Working on your chest is often a critical part of working out. Two of the safest exercises are the Push Up and Floor Plank, both of which pose low risk of harm if done properly. By utilizing these two exercises, you can feel more confident in your workout as you build up your chest strength.
Push Ups are a calisthenics exercise that works on several muscles: triceps, pectorals and anterior deltoids. It’s a fundamental, basic but powerful exercises. The movement is simple and easy and only requires space enough for you to lay prone. To do a push up, start on the ground by laying on all fours and extend your legs so you are balanced on your toes and hands, with your feet hip-wide apart. Keep your elbows slightly bent, don’t lock them. Then, tighten your core and abs as you inhale and bend your elbows until they are at a 90-degree position. Exhale as you contract your chest muscles and return to the starting position. Repeat and see how many you can do. Try to figure out your maximum number and then break that number into 2-3 sets. Watch the video to see the proper technique:
Benefits of push ups stem from the fact that is a compound exercise, working multiple muscles simultaneously. Improving your pushing movements with push ups can help in daily life for things like pushing doors or shopping carts. A study found that those who do more push ups have lower cardiovascular risk, compared to people that did less. There are also variations of the basic push up that you can try, such as the bent-knee push up with your knees on the ground, the clapping push up where you push yourself up in the air and clap your hands, and the incline or decline push up.
Another safe and easy exercise for your chest is the floor press, a variation of the ubiquitous bench press. It puts less strain on your shoulder than a bench press, so it’s safer. Benefits of the floor press include building chest and upper body strength, burning fat and preventing injury. The technique for doing a floor press is:
- Lie on your back with the barbell or dumbbells under you and grasp it with an overhand grip and hands shoulder width apart
- Push the bar or dumbbells up with your hands outstretched
- Slowly lower until your arms touch the ground.
- Repeat
View the video below for the proper floor press technique:
Both push ups and floor presses are a great and safe way to work your upper body, chest and other muscles. Make sure to always stretch before doing exercise and take it slowly at first. Work your way up to more repetitions and weights. You can build your strength without straining yourself. Feel more confident in your chest routine and don’t worry about potential injury using these safe exercises.