Wednesday 15 June 2011

2 Killer Push Up Variations

Is your exercise routine getting a little stagnant? Are you looking for a change? Look in the mirror for a second...you'll see everything you need right there.

Exercises using your bodyweight are very effective but are greatly underutilized. With the aid of gravity, you can utilize your own bodyweight as the resistance required to develop a great body.

Over the years, thousands of people have successfully used push ups and certain push up modifications to develop their musclular strength. The reason is because push ups help build upper body strength and endurance. They do a great job of building your chest, tricep, and shoulder muscle groups.

The trouble comes after you do exactly the same regular push ups for an extended period of time. You end up hitting a plateau and your muscles stop developing.To avoid a plataeu, you have to throw some variation into the mix - you have to shock your muscles back into growth. I have put together a list of push up variations you can try that will challenge you in a whole new way. Two of them are listed here:

T Push Up
Of all push up variations, this one tops my list. It's an effective variation because incorporates an element of stabilization into the exercise. Begin the same way you would a regular push up. Now push off hard (be explosive) so your body is turned to one side.

Effectively, you should be balancing yourself with one arm extended and your feet turned to the side. The other arm should be straight up above you and your body will resemble a T. Twist back to face forward as you come down and perform the same thing on the other side.





Medicine Ball Push Up
This is an execllent push up modification for adding an element of stabilization and balance into the mix. Furthermore, medicine balls allow you to experience a greater range of movement per repetition. This results in the muscles being induced to more stress which results in greater muscular growth. With the addition of a medicine ball, get into your regular push up position. Perform a repetition with one hand on the medicine ball. After the first rep, roll the medicine ball slowly to your opposite hand where you are to perform another repetition. Roll the med ball back and forth throughout your entire set.

If you're searching for a more extensive list of modifications, you can check out these unique push up variations. Remember that your body needs change to move past plateus-keep challenging it with new variations.