Introduction
Push-up is a common and famous exercise that helps to strengthen the core and the upper body. It has many benefits when practiced regularly, such as enhancing muscle mass and improving cardiovascular health. They stimulate the muscles of the arms, shoulder, core, and leg; as a whole, push-ups help strengthen the body.
What Are the Benefits of Doing Push-Ups?
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Enhanced Joint Support: Push-ups help strengthen the shoulder joints. The muscles and tendons of the shoulder joints are responsible for placing the upper arm bone in the shoulder socket. The number of push-ups should be increased gradually as there are many chances of injury to the weak muscles and shoulder tendons when more load is applied.
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Enhanced Muscle Tone and Strength: There are many forms of push-ups, each stimulating and activating different muscles. Narrow push-ups activate the triceps and pectoralis major muscles. Forward and backward push-ups help to stimulate the abdominal and back muscles. The backward push-ups is the most beneficial form of push-up as it activates most muscle groups and helps strengthen the upper body.
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Improves Cardiovascular Health: There are studies based on the fact that more push-ups will help decrease cardiovascular risk.
What Is the Muscle Involved in Performing Push-ups?
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Chest: The Pectoralis major is an important muscle that gets activated by performing push-ups. They produce the burnt force during pushing movements.
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Arms: The triceps brachii muscle gets activated effectively as the person needs to extend the elbow while doing push-ups from the floor.
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Abdominals: This muscle and the glutes prevent the body from collapsing while doing push-ups.
What Are the Benefits of Push-ups?
The abdominal muscles, like the rectus abdominis and the internal and external obliques, help to hold the body during push-ups. Push-up is a compound physical activity as it involves many muscles and joints. The upper body muscles that benefit from push-ups are
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Deltois of the shoulder.
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Pectoral muscles of the chest.
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Gluteal muscle.
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Erector spine, which is present at the back.
The functional fitness a person gains through push-ups helps them to enhance the strength required to perform other daily activities. Strengthening the stabilizer muscle present around the should protect from rotator cuff injury. Push-ups do not directly burn fat, but resistance training helps to burn calories, which can create a deficit required for weight loss. The metabolism increases with the build-up of muscles. But push-ups will not help to burn fat on a particular body part.
What Safety Precautions Need to Be Followed While Performing Push-Ups?
Push-ups should be avoided if the person suffers from shoulder, wrist, or elbow injury. Before starting with push-ups, consultation with the doctor needs to be done to clarify wihether performing push-ups will help with the health condition. If the person needs to protect the wrist, the wrist can be placed over dumbells or push-up bars to place them in a neutral position. The push-ups should be stopped immediately if the person feels pain, discomfort, or a clicking sound over the shoulder.
How Are Push-Ups Beneficial for Seniors?
Push-ups are beneficial if performed by older adults as they enhance the strength of the shoulder muscles and the upper body. Strengthening the upper body helps to protect one from any injury. Keeping the muscles around the shoulder healthy and posture in check is necessary.
In the case of elderly people, muscle atrophy is seen more in the upper body as it is not involved much in any strenuous activity like the lower body. Maintaining the muscles of the legs healthy is very easy as it can be done by regular walking, but the upper body performs no such strenuous activity. Due to this, muscle weakness occurs very easily in the upper body.
What Is the Risk Associated With Push-Ups When Performed by Elderly People?
Most of the injury is caused by performing improper techniques. People should get help from an instructor if they have doubts about performing the exercise. Some risks include
1. Reaching a Plateau:
When the activity is performed regularly, the person will experience that the exercise becomes less and less challenging in the long run. This is called a fitness plateau, where the muscles no longer develop. To avoid this, people should be involved in many exercises to activate many muscles. People involved in aerobic exercises will maintain good muscle strength throughout their life. A complete exercise routine should include these exercises,
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Core development.
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Balance training.
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Stretching.
2. Wrist Pain:
Many people experience wrist pain when they perform weight-bearing exercises like push-ups, usually along the back portion of the hand. Pain over the back portion of the wrist occurs due to a ligamental tear or the presence of any ganglion cyst. There is no proper evidence of why these occur. Positioning of the wrist while performing push-ups needs to be monitored. In case of consistent pain, the person should consult a doctor who can suggest an alternative technique.
3. Back Pain:
Some forms of push-ups kike backward push-ups and forward push-ups, help to stimulate and activate lower back muscles which can result in pain and discomfort. Push-ups usually result in temporary compression of intervertebral joints in the spine, where two bones meet at a point. Cushion-like tissues called intervertebral discs are present between every section of the backbone; while performing excessive weight-bearing physical activity, these discs tend to wear and tear, resulting in pain and discomfort.
4. Elbow Injury:
The speed at which push-ups are performed plays a role in elbow injury. If the push-ups are performed faster, a greater force is applied over the elbow joint, the ligaments, and other structures surrounding it. Push-ups performed faster can increase the risk of elbow injury. If the push-ups are performed at a slow speed, they prevent elbow injury simultaneously and results in greater muscle activation. So, push-ups performed at a slower pace are safer than performing them faster.
Conclusion
Push-ups are a form of exercise that helps to strengthen the upper body muscles and joints. There are many forms of push-ups, and each form activates each muscle. Older adults can perform push-ups after consulting with their doctor and with the help of an instructor, as this helps to maintain upper body strength. Precautions must be taken while performing push-ups to avoid any injury.
