Relieve Low Back Pain | Reduce Low Back Pain | Canada's Leading Authority in Human Movement | Dev Chengkalath

Millions of people around the world have all reaped the benefits of a good push up. 

Photo courtesy Arlen Roche

Now you too can join in the fun.

For free.

With no pokey underwires, no skin-scarring straps and no constrictive constraints.

All in the comfort of your own home. Or even out at your local playground, if you so desire.

In keeping with the theme of body weight exercises, this post will discuss what is probably one of the most basic of human movements: the push up. 

LIke all other body weight exercises, no external load or vast amounts of space are required. 

In its simplicity, it will confer numerous benefits which include a buffed up bust, souped up shoulders and tantalizing triceps.

This movement is also a fantastic core control and stability exercise. 

It can modified to suit absolute beginners or progressed for even the most advanced trainee. 

As a physical therapist, I use these from shoulder rehab programs to relieving low back pain to general fitness and health.

With this list of positives, you have no reason NOT to be doing these often. 

The Basic Push Up:

Start in a plank position with your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.

Keeping your head in line with your torso, hips and legs, lower your chest towards the ground, under control, as far as you can.

Don’t let your hips sag to the ground or arch up to the ceiling (always maintain that straight line).

When you’ve lowered yourself as far as you can, reverse the movement and push your body back up, using your arms and chest, to the starting plank position.

And there you have it, the basic push up!

If these are too easy or too boring for you, just use your imagination.

The variations are only limited by your imagination. These include close hand position, off-set hand position, feet raised, hands raised, one arm, one leg or any combination of the above. 

Long live push ups!

Dev Chengkalath

In keeping with the theme of body weight exercises, I just wanted to touch on what I consider one of the best tools to enhance your core: The Ab Wheel. 

I’m sure many of you are familiar with this simple yet powerful piece of exercise equipment.

It’s pretty much a wheel with small handles poking out of each side. 

Marvel of modern engineering

This elegant design allows the ab wheel to outperform all those fancy ab-training devices that you may have been tempted to buy during those nights where your insomnia met those compelling fitness infomercials.

Now you’re probably wondering why the ab wheel is so special?

Well, for starters, this little device lets you target the core appropriately.

The core, as I’ve written about before on this blog, is not specifically designed to flex the torso as most people think.

If it were, the muscles would look a lot different than they do.

This is one of the reasons why exercises like sit-ups and crunches are not the best types of core exercises to prevent or relieve low back pain.

In fact, if the main purpose of the abs were to flex the torso, the stomach muscles would look more like the hamstrings and not the typical six-pack.

Hamstrings: long, straight bands of muscle

Abdominals: sectioned and multidirectional

Looking at functional anatomy, the core is designed to resist movement and to act as an energy transfer link between the upper and lower body. It essentially acts like your body’s own internal corset which protects your spine and keeps your back healthy.

And that’s just what the ab wheel does.

It forces you to hold your core tight and neutral while moving through the hips. As an added bonus, you’ll work on your shoulder stability and control as well.

In my experience as a physical therapist, shoulder injuries are the second most common type of injury I see at the clinic. 

So why not do yourself a favour and protect the two most often injured areas at once?

If you don’t already have one of these marvels of modern fitness engineering at home, you can pick one up HERE.

In my next post, I’ll go over a few of the top ab roller movements and give you beginner to more advanced exercises. 

To your abdominal rolling.

Dev Chengkalath