It’s the 21st century Push up challenge, and other fitness challenges are the rave of the moment especially with the advent of the social media. It is not uncommon to find people on the internet who are currently participating in a fitness challenge and want their friends to know how well they are doing with these challenges.
A Push up challenge is one of the more popular challenges because they are very easy to participate in and learn. Although, the push up challenge still requires a lot of resilience. In this article, we will be discussing various types of push up challenges and how these challenges influence your health and fitness.
What Is A Push-Up?
Push-up is a type of exercise that involves placing the body in a prone position while lowering and raising it simultaneously using the arms.
Pushups generally increase body strength and engage the core of the body.
Push Up Challenge – How To Do An Ideal Push-Up
There is a big difference between sloppy push ups and a push up with good form. When you do a push up with good form, you are controlled, using a full range of motion and you pause for a split second at both the top and the bottom of the movement.
Here are the steps:
- Stay in a prone position and place your hands firmly on the ground. Tighten the muscles of your stomach and flatten your back.
- Start to lower your body but always remember to keep your eyes focused in front of you and your back must remain flat. A common mistake some people make is to bend their backs while they are lowering their bodies.
- Remain in the lowered position for a few seconds and raise your body back up while your back remains flat.
- Don’t forget to breathe.
What Are The Muscles Worked On During Push-Ups?
The following are the muscles of the body that are usually targeted when you do a push-up or any push up challenge:
- Rectus abdominis
- Transversus abdominis
- Deltoid
- Pectoralis major and minor
- Spinal erectors
Popular Types Of Push Up Challenge
There are a lot of push-up challenges out there, but we will be discussing the ones that will benefit you the most.
The Modified Push-Up On Yoga Block Challenge
Instead of having your knees directly on the floor while doing push-ups, the modified yoga block push-up ensures that your knees are raised above the floor, about 6-8 inches off the ground.
The Incline Push-Up Challenge
When you do push-ups on an incline, it alters the way the force of gravity acts on your body and strengthens the muscles of your arms and chest.
Incline push-ups are easy to perform, take a chair and place it in front of your body, puts your arms on the chair and place at about 45 degrees, begin the up and down push-up sequence.
The Eccentric Push-Up Challenge
The difference between your normal push-up and the eccentric push up is that in the eccentric push up, you slowly lower yourself on the floor and quickly push back up. It benefits your body by increasing the size and strengths of your muscles.
Other types of push up challenges are; Decline push-ups, hand-release push-ups, military-style push-ups, etc.
What Are The Benefits Of Doing a Push Up?
The following are some of the advantages of doing a push up challenge:
- Increases the functional strength of your body.
- Enhances your cardiovascular system.
- Protects your shoulders from injuries by strengthening the muscles around the shoulder region.
- Improves your posture.
- No equipment needed
What If Your Chest Begins to Hurt Doing a Push Up Challenge?
The tough thing about doing a lot of push ups is that your chest muscles can get tight. It does not help that we often sit with horrible posture which only makes this pain worse. The solution to this is working with a sports medicine provider.
9INE POINT Health is a great place to start the search for local options. 9INE POINT Health allows healthcare providers to search for local providers by type and skill. If you are looking for a massage therapist that also knows fascial stretch therapy for example, 9INE POINT Health will show you the best in your area.
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
