Back to the Basics

It's time to get back to the basics, folks! The good 'ol push-up…doing them is one thing and doing them right is a whole other thing. Today I'm reminded of how important it is to keep them in my daily routine. When I was first getting started last year I would focus on doing sets of 25. At one point I was doing 4 sets totaling 100 per night (quick math;). I have since gone in and out of having push-ups in my routine. I received an email from Dennis today that really got me thinking again.

I thought of reasons why I talk myself out of them…I mean, who really wants to do a push-up?! As I was trudging up the 16 flights to my floor this morning at work it hit me. Push-ups are synonymous with the Army and when I started thinking about the connection (an obvious one at that) my mind wandered to visions of trench warfare. Down in the dirt, muscles grinding, teeth gritting, exhausting…I knew then and there that my focus had to go back to the basics. There's a reason so many people don't do them. They are free, convenient and relatively simple (as far as motions go) but no one likes doing them.

As I was re-reading Dennis' email he was telling me how he eclipsed some of his last push-up goals. Inspired by me at one point, Dennis started keeping track of sets and has reported faithfully back to me on his progress. He's kicking my butt and is twice my age. I started looking up articles about push-ups and found one right away written in a blog named "Well" that is featured on NY Times' website. It's a great look at the push-up and how this basic movement can serve so many purposes and help us age a little safer, perhaps.

Check out the original article and video on the "Well" blog HERE

The Well blog is being added to my "Blogs to See".