Pump Up Your Chest and Strength Train

"Watcha lookin at buddy!"

How many push ups can you do? 20, 30, 50... maybe 2!

The "Push Up..." The push up should be used as a source of reference. What are we referring to, Strength. Increased strength comes with working hard, burning a lot of calories, and building muscle tone. Whether you are male or female give yourself a quick push up test. See how many you can do without stopping. 

Here is the criteria---

Get in the traditional push up position (no ladies, not on your knees) and begin.  Your entire body should be dropping parallel to the ground - imagine a softball in between you and the ground.  If you are strong enough to do at least one push up, then continue the test imagining that your chest hits that "softball" each time. If it doesn't hit, then it doesn't count. Sorry Ladies and Gents, if you are going to do them, then do them right, "NO Half-Azzin." Your push up pace should be controlled and not bouncing up and down. Lastly, make sure you extend (lock) your elbows to the max... We don't want any baby push ups.

Now if you struggle with the traditional push ups then go ahead and drop to your knees. There is nothing wrong with that BUT just make sure to use the same principles. Drop your body until your chest hits the softball and stay in a nice and controlled rhythm. 

Once you finish testing, set your new goal to increase the your total reps every two weeks. Whether it is by 2 or 15, it doesn't matter. Any increase in reps is a sign of progress and an increase in strength. 

Push ups are one of those exercises that are often overlooked. However, push ups strengthen your chest, shoulders, triceps, core, and can challenge your bodies stability. Think of it as an All-In-One exercise. Of course there are many, many, push up variations, which I will talk about more later.  

In the meantime do your traditional push ups. Include them in your training program. If you struggle with them then keep working on them. IF you are MACHO and are doing sets of 25 reps then increase both your total and set repetitions. 

"In my eyes push ups are infinite." So do more than just 2 sets!

Push ups are the real deal... "Now drop and give me 20!"