Interesting facts about push-ups

One of the most common and popular upper body exercises is push-ups. Easily recognizable, push-ups have long been considered to be the perfect exercise.  There is no other exercise that will work every major muscle group in the entire body quite like a push-up does though doing pull-ups comes close. 

The nice thing about push-ups is they require no equipment, except for you, and can be performed just about anywhere without access to a gym. Push-ups also come in different variations to target specific muscle groups or to make them more or less challenging. To know more about this “classic exercise,” here are some fascinating facts about push-ups you may not be aware of:

·      How many push-ups you can do depends on age

Even though everyone is different, the average person, depending on their age and fitness level, typically is able to perform a certain number of pushups within in a given time frame. Here is what the American College of Sport Medicine states the number of push-ups a female and male should be able to do based on age – keep in mind, many people have a hard time doing just a few.  Making push-ups a regular part of your workout will increase the number you can do:

For women: This is based on pushups done from the knees rather than toes.

20 to 29 years of age – 17 to 33

30 to 30 years of age – 12 to 24

40 to 49 years of age – 8 to 19

5- to 59 years of age – 6 to 14

60+ - 3 to 4

For men:

20 to 29 years of age – 35 to 44

30 to 30 years of age – 24 to 34

40 to 49 years of age – 20 to 29

50 to 59 years of age – 15 to 24

60+ - 10 to 19

·      Push-ups work more than just the chest and arm muscles

Your arms and chest do receive an excellent workout when you performing push-ups but other areas of your body also reap benefits from them.  Push-ups are considered a compound movement meaning it’s a multi-joint movement working several muscles or muscle groups at one time.  Performing a push-up engages and works the chest, shoulders, triceps, back, and abdomen while increasing upper body strength. 

 ·      Doing regular push-ups can break a fall

Researchers who have studied the biomechanics of aging, note that push-ups can provide the strength and muscle memory to reach out and prevent a bad fall.  Typically when people fall forward, they reach out to catch themselves, ending in a move that mimics the push-up.  The hands hit the ground, the wrists and arms absorb much of the impact and the elbows bend slightly to reduce the force.  If a person does push-ups regularly, they can develop enough strength to as to break a fall safely without hitting their head on the ground. People who are unable to do a single push-up will have a difficult time resisting that kind of load on your wrists in a fall and may not be able to help themselves up if they do fall.

·      Slows down muscle mass decline

Natural aging causes nerves to die off and muscles to weaken.  Between the ages of 20 and 70, people can lose as much as 30 percent of their strength causing muscles to become smaller and weaken. However, performing push-ups regularly, enlarges muscle fibers and can stave off the decline by increasing the strength of the muscle you have left.

If doing pushups are new to you, start off slowly and if you are unsure on how to perform a pushup correctly, here’s a video explaining the best form to use.