Monday, June 16, 2008

Workin' out GI Jane Style

Exercise of the Week: Push Ups

Next to squats my other favorite exercise is for the upper body…Push ups! They are a total upper body exercise and they do wonders for toning the arms. But at the same time they give your lower back, abs, and even your quads a workout. The key here is maintaining proper form. Pushups are difficult for beginners, and the key is to just keep pushing yourself to improvement. Start with a standing wall pushup. If you feel like that is too easy for you go down to the ground and do “girl pushups” on your knees. With these you have to make sure to keep your body in a flat line; meaning keep your hips down and abs tight and you should be fine. As your body starts to get tired you want to raise those hips to give your arms relief, but don’t!! The next step up in difficulty would be a full pushup with your feet out behind you. Once you get to the point where you can do 15 girl pushups in a row, don’t be afraid to try full pushups. If the regular full pushup gets too easy for you I have a whole list of variations, so feel free to ask me! Pushups are a great exercise that really works the arms and chest that you can do anywhere. I would recommend doing three sets of 15, 3 times a week. I promise you’ll see the difference! (and lets be honest you’ll feel tough too!)

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