pushups to enhance upper body strength:
Pushup is a compound exercise, that means it engages many muscles at a time. As we discussed above, the major muscle groups working when one performs pushups, clearly indicates that it is one of the finest exercises to improve upper body strength.
2) Pushups safeguard shoulder injury:
Standard variation of pushup is considered very effective in protecting shoulder joints from injury, as while doing pushups one needs to stabilize the shoulder muscles around the rotator cuff which leads to good strength development in those muscles. Even elder individuals can have huge benefits from pushups. They can avoid shoulder stiffness thereby can condition their shoulder joints.
3) Enhances cardiovascular system:
As pushup is a compound exercise, it activates multiple muscle groups and which makes your heart and lungs work more efficiently to supply oxygen to those muscles at work due to their increased requirement of energy and blood flow.
4) Improves body Posture and agility:
Many of us suffer from various health issues and physical complications due to restricted hours of mobility. Our wrong habits of sitting, standing or even continuous long sedentary workhours are to be blamed majorly for this issue.
Sitting in front of a computer, or doing some desk job for extended hours is injurious to back, neck and shoulder joints and stiffens our spinal cord. This could lead to destruction of core strength and stabilization and ultimately spoiling our posture.
While executing pushups, we work on those muscles which gradually improve our posture by augmenting strength in back, shoulder and coremuscles. There are countless variations of pushups which helps to enhance the agility of a regular doer.
5) Can be performed from anywhere:
The greatest advantage of pushups is that is can be performed at any location. There is no special equipment needed to execute many variations of it.
Variations of push-up:
To name a few—
Standard pushups
Narrow and wide grip pushups
Diamond pushups
clapping pushups
Hindu pushups and dive bomber pushups
Inclined /declined pushups
Staggered pushups
One hand pushups
Grasshopper pushups….and many more.
Any form of pushups you perfrom, the fact to keep in mind is to achieve the correct form of it. Incorrect forms of any exercise won’t help you to get an A in the terms of its benefits and on top of it, it can land you in troubles or injuries.
Visit the link given here to learn the correct way of performing pushups and its variations. (INDIA’S BEST EVER VIDEO ON PUSHUPS – YouTube).
Push up board and its benefits:
Pushups are possible to perform anywhere. Nevertheless, there is always a chance of adding edge to your performance and uplifting your outputs by the inclusion of some modern equipment in your workouts.
Pushup board is a potential and handy tool to take your pushup workout to a different level.
It is user friendly:
on a pushup board you will find different colour codes to help you and guide you in achieving your workout goals. so, one can follow and understand it with ease without any ambiguities.
Can challenge yourself:
We talked about many variations of pushups a while ago. One can work on the same muscle groups by executing different versions of pushups which will upraise one’s potential beyond one’s regular limits.
Portable and hassle free:
Generally, while doing workouts at home, people face the issues regarding space, as most of the workout tools and equipment are quite big. However, pushup board is a portable tool which can be placed, used and stored in a small space and it’s convenient to carry along. One can do the workouts with it in the comfort of one’s home or even can carry in open places like parks or open gymnasiums. After you are done with your exercise, it can be packed in a bag provided with it. No special maintenance required for a pushup board.
Safer workouts:
Statistically, probabilities of injury due to wrong form of exercise is approximately 73%. when you use pushup board, chances of injuries are minimized substantially. pushup boards have wide /thick grips which aids you to minimize pressure on your wrists and you can have a correct placement of your hands ensuring safer workouts. One can train hard without any fear of injuries.
Light on pocket:
Standard and good quality push up boards are easily available at pocket friendly price that could be afforded by most of us.
Pushup board is one of the amazing investments to take your pushups to advanced levels and unleash your pushup potential, albeit it is a matter of personal choice to use one or not. Pushup board offers significant benefits in cases of wrist or shoulder injuries for it permits strain free movement. It might facilitate your progression of learning pushups of different versions.
