The push up is a great upper body and core strength exercise. It does not require any equipment and it can be done anywhere. The push up is a favorite of many military exercise program. Even if you aren’t in the military the push up is a great exercise for over all fitness and conditioning.
The pushup performed on the knees is a effective exercise for strengthening the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Pushups are a great exercise for beginners looking to strengthening and sculpt their upper body. The pushup with knees bent is an easier alternative to the straight-legged push up.
The knee pushup performed with hands elevated strengthens the chest, shoulders and triceps. The elevation increases the exercises range of motion and allows for a pre-stretch on the chest muscles. The pre-stretch is believed to contribute to greater force production by the muscles. Following a pre-stretch (eccentric contraction followed immediately by a concentric contraction) the muscles utilize the storage of elastic energy to achieve a peak-contraction.
The Lateral Jump Burpee is a great exercise for football, volleyball, and martial arts. The Lateral Jump Burpee strengthens the whole body. For a challenging metabolic workout perform for 60 seconds, rest 60 seconds and repeat for five reps. Find an open field to perform the Lateral Jump Burpee.
The Backward Jump Burpee is perfect for improving performance in football, volleyball, and martial arts. The Backward Jump Burpee strengthens the whole body, while developing explosive power in the legs. Perform the Backward Jump Burpee with the Forward and Lateral-Jump Burpee for a terrific metabolic workout.
If your push ups are too easy you can perform them with your feet on a ball. By raising your feet you add more resistance to the upper chest muscles, much like the incline bench press. The swiss ball also adds the extra challenge of maintaining your balance while performing the exercise. The instability challenges your core and activates the abdominals, low back and obliques.
The push up is a great upper-body exercise. When performed often, it develops strength and endurance in the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Performing push-ups with a resistance band increases the difficulty of the exercise. If you’ve been leaving the push-up out of your upper-body workout because it’s too easy, add the resistance band and you’ll be surprised at the results. The exercise is fun to perform and feels good on the upper-body muscles. Best of all you can do push-ups anywhere.
The push-up performed with your feet elevated and using a resistance band for added difficulty will strengthen your chest, shoulder, and triceps. You can perform this exercise at home or at the gym. To increase the difficulty select a resistance band that is less elastic and provides more tension. Keep your core tight and back straight as you raise and lower yourself.
The cable crossover is a great isolation exercise for the chest and anterior shoulder muscles. Cable crossovers are often paired with bench presses to achieve additional definition and growth (hypertrophy) in the chest muscles. You may adjust the height of the pulleys to change the angle of the resistance.
The chest press with handles on *exercise ball is significantly more challenging than the flat bench press. The ball forces you to stabilize your body while pressing the handles. You are also using you glutes and hamstrings to maintain proper position on the ball. This exercise requires you to focus your attention on using proper technique which helps you get more out of the exercise.
The incline barbell bench press is a compound exercise that works the chest, shoulders, and triceps. The incline shifts the work to the upper pectoralis major. Set the incline to a 20 to 35-degree incline from horizontal.
The PowerBlock Ball Chest Press is significantly more challenging than the barbell bench press. The ball forces you to stabilize your body while pressing the dumbbells. You are also using you glutes and hamstrings to maintain proper position on the ball. This exercise requires you to focus your attention on using proper technique which helps you get more out of the exercise.
The PowerBlock bench press using a restricted range of motion is a good exercise to develop your chest. Stopping the motion with your elbows at 90 degrees may make the exercise a little easier on your shoulders. Performing the dumbbell bench press on the ball is also challenging for your core and gets the whole body involved in the exercise.
The PowerBlock Supine Fly Unilateral performed on the ball is an advanced exercise requiring a strong core. By weighting the body on one side it forces you to work harder to stabilize the movement. The surface of the ball provides for more range of motion and therefore recruits more muscle to perform the action. If one side of you chest is stronger than the other this exercise can help even out development. Bodybuilders like to use this exercise as a “finishing” movement on their chest day.
The seated chest press is an exercise for the chest and triceps. The equipment is available at most gyms. The seated chest press is simple enough for beginner exercisers and is good for people with limited mobility. As with every other exercise you should start slowly and follow a proper progression with the seated chest press.
The Shoulder Press w/handles on FSFIB Flat-to-incline Bench is a great compound exercise for strengthening the shoulders, chest and triceps.
The Standing Press with FSSB Straight Bar is a great exercise for strengthening the chest, shoulders and triceps. Pressing in a standing position helps develop core strength as well.
The assisted dip exercise is a compound exercise for the chest, shoulders, and triceps. Use a weight that allows you to control your movement. Avoid momentum and concentrate on squeezing the chest and triceps.
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