Why We Love Push-Ups

“To me, the push-up is the squat of the upper body,” says Program Director Glen Ostergaard. “It’s a foundational movement and I love it because it recruits so many muscles at once. If you think about how about how the squat uses the glutes, the push-up does the same thing for our lats. Yes, it targets the chest and anterior deltoid, but it’s also a massive exercise for the upper back, core and triceps. That’s why I’ve started adding more of them into recent BODYPUMP™ releases.”

In fact, according to a 2019 study push-ups are the perfect measure of health and fitness, and the ability to do 40 full push-ups is the single best indicator of cardiovascular health and longevity for men.