How Many Calories Does a Pushup Burn?
Push-ups are a popular exercise. Though they focus on the chest and arms, a push-up involves most of the body. Core muscles keep the torso rigid. Your legs keep you from sliding. Even your neck works, holding your head straight.
Although it is an excellent exercise, many people are surprised by how few calories a push-up burns. This is because push-ups are a resistance exercise, not a cardiovascular exercise.
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Doing a Proper Push-up
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Start with both hands on the floor, fingers spread wide and shoulder-width apart. Your head is between the hands, looking straight down at the ground. Your body is straight, perpendicular to an imaginary line between our two thumbs. Keep your feet together (not crossed at the ankles) and your back straight with your weight on the palms of your hands and the balls of both feet. Bend your arms at the elbows and lower your body until your arms are at 90 degree angles, then straighten your arms to push yourself up to your starting position.
Resistance vs. Cardiovascular
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Push-ups are a resistance exercise. That is, they strengthen muscles by having them work against some sort of resistance. In this case, you hold up and push your own body. Weightlifting is another form of resistance exercise, in which you push against heavy weights. In contrast, cardiovascular exercises elevate your heartbeat and breathing rate, building endurance in the muscles that help you breathe and pump blood. In general, cardiovascular exercises burn more calories, while resistance exercises build more strength.
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How Many Calories Does a Push-up Burn
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Different experts give different answers, but the most common range is between one-half and 1 calorie per push-up for an average male. Heavier people will burn more, while lighter people (including most women) will burn slightly less To burn the same number of calories as 20 minutes of moderate jogging, a person would have to do somewhere between 300 and 600 push-ups.
Can I Increase How Many Calories My Push-ups Burn?
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Increased caloric burn means doing more and faster repetitions for a longer period of time. Doing more push-ups in a row will burn more calories, but few people can sustain this for long. One option s to do push-ups against a wall, where you place your hands at shoulder height on a wall and do the exercise by leaning against it. This puts more weight on your feet, meaning you can push faster and longer than on the floor.
Variants
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There are many variant push-ups, some intended to change which muscles are engaged, some intended to make them easier or more difficult. Some examples include:
Clap push-ups, where you clap your hands between repetitions, requiring you to push hard on your way up.
Push-ups on closed fists, fingertips or the edges of the hands.
Push-ups with the tips of the thumbs and fingertips touching, moving the load to the center of the chest.
Stretch push-ups, where you turn the torso and reach skyward with one hand each time you reach the top of the push-up.
There are literally hundreds of varieties, limited only by the imagination and capabilities of the human body.
Injury Warnings
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Remember to breathe while doing push-ups. It may sound silly, but people often forget, sometimes forgetting for so long that they pass out. Push-ups are also harder on the back and abdomen than many realize. Finally, some people develop repetitive stress injuries in the elbows or shoulders from doing too many push-ups. If you experience any of these problems, check with your trainer or doctor.
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