The Simple Push-up

 

The New York Times has an article about one of my favorite exercises:

The push-up is the ultimate barometer of fitness. It tests the whole body, engaging muscle groups in the arms, chest, abdomen, hips and legs. It requires the body to be taut like a plank with toes and palms on the floor. The act of lifting and lowering one’s entire weight is taxing even for the very fit.

According to the article most young people can’t do them. In addition they are good for slowing down aging.

Natural aging causes nerves to die off and muscles to weaken. People lose as much as 30 percent of their strength between 20 and 70. But regular exercise enlarges muscle fibers and can stave off the decline by increasing the strength of the muscle you have left.

Here’s the national averages for 40-year-olds:

Based on national averages, a 40-year-old woman should be able to do 16 push-ups and a man the same age should be able to do 27.

My push-up routine supplements my scaled down once-a-week chest, triceps, and core routine. In addition to that routine, once a week I try to do 100 push-ups. I can get to 50 then I have to split the rest into two sets of 25.

However, I think Jack LaLanne’s record is still safe:

Mr. LaLanne, who once set a world record by doing 1,000 push-ups in 23 minutes, still does push-ups as part of his daily workout.

By the way, Mr. LaLanne is now 93.

At age 93, he continues to work out every morning for two hours. He spends one and a half hours in the weight room, and half an hour swimming or walking.

~BCP