Can you push up?

Shane Lance B.S., MEd

Can you drop down and do 100 pushups?  Or, is your form more push than up?  Maybe you even start at the top and slowly fall on your face.  Whatever the case may be, pushups are great exercises.  That is, if you do them right.  I have been a coach for 20 years of multiple sports and I have seen some of the most ridiculous, horrifying, and downright laughable pushups that anyone can even imagine.  Just about any teenager can bust out a bunch of sloppy pushups.  Make them use good form and go through the full range of motion, they will look just as silly as we older folks do.

There are many benefits to doing proper pushups.  Just do a search on google and you’ll find tons of good info.  The thing that I like most about pushups is that there are so many varieties.  You can get an awesome workout.  Before you go doing fancy one armed pushups, or daredevil pushups on the wing of a flying airplane or something, it is important to be good at regular pushups first.  Here is a link to a video I found on You Tube.  This is a short video showing proper form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IODxDxX7oi4

Once you have learned how to use proper form, I suggest trying a 100 pushup challenge.  There are many websites and apps out there that will help you with this.  Here is a link to a great website: http://hundredpushups.com   Go there and click on program.  The six-week training is awesome.  I have many of my co-workers just finishing up week two.  They hate me.  Ha ha.

The makers of the video and website I just recommended do not even know I exist.  So, I am not getting paid to recommend you check them out.  I just thought they were good and wanted to share.

For those of you who can’t do a pushup yet, here is a link to a good video showing you the proper form for modified pushups.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Dz0FhzBNI

Now, drop and give me twenty!  Ha ha.  Have fun!