Push it up, push it up, push it all the way up!

 

If you were a kid in the US who took gym class anytime between the 1960s and 2012, chances are you took the Presidential Physical Fitness Test. This gym-class tradition happened on an annual basis, requiring students to undergo a series of six physical challenges to test their endurance, agility, flexibility, and muscular strength. The kids who scored within or above the 85th percentile earned the coveted Presidential Physical Fitness Award. 

Though I won’t be able to award you each a patch I think it can be helpful to have benchmarks to aim for in our fitness. I thought we would select just one of the 6 requirements to focus on this week—- Push-ups. If you were in elementary school you would need to be able to do 25 push ups (in proper full body form) to earn the Presidential Physical Fitness patch but here is what is desired from us now. 

I want you to be able to easily do what would be excellent for your age group but push ups are  notoriously tough. Enter push-up modifications! The pathway to perfect execution of a dozen or so push ups (If you aren't already there) is to build your strength through doing modified push ups as you build your strength. Here are three modifications that are still amazing for working your upper-body muscles. They will help you build the strength and range of motion you need in order to work up to a full body push up. 

These push-up variations practice the same range of motion, but eliminate some of the weight you need to move. They’ll also strengthen your “push-up muscles” (triceps, biceps, shoulders, chest, back, and abs), and put less pressure on the joints. 

The wall push-up is the easiest modification, followed by the incline push-up, then the knee push-up. The more frequently you practice, the quicker you’ll be able to advance.  Try them all, and challenge yourself to advance in number of repetitions as well as type of modification until you work up to perfect form full body push ups. 

1. Wall push ups 

Stand a few feet away from a wall (the further away you stand, the more challenging the move will be).

Lean forward and place your hands on the wall in front of you, slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

Bend and straighten your arms to complete a push-up.

2. Incline Push-Ups

Place your arms on a stairs, a bench, table, couch or counter top and extend your legs straight behind you so that you're in an elevated plank position. Again, your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

Keeping your body in a straight line and your elbows close to your body, bend and straighten your arms to complete a push-up.

3. Knee Push-Ups

Start in high plank with your shoulders above your wrists and your spine long. This GIF shows your hands in a diamond push-up position, which is great for targeting your triceps, but for this modification place your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, says Stone.

Drop to your knees, rolling to the top of your knees to protect your knee caps.

Bend your elbows and lower your chest to the ground.

Push through the palms of your hands to straighten your arms.

So for our weekly challenge:

1. Choose what type of push up you are going to start with

2. Decide a challenging number of push ups to do

3. Do 3 sets of push ups per day (you might want to do them at various times throughout your day)

* This is one of those challenges that I would hope you would continue throughout our 8 weeks together or actually until you can master and maintain the number of full push ups you should be able to compete for your age group. Let's get fit and stay feet.