The push up is one of the easiest exercises to do anywhere you go.  The great thing about it is that anyone can do a push up and all you need is your body. This blog is about learning the proper technique on how to do a push up and how improper technique can lead to injury and weaken the effectiveness of the exercise.

Muscles at Work!

Since a push up requires multiple joints use, it will take more than one muscle to execute the exercise properly.  Pushups are known to work the chest, triceps, and shoulders but require much more than that for proper technique.  The abdominals and glutes are important in the exercise because they help stabilize and align the upper and lower body.

Improper Technique

Whether doing push ups from the knees or toes, it is important to stay in alignment to avoid injuring the low back or shoulders.  One of the more common mistakes people make is having their butt too high or low in the air.  This will significantly reduce the effectiveness of the exercise and may lead to injury.  Two other bad techniques are arching your upper back or having your head in the wrong placement.  Both of these techniques will cause tension on a person’s neck and ultimately affect someone’s posture.  The last improper technique, which can easily be adjusted, is having the elbows out too wide.  This will cause the humerus’s head to nudge up against the clavicle which can cause sharp pain or discomfort.  A great fix for this is to just bring in the elbows.

Proper Technique

Proper push up technique will start from the head all the way through the legs. First start off by having a straight head and neck position so that you do not get any neck pain.  Next, your shoulders should be back and stable while your hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width apart, and at chest level.  Your hips and torso should also be straight by keeping your core and glutes in tightly engaged.  Once you are in the start position, lower your body until your arms are at 90° so that you can avoid injury to your shoulders.  Now you can go lower that 90° but it all depends on whether or not your shoulders are healthy enough to handle that type of range of motion.  Whether doing push ups from the knees or toes one should always get a full range of motion and at a controlled tempo.  Doing a push up too fast can cause you to lose technique and not engage all of your muscles properly.

I am often told, “Squatting hurts my knees” and yet, we can’t avoid this fundamental human movement. Think of how many times you do these movements during the day.

• Get up from a chair, couch or the potty
• Pick something up off the ground
• Get out of a car
• Get out of bedBeing able to do this motion is quite important for quality of life and independence as you age. This is why I regularly have my clients’ practice squatting. When done repeatedly, it’s a great strengthening exercise that uses the larger muscles in the legs.

Aging client is practicing squatting facing the wall. Sometimes I put a chair behind the person if they feel that they might go backward. This awkward way to squat REALLY takes care of the knees and teaches the person to push their rear end back keeping the knees in proper alignment over their toes.

Listed below are a few other common mistakes people make when squatting:

Common Squatting Mistakes Explained

Bringing Knees Together

Knees should line up between the hip and foot when viewed from the front. As you start moving upward, try not to let your knees come together

Favoring One Leg
Try not to shift your weight when you are squatting. You should feel like you have equal pressure on both feet and feel the muscles of both legs doing an equal amount of work.

Many of you have had an injury or surgery on a hip, knee, or ankle. While the bad leg was healing, you shifted more of the workload onto the good leg. Unfortunately, this pattern became so ingrained that you continue to squat this way even after your injured leg has healed.

If you continue to do this, you’re always going to have one leg that’s weaker.

Looking at the Floor
I tell my clients, “You are going to GO the direction you are looking!”

When getting out of a chair, pick a spot out in front of you that is about four or five feet high and fix your eyes on it as you get up. Looking forward in this manner will ensure that your head is up and your body goes the direction you intended.

Feet Too Close Together
Wider legs are more stable. Get your feet at least ten inches apart before you try to stand up. This is a simple fix and will result in much greater stability.

Plopping Down
When you are squatting for exercise, remember that you are strengthening your muscles both on the way up as you move against gravity, and on the way down, as you try to control your descent. Gravity wants to pull you down into that chair and make you PLOP.

Other Tips
You may already be too weak in the legs to do the squat correctly from a chair. You can still improve your leg strength over time. Try the squat from your bed; it may be higher than most chairs.

Action Plan
To strengthen your legs using the squat, you can do 1 or 2 sets of 8-15 squats 2 or 3 times per week. Become aware of your squat form every time you get up from that chair!

Yours in Health and Fitness,

Lisa Wright – ISSA Fitness Professional
Your Personal Best Training Studio
ypbtrainingstudio.com
Owner/Director of Operations
361-549-4604

PS For more info visit this link http://www.seniorexercisesonline.com/how-to-squat.html