Push ups Rarely Get The Credit They Deserve, But Adding Some Slight Deviation Might Make It Your Favorite Exercise
The push up is probably the most well known exercise of all, and is a staple of any fitness regimen. What most people have in mind when they think of push ups is the traditional position of having both hands and feet on the ground as the individual pushes up and down repeatedly.
However this isn’t the entire story, push ups represent an entire category of exercise, one which includes many variations on this timeless technique. This article explores arguably the most impressive variation: the handstand push up. Mastering this exercise is a guaranteed way of impressing absolutely anybody who happens to be watching, and will quite likely boost your confidence, self-image and muscle group as well.
Push ups are great because by cycling through the many variations you can strength and tone virtually every single muscle in your body without the use of any weights or equipment of any kind. The handstand push up exercises many different muscles in your body, and is certainly the most difficult of all the variations, so make sure that at the very least you have the basic horizontal push up under control before you attempt the handstand push up.
Make sure to get a proper warm up before attempting this impressive push up, the shoulder muscles in particular need to be warm and limber. The first step of the exercise is to get into the handstand position, but clearly this is easier said than done. Many people are hopeless when it comes to doing a handstand, but if you’re one of these people you needn’t give up on your dream of doing handstand push ups. If you cannot just jump right into a handstand, just get into the basic push up position and keep your feet pressed against a wall.
Once you’re in this position slowly back yourself up with your hands and grip the wall with your feet until you are vertical. Support yourself against the wall but slowly try to get the feel and balance required for a handstand.
Now comes the push up, and the easiest part which is simply lowering yourself down. Try to lower yourself slowly though, resisting gravity will make sure you’re getting the most out of the exercise. If you are having real problems trying to balance, it’s a good idea to get somebody to help you by holding your legs as you get used to lowering yourself and pushing up while balanced.
These push ups are meant to be difficult, so do not get discouraged by how hard it is at first. Over time you will improve and then can try to increase the amount of repetitions you do per set.