Why You Need Pushups In Your Workout

With the large number of resistance training exercises and machines available, one of the great basics to building strength has gone overlooked in the new generation of workouts. The basic exercise I’m talking about is the pushup. The pushup and all of its varying forms provides a great base for you to work from and will improve your numbers in other areas such as chest, tris, and shoulders.

One benefit to pushups over bench press is they build your rotator-cuff muscles which help stabilize your shoulders. This not only builds strength, but prevents injury. Pushups (in proper form) are also great for your back because they improve your posture and reduce your chances of back injury.

Of course, pushups also build your chest and tricep muscles. To what degree you work on them depends on which version of the push up you choose to employ and how much you want to modify the version. For example, you could burn your triceps by doing triangle pushups* and having a friend add a 10 pound weight to the center of your back.

If triceps aren’t in your regular routine, add them. In fact, if you’re fresh to lifting weights or just getting back in the swing of things after a long layoff, pushups are awesome for building strength before entering the weight room.

This video is excellent. Sargent Ken goes covers a lot of what I talked about in this blog and shows great form (although I think he could have gone down a little farther but maybe he was shorting for the video).