Lil'Fytness Fanatik's FitFix

Pushups: army bootcamp torture device or super- effective upper body builder

There aren't too many exercises as rewarding as the
push-up...works your core(keeping those abs tight
and back straight), the chest, the shoulders, and the
arms (hands close together to target triceps!!).
But girls hate pushups, right? NOT THIS GIRL! I can do
pushups anywhere, anytime (however my professors
wouldn't like it too much if I dropped and gave them
twenty mid-class) with no equipment.

How to perform:
Alright, so I've been doing pushups for a while(ifo you
don't count the two year break I just took) and I got
the first-hand lesson on how to do them when I was in
the Reserves. You don't need to start with a full body
pushup...but you don't need to get on your knees either(NOT A GOOD IDEA FOR WOMEN IN THE ARMY)

If the traditional full body is too difficult to perform at least 5(or one for that matter), just place your hands on a sturdy elevated surface about knee height, or a little higher (a step on a staircase works, or if you have a coffee table that is up against a wall). Next, hoist your body into a straight line, supported on your hands(shoulder width apart) keeping your head in line with your spine and your legs straight. Lower your body until you nose almost touches the floor(or table), making sure your abdomen is not sagging and your back is straight(squeeze your glutes, this makes it harder to sag in the middle). Now push your body back up, keeping that straight line from head to toe. If you can only do one, DO ONE! Do this twice a week, or three if you're ambitious, with rest days in between, and in a week or two you will be able to do one, more, and another, and another....and you won't believe the benefits to your arms and shoulders!

If you're GI Jane and this is too easy, put your feet up on the stairs
or a bench, which places more weight on your upper body. Or, just go
REALLY SLOW.

Now, DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!