Drop and Give me Twenty!

Written By PFC Fitness Camp • 4 min read

“1, 2, 3, 4…”

Oh my goodness, what was I thinking?

“Keep going! 28, 29, 30…”

Who’s idea was it to get a trainer to punish me like this? I mean push ups; really?

Oh, right. It was me. And I am my own trainer today.

Well, keep at it while we talk to you about the benefits of push ups and burpees today.

WHAT IS A PUSH UP?
I think that anyone who has ever taken a gym class in their life has probably been exposed to a push up or two. A favorite workout of the military and gym teacher alike, push ups benefit any exercise regime. They are simple to do and cost you nothing, but sweat equity.

Now, lie on the floor, face down, with your feet together. In the classic position, place your hands shoulder-width, or a little further, apart. Keeping your body flat and aligned, then push away from the floor. Raise yourself until your arms are straight, lower back to the ground, and repeat.

Sounds easy enough, right? Drop and do a couple of them right now, and then tell me how easy they are.

VIDEO DEMO OF PROPER PUSH-UP FORM:

BENEFITS OF PUSH UPS:
So how many did you do? Congratulate yourself if you got off of the floor. Push ups are harder than they look. The benefits of push ups are worth the effort though. Push ups tone your pectorals, triceps, front and side deltoids, serratus anterior and coracobrachialis muscles. In other words, they strengthen your arms, shoulders, chest and the mid-section as a whole. With practice, you will be able to increase the amount of push ups that you can do, which will improve your overall strength and muscle mass. That will help everything from carrying in the groceries to feeling better about yourself physically and emotionally. Best of all, they require no equipment or gym-space to do, thus are free.

WHAT IS A BURPEE PUSH-UP?
You might have heard about a variation of the push up called burpees. What is a burpees exercise exactly? A burpee is faster and has more flare. Start from standing, then drop to a squat with your hands on the floor. Kick you legs back to a plank position behind you. Jump your feet back into a squat, then leap into the air and raise your hands high. You have now done a burpee. Repeat.

PUSH UP WORKOUT
Now that you are ready to start a push up workout, let’s look at how to go about it. Ideally you want to accomplish 30 minutes of push ups a week. If the challenge is getting you off the floor at all, look at alternatives such as knee push ups, where you remain on your knees, keeping your body straight from waist to head. Another easy variation for starters is the wall push up, where you stand on the ground and lean into the wall for your push up. As your strength increases, you can move back to standard push ups and beyond. There are also clap push ups (where you clap on your way up), diamond push ups (feet are wide apart and hands close enough to form a diamond with thumbs and index fingers touching), and even  stability ball push ups (with exercise ball underneath you from waist to toes depending upon your control).

To get more out of your push up workout, you need to increase the difficulty of it as well. Begin your push up workout and steadily add 1-5 push ups every other day, as able. Your aim is for 100 push ups. It won’t happen overnight, but increasing the amount of push ups you do will increase your strength and overall health.

Add to your burpees exercise the same way, starting with what you can and increasing the number of burpees you do each day. See if you can do the 100-day burpees challenge even, by doing one burpee on the first day, two on the second, three on the third, and so on up to 100 on the last day. You don’t have to do them all at the same time, but try to make it to the end of the 100 days. Your cardiovascular endurance and agility will improve markedly.

Here are Premier Fitness Camp in Utah we are committed to teaching you the right way, the strongest way, and the best way for you do exercise and workout. We are a five-star fitness resort in gorgeous Utah with the best in accommodations and trainers.

So get back on the floor and see if you can struggle yourself off of it with the help of those pectoral muscles. The good news is that with a little strength and will power, you will be able to double, then triple your strength before you know it.

Now DROP and give me 20!

SOURCES:
http://hundredpushups.com
http://laurensfitness.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burpee
http://www.livestrong.com
http://www.burpees.info