7 Reasons to do a Real Push-Up

A few years ago I went to a football game with my husbands best friend and his wife. Okay, it wasn’t the actual game but it was the most massive and spirited pre-game tailgating event that I’ve ever been to. Generations of fans parked and set up to party all day long. At one point, I got into a friendly push-up competition with my husbands best friend. Who won is not important (I won). What is important is that I initiated the competition, I held my own and every women in the vicinity rallied behind me. Every push-up that I did was completed to wild cheering by the ladies and good-natured heckling at my husbands buddy.

So, the first reason to learn to do a real push-up is…

#1 So you can beat the boys.

Push-up competitions aren’t exactly the kind of thing we ladies do at sleep-overs. But we aren’t 12 anymore and damn girl, does it feel good to win an old-fashioned, typically-male-dominated muscle competition. Reason #1 to learn to do a real-deal push-up is so you can beat the boys when they least expect it. Girl power.

But obviously that’s not the only reason. Here are a few more.

#2 Push-ups are a total upper-body movement.

It’s easy to watch someone do a push-up and believe it’s an arms-only exercise. It’s not. Push-ups work your chest, arms, core and hips as well. Changing the position of your hands targets different muscle groups for a more varied workout. Exercises that work multiple muscles at once are great for stabilization, power, strength and calorie burning.

#3 You can do push-ups anywhere.

At the beach? Push-ups. At the park? Push-ups. At home? At the gym? At the pool? Push-ups, push-ups, push-ups. Anywhere, anytime, no weights needed and you’ve got yourself a workout. Push-ups are a great, basic-but-brilliant exercise to fit in to a workout – like in this no-equipment-needed circuit.

#4 You’ll improve your posture and stand taller.

Since push-ups engage so many muscles, including your core and glutes, your posture reaps the benefits. Stand tall girlfriend, stand tall and then push-up.

#5 You’ll relieve neck and shoulder tension, as well as lower back pain.

So you already know that push-ups improve core stability which, in turn improves your posture. Improving your posture relieves tension from stressed areas of your body – such as your neck, shoulders and lower back. A lot of us spend a lot of time seated: working, driving, commuting. Muscles tighten and you probably feel tension in places that you most likely didn’t work out yesterday. Push-ups can alleviate all of that.

#6 You’ll build better abs.

Have you ever thought “I should do some abs”, and done a plank? You know what doing a plank looks like? It looks like you’re getting ready to do a push-up…

#7 You’ll improve your flexibility.

As you lower yourself to the floor during a push-up, your back stretches to allow the movement to happen. As you push yourself back up to full-arm extension, your bicep muscles get a full stretch. Push-ups help you build strength as well as improve flexibility (and avoid injury in doing so).

Push-ups are intimidating. They are intimidating on paper in a workout program, they are intimidating at the gym when someone knocks out 20 with their toes elevated on the bench, and they are intimidating even as you begin to easily complete 1 rep, 2 reps, and even 10. But the benefits are endless and if the physical pluses don’t remind you to do them during your workout, just close your eyes and imagine a crowd of people cheering you own as you beat the boys at their own game.