As a fitness fan, have you ever felt the urge to add power to your upper body and strengthen your core? Well, today’s feature –sphinx push-ups will be great. The sphinx push-ups are going to help you achieve just that.
Sphinx push-ups comprise various exercises designed mainly to target your triceps, pecs, and shoulders. Its range of motions combines standard push up with a high plank and low plank to deliver a powerful upper-body workout and core exercises.
SPHINX PUSH-UP BENEFITS
Sphinx push-ups offer many health benefits, which include the following:
BURNING CALORIES
Metabolism is how your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. During this process, calories in food and beverages are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs in nutrition to help the body function.
PROTECTING SHOULDER AND LOWER BACK INJURIES
The sphinx push-ups help increase strength and flexibility in the best way to keep your shoulder healthy and prevent injuries. Poor exercise technique can cause damage and create more trouble for your shoulders.
IMPROVED BALANCE AND POSTURE
Posture describes how you hold your body when standing, sitting lying down, while balance means keeping your body upright and stable.
Any condition affecting the brain, nerves, ears, muscles and heart can affect your balance and posture.
IMPROVING FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility is the ability of your joint or series of joints to move through an unrestricted pain-free range of motions. It varies widely from individual to individual, but minimum limits are required for maintaining joint and comprehensive body health.
IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN SPORTS AND ATHLETICS
This is a complex mixture of biomechanical functions, emotional factors, and training techniques. In sports and athletics, it means putting ups pursuit to excel as you progress from one level of achievement to the next. Excelling in sports is the pride and aspiration of every competitor.
HOW TO DO SPHINX PUSH-UPS
In every fitness exercise, more so the push-ups, form is more critical than speed or the number of push-ups you make.
Start in a plank position, face down with your body straight. Next, put your palms flat on the ground with your arm straight, in line with your shoulders.
Keep your feet together or about 12 inches apart, with your weight on the balls of your feet.
Make sure your back is straight and your weight is evenly spread out.
Look down as you do push-ups to ensure your spine is in line from your neck down.
Lower your body toward the ground using controlled movement until your elbows are at 90⁰ angles. Then push back up to a plank position.
Lower slowly and push up quickly. In the beginning, try taking two seconds to lower, then one second to push up for better results.
Some other benefits are lowering blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar. These exercises also help keep the bones strong and boost your brain power.
WHAT MUSCLES DO SPHINX PUSH-UPS WORK?
Push-ups may seem like basic exercises that work only your upper arms and chest. However, they use muscles all over the body when you do them the right way.
One most significant advantages of sphinx exercises is that you can do them anywhere; they can be adjusted to fit any ability level.
It is important to note that changing your position will focus on different muscles you may wish to work.
CHEST MUSCLES
You will target your chest muscles if you put your hands closer together.
Chest muscles comprise the pectoral muscle, any of the muscles that connect the front walls of the chest in the bones of the upper arm and shoulder.
There are two such muscles on each side of the sternum (breast bone)in the human body- pectoralis major and pectoralis minor.
An example of the triceps is the muscle used to extend your forearm.
TRICEP MUSCLES
If your hands are further apart, you will work your triceps.
Triceps are muscles with three heads or points of origin, particularly the large extensor along the back of the upper arm in humans.
It originates just below the socket of the scapula (shoulder blade)and is found in two distinct areas of the humerus, the bone of the upper arm.
ALTERNATIVES TO SPHINX PUSH-UPS
Perhaps you may find the sphinx push-ups monotonous and ask for other alternatives. This feature comes complete with different exercises to help you achieve your goals.
OVERHEAD PRESS
The overhead press is an upper body weight training exercise in which the trainer presses a weight overhead while seated or standing. This exercise is mainly used to develop the anterior deltoid muscles of the shoulder.
BEAR CRAWLS
A bear crawls is a bodyweight mobility exercise that uses strength in the shoulders, squads, and abdominal muscles.
It requires you to bear the weight on your hands and toes rather than your knees. It is rated as an excellent exercise in core control and focuses on aiding breathing.
COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID IN SPHINX PUSH-UPS
Many people struggle with push-ups because they find it challenging to perform. However, if you observe keenness during your exercises and try to avoid the following mistakes, then you can be assured of reaching your goals:
WRONG HAND PLACEMENT
People tend not to use their abs or core correctly. Your hands should be under your shoulders when starting and finishing your push-up. Never should you allow your hands to be placed in front of your shoulders.
HIP TOO LOW
It is advisable to keep your hips at the same level as your shoulders throughout the entire movement, including the push-up start and finish.
If the hips are allowed to drop lower, you will produce extension on your lower back and fail to use your abdominals to stabilize your body.
ELBOWS POINTED OUT
Letting the elbows point out to the sides is a prevalent mistake. This mistake can present shoulder pains and compensate for poor core control during the lowering and raising part of the push-up movement.
Instead, you should allow your elbow back towards your waist and shoulders to meet the hands at the bottom.
CONCLUSION
Doing push up may look awkward to you as a beginner, but as time goes by it gets easier.
