Nature versus gym equipment part 2

We compare the standard bench press to the push-up in this article. The standard bench press can be done while lying on your back and pressing upward on either a machine, dumbbells or a barbell and weights on each side of it. To increase the resistance usually you would increase the weights. The standard bench press is a fundamental part of most workouts because of its focus on auxiliary or major muscle groups in the upper body. The face-up technique in this exercise works at both an advantage and disadvantage when strength training. The advantage to facing upward is that not only do you have the weights and gravity giving you resistance, but you also have to fight your own muscles to control the weight up and down especially when not using a machine. The advantage to the standard bench press can also a be a large disadvantage. Normally when looking to get any satisfactory gains from this exercise, you need to use a sufficient amount of weight. This also means that you would most likely need someone to supervise your lift. This is one great advantage of a push-up. A push-up is done while facing downward so gravity is the main resistor in this exercise. To increase the resistance of this exercise, you would add more weight. In this case it would help to grab a buddy to add more body weight to the exercise. The best part about this exercise is that not only works your upper body like your chest, arms and back, but it also works your abs. Your abs are used to hold you up and keep your lower back from falling so you get the added bonus of core work when doing a push-up Another advantage to a push-up is that is can be done at different angles. In my boot camps we have a wide variety of push-ups that we incorporate into each upper body class. The variety of push-ups focus on specific muscle groups that you would not have the ability to focus on with a bench press. Looks like nature wins another one with its ability to focus on more muscle groups and to help in getting a rock hard stomach. Remember there is always a great workout hiding in plain view. See you Outdoors!