Push Ups: What Muscles Do They Workouts

When you decide to do any workout and this involves some strength training, you need to pay attention to what muscle groups you are working. Why? You want to work the body completely and you may find that doing more of one particular exercise can help you to target your problem areas. Push ups are one of the exercises that you can do at home, they are often considered a staple. But, do you really know all the muscles groups that the push up is working out?

What Are Push Ups?

Push ups are a standard exercise that many people do everyday. This is when you push up from the floor using your body weight as the way to tone and work your muscles. These are great for upper body strength. Are there risks to performing push ups? There is a risk with any type of exercise that you do, so you should be aware of this.

However, the risks are generally not that big of a deal. One of the risks of push ups is that after a while you may find that the weight challenge is not enough, that you are breezing through this without really giving your muscles a workout. On the flip side, for those who are new to push ups they may find that they need to modify these as they could be too hard to do at first.

What Muscles Do Push Ups Work Out?

Push ups are all about working the upper body. They are meant to help build strength. And those who do these routinely will find that their upper body becomes more defined or that they are able to lift heavier things than what they could a few months ago. The push up exercise is going to work the triceps, pectoral muscles and shoulders. You will also find that when you do this with the proper form it can help to strength the lower back and help with strengthening the abdominal muscles aka the core of your body.

How to Perform Push Ups

Depending upon how you are doing these push ups, regularly or modified will be the directions no how to perform these.

For those who are looking to do a modified push up, such as if they are starting to do this, or they find the regular push up to be too hard. With this modification you are going to want to start in a kneeling position with your hands below the shoulders and knees behind the hips so that the back is angled and long. Then tuck your toes under, tighten the abdominal and bend your elbows to the lowest chest toward the floor. You will then press the check back up to the start position and repeat for the number of repetitions that you have decided to start with.

For those who are doing a regular push up, they are going to lay flat on the floor. Tuck the toes under and place your hands shoulder width apart. Start with your arms locked, hands flat on the floor. Then lower to the floor. You will want to keep your back completely straight when you lower and then raise to the starting position again.

Push ups are a great exercise for those just beginning their fitness journey, or for those who have been looking for a way to tone their own bodies at home. Remember, start your repetitions of these push ups slowly so that you do not risk injury, and also this helps you to stick to your new fitness routine when you do not overdo it at first.