The Push Up
By 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…
But many people simply can’t do push-ups. Health and fitness experts, including the American College of Sports Medicine, have urged more focus on upper-body fitness. The aerobics movement has emphasized cardiovascular fitness but has also shifted attention from strength training exercises…
In a 2001 study, researchers at East Carolina University administered push-up tests to about 70 students ages 10 to 13. Almost half the boys and three-quarters of the girls didn’t pass.
I, for one, simply can’t do pushups. I’ve never in my life been able to do more than a couple dozen, and that leaves me in a state of crippling pain. And this is in spite of engaging in fairly regular (3-4 times a week) upper body weightlifting. As it appears that my experience is not unique, I have to wonder how useful it is to use the push up as a proxy for physical fitness, or to focus on it at the expense of other exercises…