Today's push-up challenge works the balance a bit more than the upper arms, but you can vary the degree of resistance by controlling rate of descent with your core and engaging the arm muscles as you need. For more intensity, stand further away from the support (a wall is a more difficult option because of the forward bending today), for less, stand closer.
It's important to remember to bend at the hip joints, not at the back. When we warmed up in class, we practiced some functional forward folding to get ready for this. Note how I'm pivoting at the hip joint, and having my hip flexors do the work of both stabilizing me and supporting the forward bending. The glutes and hamstrings are doing some decent amount of control as well.
I like the lifted leg to be straight, with the heel extended to encourage a long line and balanced effort as the upper body comes down. The energy of the lift of the back leg supports the low back (keeps glutes and hamstrings engaged) and reminds me to not sag in the upper back.
There's no need to drop the chest all the way the to chair; go slow and steady to feel the effort in the arms and notice the weight distribution as you become a bit of a human see-saw!
Eleven on one side, then switch legs and do another eleven, with a wrist stretch after!
To donate to my challenge, click here: https://fundraise.activeheroes.org/fundraiser/2872670
To start your own challenge, click here: https://activeheroes.org/22pushups/
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