Real Life Value of the Push-up and Squat

Push-ups and freestanding squats will exercise muscle groups (or parts of muscle groups) that are often passed over if someone does not exercise regularly. Push-ups and squats when doing the full range of motion will help activate the muscle fibers of these particular muscle groups.

I believe a lot of the back problems we have comes from us doing way more pulling then we do pushing (in our activities of daily living) and this creates muscle imbalances. A good way to know if your pushing muscles are conditioned is to see if the back of your upper arm is flabby or toned.

Why the push-up works so well: we don’t use our pushing muscles as much as our pulling muscles and the muscles we use for pushing (when left unused) get untoned and flabby. The two primary muscle groups we use for pushing with our upper body is our chest and triceps muscles and the two spots we tend to begin to sag is the back of our arms (triceps) and our chest (pectoral) muscles.

The 2nd reason: it gets us into a similar position as the plank and engages our core, back and neck muscles in a static contraction as we’re actively working our chest, shoulders, and triceps muscle groups throughout the pushup movement.

So not only is this working the entire chest area, shoulders, and back of the arms, it is also shaping and strengthening our midsection, back and neck muscles.

Different forms of pushups:

1. The standard push-up where the only continuous contact with the floor is our hands and our toes/toe balls.

2. If the standard push-up is too hard, do the pushup where the knees are used as a secondary contact point with the toes.

3. If getting on the floor is too difficult or not practical, simply lean at a slant against something such as a table or railing. Lean into it, and then push yourself back in much the same way as a regular pushup.

To increase resistance, increase speed of movement or put a small stack of books under each hand when doing the regular floor pushup to increase the stretch, resistance, and distance of the movement.

Why the squat works so well: we need the capability to pull ourselves back up if our knees ever buckle under us. When this happens, we oft times realize how weak our leg muscles have become. Weak legs are like walking with stilts in that as long as they stay fairly straight, everything is fine, but if they ever get caught off balance, it can be almost impossible to correct back into an upright position. Squats strengthen the very muscles we need for standing up from a sitting position, getting back up from a squatting position as well as strengthening the muscles we need to help correct our balance when we stumble. If these muscles are really weak and our knees buckle, we tend to continue in a southern direction.

Different ways to do the squat:

1. Hold onto something and lower yourself into a squatting position. If your knees hurt, lean backwards with your feet almost up under whatever you are holding onto so that all your weight is on your heels, then slightly lift the front of your feet as you’re going through the squatting movement. This will take the pressure off your knees and will really work the hamstrings and buttocks.

2. Regular standing squat. I like holding my hands out in front of me as I lower into a squat, then thrust them upwards when I come back up.

Use good form: Keep your knees from going past your toes, (this keeps pressure off your knees). You simply want to squat the buttocks down in-between your heels like you would if you were squatting around a fire.

There are two common ways of increasing power in the squat: speed of movement and added resistance. Jump squats after an initial warm up, can help build and tone muscle. To do this movement, simply drop into a squat, and then explode upward reaching your arms upwards for a good core strengthening movement.

This works really well as a circuit exercise when you rotate from squats to push-ups, since it works different muscle groups and while one group is resting, you’re working the next group, thus keeping your heart rate up and stimulating increased lung activity. This helps turn your workout into a cardio, fat burning, and muscle-stimulating workout all in one!

The push-up strengthens the muscles that help lift us up off the floor and the squat strengthens muscles that help keep us from hitting on the floor.

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