Why pushups should be included your weekly workout regimen

05/26/2016 / By usafeaturesmedia

(MensFitnessFocus.com) Push-ups are one of the most popular body weight exercises, and they should be included in every workout routine. Here’s why:

Push-ups are actually a full body exercise

You may know that push-ups are meant to train your arms, chest and shoulders, but due to the body tension that you create, your whole body including your abs and legs will benefit from the exercise. Research found that your abs contribute a lot to the body stiffness while performing push-ups. Therefor push-ups are actually a great full body workout.

Push-ups prevent injuries

Push-ups are beneficial for reducing injuries in your daily or sport activities. The stronger your upper-body and core, the less likely you are to pull or strain a muscle when doing daily tasks such as moving furniture, carrying a child or lifting groceries. When you perform push-ups on a regular basis, then you are also less likely to dislocate your shoulder during sports for instance. Strong Pecs, Delts and Triceps help to stabilize your shoulder joints which gives you more power and resistance.

Push-ups increase your metabolism

Performing push-ups will increase your muscle size, which leads to an increase of your metabolism. A faster metabolism uses more calories as your body strives to maintain the muscles you’ve built. This is a beneficial way to help with your weight loss or weight maintenance efforts. Research shows the “metabolic boost” after weightlifting is, on average, about 9 to 11%. Other research shows that push-ups can be compared with bench presses in terms of strength gains.

You can perform push-ups anytime and anywhere

The great thing about push-ups is that they don’t require any gym equipment, a training facility or any preparation. You can literally do them anytime and anywhere. Every morning when you get out of bed for instance or quickly perform 10 reps while the next episode of your favorite Netflix series is loading.

Different Push-up variations keep you motivated and challenged

Push-ups exist in many variations. Varying exercises gives your muscle new impulses and stimulates them to keep growing. By changing your body or hand position you can increase the difficulty and intensity. No matter if you’re a beginner or an expert athlete, there will always be a certain push-up exercise that is actually hard and challenging for you. I bet you still have a long way to go before you can beat Bruce Lee with his two finger push-up, but have you tried one of these other push-up variations already:

Clapping push-ups
Diamond push-ups
Handstand push-ups
Superman push-ups
One arm push-ups

Getting exited already? Here you can find more popular push-up variations and tutorials.

Reporting by Jim Coras, NaturalNews.com.

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Tagged Under: daily workout, Pushups

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