The Push Up
The push up is a great exercise which is often overlooked. Whilst climbing we predominantly use our pulling muscles and consequently, our pushing muscles are frequently neglected. When training it is important to train the antagonist muscle groups to ensure you keep the body balanced. By regularly incorporating push ups into your training regime you will not only get a stronger upper body and find it easier to do those mantles, but also reduce the chance of injury. The push up will help strengthen the shoulder muscles helping to prevent injuries from all that pulling.
Starting with the basic push up, go down on to your knees and place your hands in front of you about a shoulder width apart.
When you are ready, push your feet back and lift your knees off of the floor supporting your whole body on your hands and feet parallel.
Keeping in a steady position with your body in a straight line head to toe. Keeping your elbows tucked to your side start to lower yourself down until your chest is about an inch from the floor. It is important not to go all the way to the floor as you want to keep the body tension throughout the movement.
Once your chest is an inch from the floor it is time for the final push. Push through the hands until the arms are fully extended back into the starting position. That is one push up.
Common faults with the push up are not keeping good form throughout. The hips can dip below parallel and can also be too far up. It is important to keep the body in a straight line at all times and remember to breath. Another common mistake is not going through the whole range of motion. Ensure you go all the way down to one inch off of the floor and all the way up. If you are struggling to keep good form then squeeze the glutes and draw your navel in, this will help engage your core and keep you in a solid position.
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