The Body Sculpting Bible for Women (69 page)

Make sure to keep your back straight, stomach muscles tightened and keep your head in line with your body. Maintaining the proper alignment is crucial.

When you reach the top of the movement, make sure to contract the chest muscles as hard as you can. Try to avoid hyper-extending the elbow joints!

Narrow hand width will hit more of the inner chest and triceps muscles.

Assisted Push-Up

If you need to, you may use this modified push-up exercise until you have gained enough strength to do the regular push-up. This version is also an invaluable technique used when you have reached a level of experience that will allow you to push towards maximum muscular failure. Eventually, you will want to get to a level that will allow you to push out a couple of more repetitions when you can no longer do so on your own. These extra reps can be great for creating superb results in your physique.

Another option—shown in the photograph on the next page—is to have an assistant support part of your weight as you push up.

TECHNIQUE AND FORM

Take the same position and maintain the same form and technique as you would with the regular push-up. However, let your knees stay in contact with the floor.

You will find this exercise much easier because you will only be pushing up about half of your body weight.

Follow the same procedure as the regular push-up.

If you can still not perform pushups by using the modified position described above, then perform them standing up at an angle against the wall.

MODIFICATIONS

Just like using various hand placement widths during the bench press exercise to focus in on specific areas of the chest, you can vary hand placement with the push-up.

• The wider your hand width, the more you’ll zone in on the outer pecs with less triceps involvement.

• The closer the hand width, the more you’ll zone in on the inner pecs with more triceps involvement.

• A medium hand width placement will be about 65 percent chest and 35 percent triceps.

Chapter 9

Shoulders