Push Ups....The Forgotten Exercise

Anyone who has seen me train clients, trained with me and/or seen me workout knows that I love Push Ups....WHY??? Because they work! Push ups work your Chest, Arms, Shoulders, "Core", Legs, you name it. What you can accomplish with a couple sets of Push Ups cannot be matched by ANY one Exercise Machine. Secondly, Push ups are a great diagnostic tool to reveal weakness, tightness, instability, as well as compensation. Push ups can be modified to accommodate any level of Strength and Fitness level, and they can be made progressively more difficult very simply with the help of a Power Rack, a weighted vest, Power Bands, Medicine Ball, or even plain old free weight plates.

Additionally, Push Ups are safer for the shoulder joint as they allow the scapulae to move freely as one ascends and descends during the exercise. In contrast, during machine chest exercises, the scapulae are pinned or trapped against a bench which can cause damage to the shoulder capsule, and/or the many tendons that sprawl thru the shoulder joint. Go into any High School Weight Room and the daily question of the day would be, "how much do you bench"? This is a problem that should be addressed but probably won't be due to lack of Knowledgeable Strength Coaching at many High Schools.

Finally, Push Ups have a much greater functional carryover to movements or actions exhibited in many Sports (namely Football). In "many" sports (not including Powerlifting) how strong you are strong while lying on your back is irrelevant because if you are on your back it is likely that you got knocked on your butt and a strong bench press did not help in this example. I am not saying to not do Bench Press, but there seems to be TOOO much emphasis on this exercise in many Strength & Conditioning programs, and not enough attention to Push Up progressions.

To me it would be a far more impressive expression of Explosive Power to observe a 200lb+ athlete bang out 5-10 Plyo Push Ups, than Bench Press 300lbs....