Z is the goal with the pushup alphabet exercise
Readers are likely aware of my affinity for the pushup. Over the last two decades, I have probably written 50 articles featuring some variation of this age-old favorite.
There are so many appealing elements to the pushup! Fitness enthusiasts of all levels can enjoy its benefits without any equipment or access to a facility. Like jogging, the pushup is an equal opportunity form of physical activity.
Let’s look at some cool ways to incorporate more pushups into a daily routine. Then I’ll highlight a fantastic variation that should appeal to many.
New exercisers are often intimidated by the pushup, and I can understand why. Most people are taught from a young age that the pushup is one of the core measures of physical fitness. This is a doctrine passed down from generation to generation through things like the Presidential Fitness Test, a federal initiative from the 1950s to 2013.
I’m not sure if the individual assessments in today’s Presidential Youth Fitness Program include the old pushup tests, but I can vividly remember having to perform pushups, pull-ups, and situps in front of my entire fifthgrade class. The more mature kids performed well, and the late bloomers (me included) did not. It was a harsh way to be introduced to physical fitness as a means of defining oneself.
Hopefully, today’s P.E. teachers allow kids to perform their tests without fear of ridicule from classmates and so compare their performance to only themselves. This sets a healthy precedent for self-improvement, one that allows kids of all fitness levels to create goals relative to their own needs and reach for them.
The pushup became an important exercise for me to excel at, in part because I performed so poorly in these standardized tests as a kid. At my peak, I could do almost 100 pushups without resting.
I still perform pushups today, and I try to incorporate them into my daily life whenever possible. I like to see how many I can do during commercial breaks when I’m watching sporting events, and I often do pushups between sets of other exercises during workouts.
The thing about the pushup is that it’s completely versatile. It can be performed between Zoom meetings, before a work session or right before bed. It doesn’t tire the body out like a run, and it’s easy to bring the heart rate back down after a short pushup session.
This week’s exercise is (you guessed it), a cool pushup variation that includes a little artistic influence for those who prefer some mental engagement during the set.
1. Get into the up phase of a pushup.
2. Using your right hand, draw an imaginary letter A on the floor, then do a pushup.
3. Now draw the letter B with your right foot and do a pushup.
4. Next, draw a letter C with your left foot and do a pushup.
5. Finally, draw a letter D with your left hand and do a pushup.
6. Continue moving through the alphabet using this pattern until you reach failure.
I like this variation because there are 26 letters in the alphabet and making it all the way through is a fantastic goal. Performing 26 pushups without rest is quite challenging for most, so this gives exercisers a lofty (but attainable) goal.
Dropping to one’s knees is a great variation that allows people of all fitness levels to do the exercise. If this is the chosen method, simply draw the letters using only your hands. Now, let’s get to work! Director of business development and population health solutions for Quest Diagnostics, Matt Parrott began this column 20 years ago at Little Rock. He has a doctorate in education (sport studies), a master’s in kinesiology and is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine.