Push-ups are clearly a staple exercise here at Kemme Fitness. We have something like 22 different kinds. Some of them are crazy like the Aztec Push-up or the 1 Arm Push-up. Others are simply strange such as the Spiderman Push-up.
But what I want to do is try a little experience with merely the placement of the hands. This is an experiment I would like you to try out. Here we go:
Get into the Push-up position with your hands shoulder width apart. Now perform one nice Push-up. Pay attention to how it feels, especially from your hips to your shoulders.
Ok, after doing that, move your hands slightly closer together – let’s say about an inch. Do another Push-up. Notice any different feeling? Try another inch and see again. You might have to do more than one Push-up in each spot to truly feel anything, depending on how good of shape you are in.
Keep moving your hands closer and closer together until your hands are touching. Make sure you pay close attention to how it feels. Can you tell what muscles are being activated?
After you complete that, go onto phase II. Yep, you guessed it – put your hands back to shoulder width apart, but this time slowly move them apart. Do a Push-up each time your hands go 1 inch farther apart, all the while paying close attention to how things feel.
Did you learn anything? Leave a comment about what you got out of it.
Want to keep going with the experiment? Try doing an Uneven Push-up. Use something short and then keep doing Push-ups as you put one hand on something higher and higher. Keep trying higher objects, again paying close attention to how it feels.
We can compare notes when you are done.