If you have no equipment, press-ups are the best way to increase your upper body strength and endurance.

While most people might know 1 or 2 variations of the press-up, there are actually numerous variations. Working through all of them will constitute a great workout.

The following styles should be used depending on your current fitness level, ranging from wall and box press-ups for beginners, supported or 3/4 for intermediates and full press-ups for advanced.

Prior to commencing this circuit you should spend time warming up your bodies muscles, especially those of the upper body, ideally with some skipping or rowing for 5 - 10 minutes.

This should be followed by stretching, especially the muscles of the chest - biceps - triceps and shoulders.

Warm up Stretches can be found here. Look at stretching your muscles whenever your forced to rest.

WALL	BOX	SUPPORTED

3/4	FULL	YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ALL THE EXERCISES IN THE SAME STYLE!

This circuit involves 4 - 10 press-ups of each style. Once you can achieve 10 or more of each press-up style, aim to increase the workout by changing your style (see above) or simply move onto the second press-up circuit.


NORMAL 1	WIDE ARM 2	CLOSE ARM 3


RAISED REAR 4	FRONT RAISED 5	ELBOWS TUCKED IN 6

Use this table to measure your progress. The numbers on the side relate to the different press-ups, e.g. number 4 will be raised rear press ups. Depending on your fitness level, you may find that you only want to do the first 3 exercises. Be sure to record the date and the amount of reps for each type of press-up that you perform in order to chart your progress.

The key to developing a strong and toned body is to avoid adaptation - you should therefore aim to increase either the amount of reps or use different press-up styles each time you perform the circuit. The members area has over 20 different styles of press-ups plus a number of different training programs to improve your upper body.

DATE	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
TOTAL	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

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