Push-ups can be easily incorporated into your everyday exercise regiment because they can be done practically anywhere without any special equipment. Don’t assume that push-ups are only good as warm-up exercises — perform them daily for an entire month and you will surely reap a number of benefits, other than having ripped chest and upper back!
Before we tackle the perks to enjoy for doing push-ups for a month, let us first discuss how it should be started.
First and foremost, let your doctor know about your plan on exercising on a regular basis. This is especially true if you are leading a sedentary lifestyle, or you’re diagnosed with a medical condition.
Refrain from attempting to carry out 100 push-ups on your first day. Not only is this virtually impossible if you have never performed sets of push-ups before, but it will also put you at high risk of injuring yourself. Just like when commencing a regular exercise regiment, it is very important to start things slowly to ward off any unfavorable incidence.
What you need to do is this: get on the floor and try to do a few push-ups. As soon as you feel that you cannot do any more, stop right away. Were you able to do 4? Were you able to complete 6? That’s perfectly fine. You cannot expect yourself to do dozens of push-ups in one go, unless you’ve been in the military for many years now.
Remember the number of push-ups you were able to perform on day 1. On day 2, try doing the same number of push-ups. If you feel that you can do one or two more on day 3, then feel free to do so! On day 4, complete the same number of push-ups, as well as on day 5. On day 6, and day 7, try to add one or two more push-ups.
So if you started doing 5 push-ups on the first day, following the suggestion above would leave you doing 8 to 9 push-ups by the end of the first week. Continue adding one or two more each time you feel that you could do more.
Just in case you feel that your arms and chest are sore a day after doing push-ups, skip doing them. It’s important to give your muscles plenty of time to bounce back from doing all those push-ups. Ending up with sore arms and chest is very much likely most especially if you are coming from a sedentary lifestyle.
So what will happen at the end of the month when you do push-ups on a daily basis? Here are some of them:
You Will Have Toned Upper Body
Push-ups are wonderful exercises for the muscles situated in your arms, chest and upper back. In fact, doing push-ups is just like using all sorts of fancy machines at the gym designed to target the upper body. After a month, it’s not unlikely for you to receive flattering remarks about your physique.
Your Tummy Will be Flatter
Even though it seems like your arms are doing all the hard work, your core muscles are also engaged each time you carry out push-ups. In other words, push-ups can help give you the washboard abs of your dreams. So if you’re bored of performing planks and crunches, you can always count on doing push-ups to tone the midsection.
You Will Shed Off Unwanted Pounds
Because push-ups can be very challenging, doing them helps speed up your metabolism so your body can burn lots of calories. This is excellent news for people who want to slim down! By doing push-ups on a daily basis, you can get rid of those excess calories before they end up stored as fat under your skin.
You Will Have Better Endurance
In this day and age, having top-notch stamina is important — or else you will fail to succeed in a fast-paced world. If you want to gradually enhance your staying power, do push-ups on an everyday basis. At the end of the month, you will notice that you have the kind of endurance that can allow you to accomplish more tasks.
Your Bones Will be Stronger
Performing weight-bearing exercises helps strengthen the bones, according to fitness experts. Push-ups are actually regarded as excellent weight-bearing exercises — you can definitely tell that each time you perform them! Thanks to doing push-ups regularly for a month, you can enjoy stronger bones in your upper body.
Sources: hundredpushups.com
