I’m always telling people how fabulous pushups are and why we should be doing them. Don’t worry about whether you do pushups from your knees, your toes, or somewhere in between. The goal is to work the muscle groups to fatigue and that means choosing a level that allows you to have perfect form.
Try doing these every other day in April and just watch your results!
Step 1
Starting Position: Kneel on an exercise mat or floor and bring your feet together behind you.
Step 2
Slowly bend forward to place your palms flat on the mat, positioning your hands shoulder-width apart with your fingers facing forward or turned slightly inward. Slowly shift your weight forward until your shoulders are positioned directly over your hands. Reposition your hands as needed to allow full extension of your body without any bend at the hips or knees. Stiffen your torso by contracting your core/abdominal muscles (”bracing”), your glute and quadriceps muscles and align your head with your spine. Place your feet together with your ankles dorsiflexed (toes pointed towards your shins).
Step 3
Downward Phase: Slowly lower your body towards the floor while maintaining a rigid torso and head aligned with your spine. Do not allow your low back to sag or your hips to hike upwards during this downward phase. Continue to lower yourself until your chest or chin touch the mat/floor. Allow your elbows to flare outwards during the lowering phase.
Step 4
Upward Phase: Press upwards through your arms while maintaining a rigid torso and head aligned with your spine. For extra strength think about pushing the floor away from you. Do not allow your low back to sag or your hips to hike upwards. Continue pressing until the arms are fully extended at the elbows.
Step 5
An alternative position is to turn your hands to face forwards and keep your your elbows close to your sides during the downward phase. This shifts the emphasis from the chest muscles onto the triceps and may reduce stresses in the shoulder joint.
TIP: Pushing through the heel and outside surface of your palm provides greater force in your press and stability to your shoulders.
** Source: ACE: American Council of exercise www.acefitness.org
Each night, as I tuck my two small children into bed, I smile at the sight of seeing them cling so tightly to their “comfort items”; a small winnie the pooh type mini blanket for one of them, and a similar item with a frog’s head for the other. I’ve long been fascionated with their attachment to their ’security blankies’, and wonder how old they will be when they finally let them go.
As I began to prepare for my upcoming triathlon this May, it dawned on me, that I still have a very special security blankie of my own - my trustee blue bandana. Let me tell you a little bit about him, and what he means to me.
My trustee blue bandana has seen me through every important journey, physical and otherwise, I have undertaken in my adult life. In 1995, just before I was about to leave for a summer in France of studying at L’univeriste Canadienne en France (aka, drink wine, eat cheese, easy credits), my Gramma “B” was out for one of her visits from Manitoba. I had just finished my 3rd year at university and she took me out for lunch. We stopped by Mark’s work warehouse for her to find a light jacket, and there, she offered to buy me the blue bandana that I was looking at near the cash register. I wasn’t sure if I could pull of the “bandana look” , but thought it would be a nice addition to my traveling student persona. I packed him in my suitcase and proceeded to wear my blue bandana through countless runs up and down the mountains near Nice, on overnight trains through the various countries of Europe, and tied snugly around my noggin as I went Canyoning in Interlaken Switzerland. He made it through the trip and home again and remained in my drawer of workout stuff for a few years.
Then, in 1998, after two failed attempts at completing the training in two previous years, I wore him proudly for what I considered to be my first major accomplishment in my fitness world, completing my first Marathon (Vancouver BMO Marathon). Sweaty and broken in, I washed him up and tucked him away.
A year later, suffering from running injuries and relegated to the pool for water running (yet again), I realized that I loved to run and swim, and maybe I should try a triathlon. So, of course, I did! I dug out blue bandana on race day, and proudly shrouded my head with him under my bike helmet, while it snowed and sleeted through my first ever (and might I add, completely mentally unprepared for that kind of weather) Winter triathlon at UBC. Through real tears of freezing agony, I kept him on my head and crossed the finish line. I went on to race at least 10 more times, wearing my blue bandana over the next few years. He got a little softer, a littler more faded, but stayed in tact and did a great job of keeping my ‘not long enough for a ponytail’ hair out of my eyes.
In 2002, my husband and I decided to bite the bullet and leave the country for 4 months to travel to South East Asia. Without a thought, I tucked him in my backpack and travelled across the World. This time, Blue Bandana got wet, and I used him for over 30 dives off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. A perfect barrier between terrible rubber straps of scuba masks, and my hair. Salty and getting more faded by the day, he traveled well and once again, made it home.
A year later, I had no doubt that he would be on my head for my biggest challenge yet - the Victoria New Balance Half Ironman. This time, I didn’t particularly need a bandana to hold my hair out of my eyes, but the thought of doing the race without my bandana terrified me. I had come to believe he gave me strength and courage and there was no way I was going to swim 2km, bike 95km and run a half marathon without that blue bandana.
Four months after that, I wore that thing day and night as we hiked the West Coast Trail for 7 days. He kept my head warm in the tent then, and he’s done it many times as we’ve camped on Mount Garibaldi. I always feel just the right temperature, have just the right amount of energy and feel just the right amount of power when I have that blue bandana on my head
In 2005 as I prepared for the birth of my first son, I immediately packed ol’ faithful in my hospital bag the moment I began preparing. In fact, I think it was the first thing I threw in there! I spent many hours visualizing labour and delivery, and in every one of those visualizations, I was wearing my blue bandana. I knew that I would draw strength and courage from it. As it would turn out, he would go to the hospital with me, but I did not wear him. However, there were many times during that long night that I drew on that strength and clung to the memories of the physical challenges he had already help me overcome. Two years later, when I delievered my 2nd son, blue bandana once again remained packed in my hospital bag, but this time it was purely b/c we didn’t even have time to get the bag out of the car! I must admit I didn’t think about my bandana once :) but I like knowing that he was there.
So, as I prepare for an, albeit, not that grand of a race - a simple, olympic triathlon that in some ways seems to pale in comparison to my other experiences with blue bandana, I still plan to wear him. It’s been 4 years since I raced and alot of things in my life have changed, but I know that he will bring me strength to perservere, even if my training has not quite prepared me. You know, I’m known in this household as the one who loses EVERYTHING. everything. yes, everything. Well, I’ve never lost my blue bandana. I came close 2 summers ago, when he flew off my head on my Father in Law’s speedboat and dropped onto Lake Okanagan. My immediate screams launched my husband into action and he threw the throttle back, jumped out of the boat and grabbed it just as it sank…saved it…..
I think that means something. I think my security blanket is not ready for me to turf him just yet. And I hope my kids don’t think about turfing theirs anytime soon either. Because who knows what strength and courage they will find just from the feel of those smelly old blankies.
Who’s to say why it is we draw strength from the things we do. The mental games we play to dig deeper, go longer , reach farther are just as important as the physical training we undertake. Maybe it’s all the experiences that make it so special. Or maybe it’s just because it’s the only item I’ve ever owned that I never lost. Or maybe, just maybe, it ties me to one of my favourite people in this world, Gramma ‘ B’. Who knows, but I tell you one thing - 15 years and he’s still showing very little wear and tear, and I see a lot of things in our future together….just wait and see!
Wanna meet him?
Activated Glute Lunge
Step 1
Starting Position: Stand with your feet together and your arms raised in front to shoulder height, with your elbows fully extended. Depress and retract your scapulae (pull your shoulders down and back) without arching your low back, and “brace” (engage your abdominal/core muscles) to stiffen your spine.
Step 2
From the same starting position, step out sideways with the right foot (both feet remain pointed forward) to the 3 o’clock position. Once the foot is firmly placed on the floor, begin to bend at the hips, pushing them backwards while simultaneously shifting your weight over that same foot. Continue shifting your weight until your tibia (shinbone) is vertical to the floor and your knee is aligned directly over the second toe of that foot. Your left leg should be near, or at full extension while keeping the right foot flat. The heels of both feet should stay flat on the floor.
Step 3
While lunging, simultaneously move your arms and lean your torso in the opposite direction to the lunge movement, increasing the load on your glute muscle group. Firmly push off with your front leg, activating both your quads and glutes (thighs and butt muscles) to return to your upright, starting position.
Step 4
From the same starting position, step with one foot in front and across the body (both feet remain pointed forward). Once the foot is firmly placed on the floor, begin to bend at the hips, pushing them backwards while simultaneously shifting your weight over that same foot. Continue shifting your weight until your tibia (shinbone) is vertical to the floor and your knee is aligned directly over the second toe of that foot. Your opposite leg should be flexed with the heel off the ground.
Step 5
While lunging, simultaneously rotate your torso and arms in the opposite direction to the lunge movement, increasing the load on your gluteal muscle group. Firmly push off with your front leg, activating both your quads and glutes (thighs and butt muscles) to return to your upright, starting position.
** Source: American council of fitness exercise database.
Just don’t run”. How many of you have heard those words from well meaning friends and allies, or perhaps even a health professional trying to help you recover and stay injury free.