Why you need to give your body a break from push-ups

When we talk about an effective core and strength training exercise, the first name that comes to our mind is push-ups.

The compound exercise that activates the chest, shoulders, triceps, back, abs, and legs is a popular bodyweight move among fitness enthusiasts.

They are a fast and effective exercise for building strength and can be done virtually from anywhere and without any equipment.

But the trouble begins when you overdo any exercise. Push-ups are beneficial and are good to include every day in your routine, but stressing too much on this particular exercise can give your unwanted discomfort.

The ill-effect of doing push-ups every day
Push-ups is an excellent strength training exercise when performed correctly. Just by adding this one exercise to your workout routine, you can get an incredible full-body workout. The idea is to start slow and increase the number of sets. This can help to build endurance and strength. However, it is equally important to give your body a break from this exercise. You need to give your body some rest to repair and relax. If your muscles are tired, you will hardly be able to see any benefits of doing any kind of workout. Taking a break relaxes the muscles and helps them to recover faster. During rest days, our body repairs the damaged muscle fibres, which results in larger and stronger muscles.

Other things that may happen
Performing push-ups daily can also put you at the risk of pain or injury if your form is not correct. Most people just force themselves to finish their sets of push-ups even when they are not up for it. This compromises their form and strains their muscles even more. The common mistakes include rounding the shoulders and sagging mid-section. This can exacerbate neck or shoulder pain. Besides, it may further increase your risk of biceps tendonitis, a condition where the biceps tendon gets inflamed. Compromising the form may even injure or strain your wrist muscles.

What should you do
Try to add more variety of exercises to your workout routine. Just like push-ups, there are several-varieties of full-body exercises that you can perform. Mountain climbers, inchworm, frog crunches and goblet squat are some other great full-body exercise options that you may try. If you are keen to perform push-ups then try variations of push-ups instead of repeating the same exercise every day. Plank push-ups, diamond exercise, pike push-ups and incline push-ups are some great variations of push-ups. They work on the same set of muscles and provide the same benefits. By adding variations to your workout routine, you will not feel bored and your form will not be compromised.