Over the years, many people have asked me why I think push-ups are one of the best all-around exercises for fitness and strength. Here are ten solid reasons.
- In the multi-variations that are possible, push-ups work every major muscle group in the entire body and on both sides of the body—no other exercise can do this!
- Push-ups are totally free! You already have everything you need within arm’s reach (pun intended) to achieve a world-class body sculpting strength and fitness training program.
- Push-ups can be done virtually anywhere—all you need is a few square feet and you’re off to the races.
- Push-ups solve time-constraint issues. Once you’re in the groove, you’ll be able to perform an entire workout in less time than it would take to drive to a gym and change into gym clothes.
- Push-ups have almost no risk of injury. This is especially true as you integrate a number of variations into your routine that challenge, sculpt, and strengthen your entire musculature from multiple angles.
- Push-ups are the key to a sound and healthy heart and a powerful pair of lungs. They integrate both cardio endurance and cardio interval training into one series of exercises.
- Push-ups build lithe, perfectly sculpted muscles from your neck to toes. The result is a sculpted physique that is always proportionate to your body’s natural frame, muscle and bone structure.
- Push-ups are the key to dynamic lifelong weight management, because as they build muscle, they automatically accelerate your body’s fat-burning engines. One pound of muscle burns 35 calories a day, in contrast to just 2 calories burned by one pound of fat per day. Your muscles thus reset your metabolism, burning fat twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
- Push-ups are the foundation of a fitness lifestyle that will keep you young, vibrant, energized, and totally strong for life!
- Push-ups reinforce your personal willpower and self-determination to do and accomplish great things. They are the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy for lifelong strength and fitness.
3. We really needed to do extreme stretching as well to be really, really fit!
What we really needed was someone like John Peterson to turn us back to the calisthenics of our youth- who would have thought that THAT would be what we should have done primarily, all along??