16 July, 2007
Ask the Coach: Exercise of the Week
Press Up
An often neglected exercise of late is the old school press up. It works to strengthen the shoulders, chest and triceps on the back on the arm and it’s a staple exercise on many of the training grounds across the country. The objective is lower your chest to touch the ground while keeping your torso level with your shoulders. Press-ups have the benefit of not having to compress your shoulder blades against the bench so it gives these joints much needed freedom. Women generally struggle initially as there strength may lie in their lower body but a good goal would be to perform 10 strict push-ups on your toes.
Here are some tips and progressions to perfect this exercise.
- Kneel on the ground with your knees hip distance apart, your hips above your knees and your hands outside your shoulders.
- Your elbows should be below your shoulders but above your wrists.
- Bend your elbows so your chest lowers to the ground keeping your torso tight and your neck long.
- Return to starting position by pushing your hands into the ground to extend your arms.
- To increase the intensity move your hips forward so that they are past your knees and repeat the process.
- When you get stronger at this you can go up on your toes and the quickest way to develop your strength is to evenly lower yourself in 8 seconds. On each set increase the time of
- lowering until you can do a complete repetition.
- To further challenge yourself elevate your feet to make it harder or elevate your upper body to make it easier.
Sets: 2-4 No of times to Repeat Repetitions- Start with 2 sets and increase
Repetitions: 10-15
Tempo: 3010 Lower down in 3 seconds push back to starting position in 1 sacs
Rest: 60 seconds- Repeat Exercise